NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Friday, July 19, 2013
INCIDENTS
Glacier NP
Three Visitors Hit By Lightning
Three visitors - a man and woman, each 23 years old, and a child - were evidently struck by lightning late on Wednesday afternoon as they were hiking on the St. Mary Falls Trail on the east side of the park.
Park dispatch received a call from an interpretive ranger reporting the incident around 4:30 p.m. Bystanders at the scene began CPR while rangers were responding.
An ALERT helicopter from Kalispell and a Mercy Flight helicopter from Great Falls were requested, and park medics were flown to the scene. Crews and employees from all areas of the park responded to the incident. Park employees and Glacier County Sheriff's Office personnel used litters to hand carry each individual to the trailhead near the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Glacier County Sheriff's Office personnel helped with traffic control on the road, which was temporarily closed.
The ALERT helicopter soon arrived on scene, but Mercy Flight was unable to respond due to weather. Glacier County Ambulance from Babb and Browning Ambulance were called and arrived at the scene. The child was airlifted to Kalispell via ALERT and Glacier County Ambulance transported the two adults to Kalispell. ALERT returned and rendezvoused with the ambulance to transport the man and the ambulance continued on to Kalispell with the woman.
The condition of the three individuals is unknown at this time. The incident is under investigation.
[Denise Germann, Public Affairs Officer]
New River Gorge NR
Section Of Coal Train Derails In Park
On Monday, July 15th, a 115-car coal train partially derailed near the Sandstone Visitor Center. Thirteen cars rolled off the track in a residential area at Meadow Creek, dumping several thousand tons of coal. There were no injuries.
Although the area is fully within the boundaries of New River Gorge National River, only a small portion of park-owned land was affected. The CSX main line was closed for about 12 hours for repairs, but the cleanup and removal of the debris will take several days.
The park incident management team is currently activated for operations related to the Boy Scouts of America's National Jamboree, and it handled the NPS response to the incident. The cleanup is being monitored by park staff; the derailment is under investigation by CSX.
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[Jeff West, 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/):
Great Basin NP - From July 8th to July 10th, over sixty participants searched for arachnids in Great Basin National Park in order to expand the park's limited documentation of arachnids. Several new species were discovered and added to the park's list.
Director's Office - Director Jarvis has offered his perspectives on access to the parks for the disabled in a piece entitled “Our Parks Are For Everyone To Enjoy” on Disability.Blog.
Wilderness Stewardship - In 2014, the NPS will join its interagency and community partners in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. Information has been transmitted to the field on the event, associated planning efforts, and ways on which parks can get involved.
Indiana Dunes NL - Costa Dillon, superintendent of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, will retire on August 26th after more than 35 years with the National Park Service. Twenty of those years have been as a superintendent.
Servicewide Training Calendar - Added to this week's calendar are the following - several FERS and Civil Service retirement planning TEL broadcasts in September and three new FLETC offerings, also in September.
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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@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov).
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