NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, December 14, 2012

INCIDENTS

Buffalo NR

Park SAR Team Joins In Technical Rescue

On Saturday, December 8th, members of Buffalo National River's search and rescue team, BUFFSAR, assisted the Newton County Sheriff's Office and the Ozark National Forest with the rescue of a 19-year-old man from Fort Smith, Arkansas, who'd fallen from a high bluff in the Whitaker Point vicinity of the Upper Buffalo Wilderness, part of which is managed by the NPS. He had been camping with friends on the point and at about 2:30 a.m. decided to approach the cliff edge, which is an overhanging sheer 100-foot drop. His friends heard him scream and discovered that he had fallen off the bluff. Cell phones wouldn't work at that location, so one of them hiked out to a local residence and called 911. The county contacted the park around 5:30 a.m. and asked for assistance from the park's high angle rescue team. Hasty responders located the victim at the base of the bluff and determined that he was alive but unresponsive, not breathing adequately, and suffering from major trauma. Paramedics from the North Arkansas Regional Medical Center stabilized and packaged him in a litter. BUFFSAR effected a technical raising operation directly over the point, during which time a park medic/litter attendant provided rescue breathing via a bag valve mask to the patient while an EMT, ascending on a separate rope system, assisted with suctioning his airway. The team then conducted a wheeled-litter carryout of approximately one mile to a waiting ALS ambulance, which transported the man to the nearest trauma facility. Air evacuation was requested but was not possible due to dense fog in the area. This incident provided an opportunity for BUFFSAR to work side-by-side with members of neighboring SAR organizations, including the Newton County Sheriff's Office, North Arkansas Regional Medical Center, Arkansas Forestry Commission, the US Forest Service, and the Krooked Kreek, Ponca, Mt. Sherman, Jasper, and Compton Volunteer Fire Departments, forging strong relationships with them. Newton County Sheriff's Department SAR volunteer Glenn Wheeler served as incident commander. The sheriff's office is continuing the investigation of the incident. [Kevin Moses, District Ranger/Buffalo River Search and Rescue Coordinator]

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/):

Rocky Mountain NP - Lynn Marquez, a member of the park staff at Rocky Mountain National Park for the past 28 years, died in her sleep on December 8th. Services will be held tomorrow in Estes Park.

Mississippi NR&RA - The Urban Wilderness Canoe Adventures program has had another successful season, surpassing goals to paddle with over 10,000 youth and families while also expanding program curricula and partnerships.

Workforce Management - James “Jim” Gwyn, labor relations specialist in the Washington Office, has announced his retirement, effective December 29th.

Roosevelt-Vanderbilt NHS - Henry Van Brookhoven, facility manager, is retiring on January 3rd after a career of more than 35 years with the NPS, all of them at Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites.

Delaware Water Gap NRA - Kara Deutsch has been selected as the new chief of resource management and science for Delaware Water Gap NRA.

Pacific West Region - Scott Pardue has been selected as the new safety and wellness program manager for Pacific West Region, working out of the San Francisco office.

Servicewide Training and Conference Calendar - The following have been added to this week's calendar - a new wilderness ranger academy being sponsored by the Society for Wilderness Stewardship, an interagency regional wilderness stewardship course, an introductory class on photovoltaics, a class on equipment operator safety, and training on creating and sustaining volunteer partnerships.

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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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