NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Thursday, July 25, 2013
INCIDENTS
Blue Ridge Parkway
Twelve Injured By Lightning In Two Separate Incidents
Twelve park visitors were injured and two of them were hospitalized after being struck indirectly by lightning in separate incidents a week apart.
On July 10th, a lightning strike at the Linville Falls Campground affected 10 people who were camping adjacent to each other - a family group of eight and two other separate campers. All self-reported to the hospital and were treated and released, except for one 37-year-old woman who was kept overnight for evaluation due to cardiac issues. She was released the following morning.
On July 17th, a husband and wife from Conover, North Carolina, were traveling the parkway and stopped at Grandfather Mountain Overlook to don rain gear when it began to rain. While in the overlook, lightning struck a nearby hemlock tree, knocking the couple off their feet. The wife began experiencing cardiac issues and eventually went into cardiac arrest. Her husband began CPR and revived her. Both were initially transported to Cannon Hospital in Linville Falls, where the husband was treated and released. The wife was transported to Charlotte, North Carolina, for further treatment and evaluation.
[Tim Francis, Pisgah District Ranger]
Zion NP
Concession Employee Dies Of Injuries Sustained In Fall
The park received a report of an accident with severe injuries at a watercourse known as “Employee Falls” behind the Zion Lodge employee housing area on the evening of Saturday, July 20th.
S.S., 22, a Xanterra employee from Florida, had been socializing with several other employees at the base of the falls all afternoon. He joined a group of four who arrived to practice rappelling skills and climbed above the falls. While on the bench of the falls, he walked near the edge to wave to the group below, lost his footing on the sloped edge, and fell approximately 50 feet onto the rocks below.
S.S. suffered significant traumatic injuries in the fall. Ranger/medics provided ALS medical care while evacuating Schena from the canyon. During the evacuation, he became unresponsive and stopped breathing. S.S. was resuscitated by the rangers and Lifeflight personnel and transported by air to Dixie Regional Medical Center, where he passed away. The incident remains under investigation.
[Cindy Purcell, Chief Ranger]
St. Croix NSR
Searchers Find Body Of Cliff Jumper In River
On the evening of July 15th, the Chicago County Sheriff's Department received a report that a 20-year-old man who'd jumped into the St. Croix River from a rock ledge on private property near Franconia Landing had failed to surface.
The park was notified and an interagency search was begun, but had to be suspended due to darkness. Operations resumed at 6 a.m. on Tuesday morning with a search by side-scan sonar and divers and a drag of the river. Divers found the man's body in 41 feet of water around noon.
The victim was identified as the son of a scenic easement landowner well known to many park employees.
[Scott Carrigan, Acting 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/):
Canaveral NS - On July 18th, four West Indian manatees were released at the Eddy Creek boat ramp in Canaveral National Seashore after several months of rehabilitation at SeaWorld Orlando.
Lava Beds NM - Lava Beds recently hosted a week-long cave rescue training course. The park now has a certified cave rescue team consisting of park staff, personnel from neighboring agencies, and members of local caving clubs and search and rescue teams.
Yosemite NP - A delegation from Huangshan National Park in China visited in early July to reaffirm the sister park arrangement between the two national parks. In May, two employees visited another Yosemite sister park, Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile.
Lake Mead NRA - The park has received the prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award for its film, “Life In The Desert: Lake Mead National Recreation Area.” The film was produced by the Harpers Ferry Center.
Grand Teton NP - Richard Guerrieri, the Buffalo Fork Subdistrict Ranger in Grand Teton National Park, will be retiring on September 30th after more than 27 years as a park ranger.
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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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