NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, May 2, 2013

INCIDENTS

Acadia NP

Rock Climber Seriously Injured In Fall

On April 28th, a 21-year-old student from Old Town, Maine, was lead climbing on a 5.7 pitch on the South Wall of the Precipice on Champlain Mountain when he fell 25 feet. The climber was above the two pieces of protection he'd placed on the granite wall; the second piece of protection, a #4 mechanical cam, pulled out of the rock face when he fell. The climber's partner, who was belaying him from below, was unable to pull in the excess rope fast enough to prevent him from falling the 25 feet to the base of the rock face. The climber was not wearing a helmet and sustained serious injuries, including multiple skull fractures, a C1 fracture, and other unknown injuries. Rangers were assisted by paramedics from Bar Harbor Fire Department, Mount Desert Island Search and Rescue, and local climbers who were on scene. The injured climber was carried by litter for about thirty minutes to a waiting ambulance and then taken to Mount Desert Island Hospital and later taken by LifeFlight ground to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine. [Stuart 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/):

National Interagency Fire Center - The National Interagency Fire Center yesterday released its national wildland fire potential forecast for the months of May through August. A summary is provided along with a link to the full report.

Natchez Trace Parkway - Martha “Marty” D. Owens, 63, who served as administrative and executive assistant to eight Natchez Trace superintendents, died at home on April 25th after an extended illness.

Harpers Ferry NHP - Michael "Cas" Castagnetto, facility manager at Harpers Ferry NHP, will be retiring in June, bringing to a close 34 years of public service, 30 of them with the National Park Service.

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Guidance on incident notification can be found under the “Hot Topics” heading on InsideNPS or at HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504" http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504.

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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