NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Thursday, December 5, 2013
INCIDENTS
Great Smoky Mountains NP
Visitors Treated, Evacuated In Three Serious Medical Incidents
Rangers dealt with three serious medical incidents over the last week of November, two of them requiring evacuations by interdivisional teams.
Late on the night of November 22nd, park dispatch received a report from the concession-run lodge on Mt. Le Conte that a visitor had suffered a head injury after falling down a steep embankment and that the woman had become combative during attempts to render aid. Rangers Brad Griest and Mark Eckert hiked through the night, arriving at the lodge around 6 a.m. Air rescue was impossible due to high winds, so a carryout litter team was assembled that consisted of 16 employees from three divisions. The team arrived at the trailhead with the woman just after 4 p.m. She was transferred to an ambulance and transported to an area hospital. Supervisory Park Ranger Bobby Fleming was incident commander.
Rangers Jamie Sanders, Ryan Rohr and Steve Spanyer responded to an accident on the Cades Cove Loop Road on November 26th. They found that a 48-year-old woman had suffered an open humorous fracture with uncontrolled arterial bleeding. The rangers applied a combat application tourniquet (CAT) and provided basic life support until an ambulance arrived 35 minutes later. Weather conditions prevented air evacuation, so she was taken by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, where she's expected to make a full recovery. Emergency room doctors reported that the timely application of the CAT saved the woman's life. CAT tourniquets had been issued to all park law enforcement rangers as part of special tactical EMS kits for personal use in event of a severe trauma.
Early on the afternoon of November 30th, dispatch was notified of a hiker with a possible broken leg on the Alum Cave Trail. A rescue team consisting of 15 employees from two divisions responded. The litter evacuation included a short technical lowering. The litter team reached the trailhead just after 9 p.m. The injured man was transported to an area hospital, where x-rays confirmed that he'd suffered fractures of the tibia and fibula. Rescue operations were complicated by temperatures in the single digits as well as ice and snow on the trail. Supervisory Park Ranger Bobby Fleming was incident commander.
INCLUDEPICTURE "https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" \* MERGEFORMATINET
[Clay Jordan, Chief Ranger]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's InsideNPS. To see the full text, 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 Morning Report web page ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/):
Biological Resource Management Division - A group of students who attended this year's bioblitz at Jean Lafitte NHP&P are actively engaging their home school and community in Connecticut in biodiversity awareness through schoolyard bioblitzes, studies of the national parks, interviews, and assistance to the Biological Resource Management Division.
Grand Canyon NP - Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, residents and visitors at Grand Canyon were treated to a fog inversion -- a rare weather phenomenon that has sparked interest around the world.
Fire and Aviation Management - A survey has been begun to better determine the potential scope and diversity of current and potential DOI unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) applications.
Social Science Program - Dr. Lynne Koontz has been selected as an economist within the Social Science Program in the Natural Resources Stewardship and Science Directorate in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Wilderness Stewardship - Dr. Samuel “Neal” Cissel, 90, a long-time VIP and campground host at several parks and an honorary NPS ranger, passed away at his Arizona home on November 25th.
* * * *
The Morning Report is 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).
--- ### ---