NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, September 21, 2012

INCIDENTS

Bandelier NP

Truck Crash Results In Major Paint Spill

On the morning of Tuesday, September 18th, a tractor-trailer rig traveling eastbound on New Mexico State Highway 4 missed a sharp curve and went off the road, plunging fell about 200 feet down a steep slope into the park. The truck was carrying about 2200 gallons of highway striping paint. Spilled paint spread over nearly an acre and the truck's gas tank leaked diesel fuel as well. The driver survived the accident. Park staff are working to determine the toxicity of the paint and assessing its impacts to the environment. The paint spill is visible from roads and hiking trails in and around the monument. By the day following the accident, the paint had congealed, allowing workers to remove the clumps by hand and revealing minimal subsurface damage. The Los Alamos Laboratory hazardous materials team minimized the spread of the diesel fuel. Bandelier is working with the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the New Mexico State Police, the Los Alamos Police Department, Los Alamos Fire Department, and New Mexico Department of Transportation to investigate safety issues and threats to vulnerable resources in the affected area. [Rod Torrez]

Zion NP

Two Visitors Saved By Park Medics In Separate Incidents

Park medics saved two visitor lives in separate incidents that occurred a week apart in early September. On the afternoon of September 6th, dispatch received a cell phone call reporting that a hiker was suffering from chest pain. Although the relayed cell phone calls were repeatedly dropped, rangers learned that the 54-year-old man, who had a medical and cardiac history, was on the Upper Emerald Trail about a mile from the trail head. Park medics Ryan McDonald-O'Lear, Cindy Purcell and Ray O'Neil reached him within 30 minutes of the first call and began providing care. A litter team arrived a few minutes later and began a carryout Due to the man's medical history and condition, though, it was determined that a medevac was in order. The man was transferred to a helicopter within two hours of the initial call and flown to the cardiology center at Dixie Regional Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with an acute anteroseptal myocardial infarction and received a stent (his second). Fourteen responders from the park were involved in his evacuation. A week later, on September 13th, dispatch received a report of a concession employee, also with a significant cardiac history, who was experiencing a rapid heart rate and wasn't feeling well. The 34-year-old man previously had two valves replaced and a history of supra ventricular tachycardia. He'd tried for an hour to self-convert his heart rate back to a normal rhythm before requesting medical assistance. EMT Logan Tucker responded along with McDonald-O'Lear and O'Neil. They found that the man was suffering from extremely high blood pressure and a heart rate of 280 beats per minute. He was still alert and oriented, but was complaining of weakness and exhaustion and was transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center. The ambulance and medics were 15 minutes out from the hospital when they received medical direction from doctors to shock the man's heart when he became lethargic and less responsive. After the shock delivery, his heart rate converted to a normal rhythm. He was admitted and diagnosed with wide complex tachycardia. [Therese Picard, Park 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/):

Fort McHenry NM&HS - The bicentennial of the War of 1812 received primetime national coverage on Monday, September 10th, as Fort McHenry staff and volunteers from the Fort McHenry Guard presented the colors during the playing of the national anthem at a Monday night NFL game.

Grand Canyon NP - Grand Canyon National Park recently celebrated the completion of three new park facilities intended to promote healthy outdoor activity in the park and to increase visitor access to the South Rim by means other than automobile.

Cultural Resources - Richard Waldbauer, assistant director of the Federal Preservation Institute retired on July 26th after 27 years of service with the National Park Service.

Upcoming Training and Conference Calendar - A compilation of upcoming training courses and conferences across the nation, plus online training. Added to this week's listing are the following - an explosives handlers' certification course in Colorado and TEL station broadcasts in early October on retirement planning for both CSRS and FERS employees.

* * * *

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).

--- ### ---