NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, May 3, 2012

INCIDENTS

Gauley River NRA

Man Dies During Commercial Rafting Trip

A 45-year-old Virginia man died last Saturday while on a commercial rafting trip on the lower Gauley River. Rangers and other emergency resources responded to a 911 call regarding an unresponsive passenger, with CPR in progress, on a remote and mostly inaccessible section of the Gauley River downstream of Lower Mash Rapids. An aero-medical helicopter, ambulances, and a Norfolk Southern Railroad high-railer were ordered to assist with the evacuation. As rangers were hiking into the location, they were advised that the helicopter had successfully evacuated the man but that he'd been pronounced dead. Rangers and state conservation officers conducted the investigation throughout the rest of the day. The man had been on a rafting trip with his brothers and friends. He'd fallen out of his raft and into the river while going through Lower Mash Rapids. Passengers on another boat in the trip had picked him up and gotten him back into the boat. Soon after, the man experienced difficulty breathing and became unresponsive. CPR was begun by rafting company employees. The pilot of the responding helicopter made an improvised landing on a roughly 24-square-foot rock near Diagonal Ledges Rapids and the crew continued EMS until the man was pronounced dead. The cause of death is pending autopsy results. At the time, the Gauley River was running approximately 5,500 cubic feet per second (cfs). Lower Mash is a Class IV rapid at 2,800 cfs. [Frank Sellers]

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/):

Mammoth Cave NP - Through the Department of Energy's Clean Cities program, the park has been awarded $505,000 for the purchase of high-efficiency vehicles - buses, pickups and an electric vehicle - to replace older model vehicles.

NIFC/Fire and Aviation Management - Daily fire reports were begun by NIFC earlier this month, then suspended due to lack of activity, and now have resumed again. They will therefore again appear daily in InsideNPS.

Yellowstone NP - There will be a fall memorial service in Yellowstone in honor of ranger Jerry Mernin, who passed away last December. Details are provided.

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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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