NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Monday, September 17, 2012

INCIDENTS

Death Valley NP

Endurance Athlete Dies After Solo Run

On the afternoon of August 7th, rangers investigated a report of an unresponsive man on the Badwater Road at the southern end of the park. Ranger Tim Duncan, on detail from Mojave National Preserve, arrived at a location approximately six miles south of the Badwater parking lot to find several motor vehicle testers performing CPR on a man later identified as endurance athlete M.P. Ranger Matt Martin and park volunteer Mike Wehmeyer arrived shortly thereafter and assumed patient care. A Mercy Air helicopter was dispatched to evacuate M.P., who was transported by ambulance to the Badwater parking lot to await the helicopter's arrival. He was pronounced dead by the Mercy Air crew. M.P. was attempting to run across Badwater Basin from Shorty's Well on the west to the Badwater parking lot on the east, a distance of approximately 6.25 miles. No marked route exists between the two locations, and the ground surface of Badwater basin is typically knee-deep mud even in the middle of the summer. M.P. began his run with four 16-ounce bottles of ice water. The high temperature recorded on the day was 123 degrees Fahrenheit. [Lynne Stokes, District Ranger]

North Cascades NP

Climber Rescued From Mount Torment

On September 8th, two climbers contacted a park climbing ranger in the field to report that a member of their team had fallen 100 feet onto rock on the south face of Mount Torment. They reported that he was initially unresponsive and confused and had possible internal injuries and a broken arm. The climbing ranger contacted the man and secured the area for a helicopter hoist. In the dwindling daylight, a helicopter from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island arrived on scene, hoisted the injured man into the helicopter, and transported him to a local hospital. [Kinsey Shilling, Chief Ranger]

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. This report covers activities during the week ending September 14th.

NPS LETC - Meri Sias has been selected as the detailed NPS instructor to the physical techniques division at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. 

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The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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