NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
INCIDENTS
Petrified Forest NP
Rangers Respond To Labor Day Weekend Medical Calls
Rangers responded to major medical calls during each day of the Labor Day weekend, with three of them ending in helicopter transports to regional medical centers.
On Friday, rangers dealt with a single vehicle accident on I-40 near the park involving a park employee in a government vehicle. While on scene, the responding tow truck and the original vehicle were struck by two separate vehicles and a fifth vehicle struck the rear of the second set of vehicles. Three helicopters were dispatched to the scene for patients, but were diverted to the Holbrook Airport due to an incoming thunderstorm. Seriously injured patients, including one park employee, were transported by ground to Holbrook, where they were transferred to helicopters for transport to a trauma center in Flagstaff.
On Saturday, rangers responded to a report of a 57-year-old man having a seizure at Rainbow Forest Lodge. Puerco Valley Ambulance arrived on scene just prior to rangers and began treatment. The man's traveling companion advised that he had a brain tumor and was seeing the Painted Desert and Grand Canyon as part of his “bucket list.” The man was taken by helicopter to a regional medical center.
On Sunday, a truck driver on I-40 started having trouble breathing. He made his way to the park entrance, where a visitor gave him a ride to the visitor center. Although he took numerous doses from his inhaler, his condition didn't improve, so rangers paged Puerco Valley Ambulance and administered oxygen. He started to feel better after receiving the oxygen and declined transport by the ambulance.
On Monday, rangers and a Puerco Valley Ambulance crew responded simultaneously to a report of a child with a dislocated hip at Puerco Pueblo. Arriving on scene, they found a nine-year-old boy whose femur had come out of its hip socket while sliding down a support rail outside the restrooms. Due to the possibility of internal bleeding, the parking lot was cleared for use as a landing zone and the boy was transported by helicopter to a regional medical center in Albuquerque.
[Greg Caffey]
Zion NP
Injured Hiker Evacuated From Angels Landing Route
Park dispatch received a cell phone call asking for assistance on the route to Angels Landing around 6:30 p.m. on the evening of September 6th. A 23-year-old man who was hiking off route with one of his friends had taken a 20 to 30 foot sliding fall to a ledge and was complaining of lower back pain, a head laceration with prior loss of consciousness, and a knee injury.
Medics rappelled to his location, made an assessment, immobilized him with a full body evacuation splint and spent the night with him.
Grand Canyon assisted with a short-haul of the injured man and one of the medics the next morning. The man was taken to a hospital by Springdale Ambulance.
This was the third significant overnight incident involving technical SAR personnel during a five-day period.
[Cindy J. Purcell, Chief Ranger]
Hot Springs NP
Rangers Arrest Wanted Felon
While working a DUI enforcement detail on Thursday, August 29th, rangers stopped, pursued and tasered a wanted felon who was originally stopped for driving in a careless manner.
M.B., 41, a Hot Springs resident, was driving a Chevrolet Tahoe southbound on Gorge Road when rangers turned around to follow the vehicle, which then accelerated and fled to the area of Grand Avenue. When he was finally stopped, M.B. provided a false name and date of birth to the rangers.
The rangers checked through their mobile data terminals and pulled up a picture for the name provided, but it did not match M.B.'s description. Confronted with the false information, M.B. suddenly jumped up and fled on foot through a nearby parking lot and then into an open field. The rangers pursued him and eventually employed a taser on him before safely taking him into custody.
Two passengers in the vehicle confirmed that M.B. had given the rangers a false name. A routine criminal history inquiry on M.B. revealed that he had outstanding felony warrants out of Garland County. Rangers booked him into the county jail on the outstanding warrants as well as federal charges for interfering with a federal officer, fleeing, operating with a suspended driver's license, and having no insurance. His two companions were charged with interfering with a federal officer.
[John Hughes, 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 Parks of New York Harbor - The National Park Service and the New York City Department of Education yesterday celebrated the opening of a high school in lower Manhattan that offers a hands-on curriculum in preservation-related trades.
Boston NHP - The City of Boston has received a $15.5 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant to fund alternative transportation projects under the joint Boston-NPS “Connect Historic Boston” initiative.
Natural Resource Stewardship and Science - The summer 2013 edition of Park Science, the National Park Service's research and resource management bulletin, has been posted online.
Intermountain Region - Mary Risser has been named acting deputy regional director/chief of staff for Intermountain Region. She will serve as acting deputy regional director for 90 days.
National Capital Region - Dean Herrin, a 24-year veteran of the National Park Service, has been named the new chief historian for National Capital Region.
Midwest Region - Midwest Regional Office is recruiting for a superintendent for Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Closes: September 30th.
Daily Almanac - Flash flood watches and warnings have been posted for today in substantial portions of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. The National Hurricane Center is currently tracking two tropical storms.
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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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