NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, June 27, 2014

INCIDENTS

Denali NP&P

Flooding Causes Park Road Closure, Evacuations

Torrential rains Wednesday night caused what are usually small streams to become raging torrents along and across the Denali Park Road.

At 4:30 a.m. on Thursday the park road was closed beyond Wonder Lake due to flooding in the Kantishna area at Eureka and Friday Creeks (which normally flow at very low levels across the park road) and at the north end of Wonder Lake. Around 8:45 a.m. park managers closed the road beyond the Eielson Visitor Center due to significant rockfall at the Eielson Bluffs, approximately one to two miles west of the visitor center.

Over 100 guests and employees at private lodges in Kantishna and more than a dozen park employees were marooned at the western end of the park road, but all were safe and accounted for.  The Denali Backcountry Lodge, which is located at the end of the road near the airstrip, evacuated its guests and staff to higher ground near another lodge Thursday morning as water began encroaching into buildings.

Lodge guests and employees were subsequently evacuated without incident. They were ferried by the park's two contract helicopters to buses staged at the Wonder Lake Ranger Station or by fixed-wing aircraft to airstrips near or at the east end of the park. Park employees in that area were also evacuated. Guests at other lodges did not have to evacuate and will be able to leave via the road today as temporary repairs have been made to the causeway section of road at the north end of Wonder Lake.

Four mountaineers who had traversed Mt. McKinley were airlifted from the south side of the McKinley River to the Eielson Visitor Center. They had been trying for days to cross the river, but had been unsuccessful due to the high water and were out of food. The river is notoriously difficult to cross, especially after heavy rain. A Denali Backcountry Lodge employee who had been stranded on what became an island in the housing area was able to get across the swollen Moose Creek with assistance from other employees and a rope.

Road crews will coordinate plans for repairing the damaged sections of the park road at Eureka and Friday Creeks with the Alaska Department of Transportation, which has the jurisdictional responsibility for that portion of the road. Road repairs may take several days.  

Park concessioner-operated buses will operate on their regular schedule as far as Wonder Lake beginning today.

Click on the link below for a related Anchorage Daily News story with images of the flooding.

HYPERLINK "http://www.adn.com/2014/06/26/3535950/flooding-in-denali-national-park.html?sp=/99/188/" http://www.adn.com/2014/06/26/3535950/flooding-in-denali-national-park.html?sp=/99/188/

[Kris Fister, Public Affairs Officer]

Cuyahoga Valley NP

Historic Structure Burns To The Ground

On Saturday, June 21st, the Lapchynski house, an NPS historic structure in Independence, Ohio, burned to the ground.

Smoke was reported at approximately 6 p.m. and the house had already burned to the ground by the time protection ranger Jeff Stell and firefighters from five local departments arrived on scene. 

The house, built circa 1880, had suffered from extensive vandalism and graffiti. It was located in a remote area of the park and there was a project in the PMIS system to demolish it. 

Rangers provided a 24/7 fire watch to protect the scene until it could be processed for evidence. The NPS is working with the State Fire Marshal's Office and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) fire investigators on this incident. Rangers are also working on a task force regarding the investigation of eight fires that have occurred in the park over the last six months.

[Chris Ryan, Chief Ranger]

Yosemite NP

Injured Climber Rescued From Sentinel Rock

On Tuesday, June 17th, dispatch received a 911 call from an injured rock climber at the base of the Chounard-Herbert climbing route on Sentinel Rock in Yosemite Valley. The climber, a 30-year-old man from Bend, Oregon, said that he'd taken a 35-foot fall on the first pitch of the route, that he'd suffered injuries to his lower extremities, and that he was unable to self-rescue.

A ground response team consisting of Yosemite Search and Rescue team members Everett Phillips, Matt Othmer, Ken Kreis, and Buck Yedor was dispatched to the scene. The park's contract helicopter was also ordered for a reconnaissance flight and potential short haul mission.  

Following a reconnaissance flight, the helicopter lowered rangers Jack Hoeflich and David Pope and their extrication equipment via short haul to a ledge approximately 250 feet below the injured climber. Hoeflich climbed to the man and fixed ropes for Pope and additional ground responders.

The team, including Hoeflich, Pope and SAR personnel, packaged the injured man in a litter and lowered him with Pope back to the insertion ledge.  The helicopter returned and short-hauled Pope and the man to the Ahwahnee Meadow in Yosemite Valley, where he was taken to Yosemite Valley Medical Clinic. The remaining team members descended to the valley via the climber's approach.

The mission was complicated by the steepness of the north face of Sentinel Rock, gusty winds, high rockfall potential, and the relative position of the sun and cliff face, which caused the helicopter to be in direct sunlight while the short haulers were in the shadow of the cliff.

Ranger David Hahn was the incident commander for this rescue.

[Kari Cobb, Public Affairs Officer]

Lake Mead NRA

One Killed, Two Injured In Head-On Collision

On the morning of June 23rd, park dispatch received a call reporting a head-on collision on Northshore Road.

Emergency personnel from the park and Henderson Fire Department responded. They found that one man had been killed in the accident and that two others had been injured. Both were flown to area hospitals by Mercy Air.

The Nevada Highway Patrol is investigating the accident.

[Christie Vanover]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers):

Lake Mead NRA - A portion of the Lower Colorado River that flows through Lake Mead National Recreation Area has been designated as a National Water Trail. The new Black Canyon Water Trail is the first water trail in America's Southwest and the first that traverses a desert.

Office of Communications - The Harry Yount National Park Ranger Award, the George and Helen Hartzog Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service, and the Colonel Charles Young Diversity Recognition Award were conferred at a ceremony at the Department of the Interior on Wednesday.

United States Park Police - The United States Park Police Aviation Unit conducted downed pilot training in early June in collaboration with the DC Air National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard and other public safety agencies.

Intermountain Region - Karl Cordova, a 20-year veteran of the National Park Service, has been named superintendent of Pecos National Historical Park in northern New Mexico. He will assume his new post on July 15th.

Canaveral NS - Kristen Kneifl has been selected as Canaveral National Seashore's new chief of resource management. She assumes her new responsibilities on July 27th.

To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites:

NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index

Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/

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).

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