NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, June 17, 2011

INCIDENTS

Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs

Woman Rescued After Three Hours Caught In Park Stream

On Tuesday, a 52-year-old woman headed out from the Farewell Gap trailhead on a solo day hike as part of her training for an ultra-marathon. She hiked up Farewell Canyon, crossing Franklin Creek on a snow bridge. On her return trip, the snow bridge collapsed underneath her and she fell into the creek. She was swept downstream under the snow for 30 to 40 feet before being able to stop herself. She stood up in the creek under the snow, but had no access to the surface. Using her hands, she dug through about five feet of snow and created a small hole, then threw her backpack out of the hole. It was seen there by other visitors, who went to examine the pack and found the woman under the snow nearby. By that time, she'd been trapped in the creek under snow for over three hours and was hypothermic and incoherent. One person pulled her out while another went back to the trailhead to summon help; the other members of the group helped warm her. Rangers and a park helicopter with a medic on board were dispatched to the scene. When the rangers arrived, the woman declined either evacuation or medical assistance. The rangers helped her return to the trailhead. [Dana Dierkes, Public Affairs Officer]

Yosemite NP

Two Rescued From Talus Slope Near Sentinel Rock

On the evening of June 14th, park dispatch received a call from J.G.B. reporting that his 19-year-old son, J.T.B. (who goes by T.), had suffered injuries in a fall on Sentinel Rock in Yosemite Valley. The family was visiting the park from Kansas at the time. J.G.B. also reported that a second son, age 16, was stranded on the same talus slope. Although uninjured, he too was unable to descend on his own. Rangers later determined that all three B.s were scrambling on a talus slope below Sentinel Fall when J.T.B. slipped and fell on loose rock. He was unable to regain his footing and fell 50 feet down the slope, sustaining injures to his back and neck and a possible pelvic fracture. J.T.B. attempted to descend the slope after his fall, but realized he was too injured to move. At the same time, his brother became stuck on a cliff edge just above the talus slope and was unable to descend. Ranger Jarred Mitrea was dispatched and arrived on the scene around 8:30 p.m. He began providing basic medical treatment to J.T.B. and was soon joined by ranger Jack Hoeflich and a Yosemite SAR team member. Rescue crews were able to rappel to the 16-year-old and remove him from the cliff face shortly after nightfall. Mitrea and Hoeflich decided that it would be unsafe for J.T.B. and rescue crews to descend the slope with him, though, and it was too dark to fly him out by helicopter. The rangers stayed the night on the talus slope with J.T.B. Around 6 a.m., he was extricated by helicopter short haul and flown to Memorial Medical Center in Modesto, California. The IC for this incident was ranger Ed Visnovske. [Kari Cobb, Public Affairs Officer]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/):

Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs - Packers from Sequoia/Kings Canyon were the stars of the competitions held at Mule Days over Memorial Day weekend. The park team, which included four packers, five mules and four horses, won the world champion pack team and the world champion Tony Lama individual packer awards.

Workplace Enrichment - Workplace Enrichment has released its first year report on activities and success to support employee engagement throughout the Service.

NPS/FLETC - Winchester has issued a revised warning and recall that adds six additional lots of Ranger .223 lead ammunition, expanding the ammunition safety warning and recall of this ammunition in March.

Ozark NSR - Glen Mahan, electrician at Ozark National Scenic Riverways, passed away at home of an apparent heart attack on May 28th. He was 61. Photo.

Servicewide Training and Conference Calendar - A compilation of upcoming training courses and conferences across the nation, plus online training.  The following have been added to this week's calendar - a webinar today on soundscapes and World Listening Day, an ARPA training course in North Carolina, training on interdisciplinary resource protection and law in MWRO, and defensive firefighter training at Gateway.

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of Communications and the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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