NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Monday, October 24, 2011

INCIDENTS

New River Gorge NR

Annual Bridge Day Celebration Draws Huge Crowd

Bridge Day was held in the park on the Saturday before last and drew almost 100,000 visitors. The bridge over New River Gorge National River is a prominent icon in West Virginia. Dedicated and officially opened on October 22, 1977, the New River Gorge Bridge spans 1,700 feet with an overall length of 3,030 feet; it is the longest single arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere and the second longest in the world. At 876 feet high, it is the second highest bridge in the United States. It is owned by the West Virginia Department of Highways, and the Bridge Day celebration is a cooperative effort between the National Park Service and numerous state and county agencies. The first New River Gorge Bridge Day was held on November 8, 1980. The celebration is held annually on the third Saturday in October and is West Virginia's largest single-day event. The event is keynoted by the largest BASE jumping event in the world. For six hours during the festival, the New River Gorge Bridge is the launching point for BASE jumps, rappelling teams and high line rides done under permit. This year there were 868 rappels, and 750 BASE jumps completed by 421 jumpers. This included 11 tandem jumps, a first for the event. Boat rescue teams made 180 water pick-ups; there were eight ambulance transports for back injuries, broken limbs, and other injuries. One BASE jumper failed to open his parachute in time and hit the river at about 60mph and was hospitalized with spinal injuries, lung injuries, and a fractured pelvis. The event is managed under the incident command system. Fourteen agencies participated in the operation, including the FBI, United States Marshall's Service, West Virginia State Police, West Virginia National Guard, West Virginia Office of Emergency Services, West Virginia Department of Transportation, Fayette County Sheriff's Department, Fayette County OES, Fayette County Fire, Jan-Care Ambulance Service, Health Net Air Ambulance, Air Evac Air Ambulance, and the Bridge Day Commission. The National Park Service committed two rescue boats, and 33 personnel to the event. In addition, the Fayette County Green Team, assisted by the Appalachian State University Outdoor Program, collected almost 600 pounds of cardboard generated from vendors for recycling. [Jeff West, Chief Ranger]

Delaware Water Gap NRA

Section Of Principal Park Highway Closed Due To Failure

The northern section of U.S. Route 209 was closed on Friday afternoon due to the failure of a section of the road. The highway is a major north-south artery that runs through the park's Pennsylvania District and is under NPS jurisdiction. The failure involved a 150-yard segment of the road about two miles north of Route 739. The embankment on the east side of the road has slumped, the pavement has begun to separate, large cracks have appeared in the surface, large voids have developed under the pavement, and the road has dropped by approximately six inches in some places. Federal Highways Administration engineers were on site Friday and determined that the road was unsafe for motor vehicles. It is likely that the damage was caused by this year's record rainfall, coupled with the impacts of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. A timeframe for completion of emergency repairs is unknown at this time. [Deb Nordeen, Public Affairs Specialist]

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/):

Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs - This week's update on past and upcoming hearings, newly introduced bills, and the status of legislation of interest to the National Park Service.

Intermountain Region - Ray Todd, a 29-year veteran of the National Park Service, has been named associate regional director for facilities and lands for Intermountain Region. Photo.

Risk Management Division - Mark Herberger, the Service's Operational Leadership program manager, has been named the recipient of the Association of National Park Ranger's Rick Gale President's Award for his work with that organization. Photo.

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The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced with the support of the Office of the Assistant Director for Information Resources 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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