NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
INCIDENTS
Lake Mead NRA
PWR SETT Team And Rangers Stop Murder In Progress.
On April 13th, the Lake Mead Interagency Communications Center received a 911 call from a visitor at Boulder Beach who said that he'd seen a man repeatedly punching and kicking his female passenger immediately after they arrived at the beach and exited their vehicle.
An immediate response was initiated by NPS PWR SETT Team 2 and members from other teams in the region who were on assignment and integrated with Lake Mead ranger staff at the time of the call.
The man continued to beat the woman until she was unconscious, then started dragging her to the water, where he proceeding to hold her head underwater. Rangers and other units arrived on scene and stopped the murder within moments of the initial call. They took the assailant into custody without incident, and paramedics started immediate care of the woman and her two-week-old child.
Prior to the woman being beaten, the man had dropped her two-week-old child on the ground. He was intoxicated at the time of the incident. The child was released to grandparents and is doing well. The woman had aspirated some water and had several blunt force trauma wounds. She is in stable condition at this time. The man is in custody awaiting his initial appearance. He has a recent history of violence and abuse.
If it wasn't for the swift and well-coordinated efforts of the regional SETT team, park rangers and dispatchers, the woman likely would have been dead moments later.
[Adam Kelsey, Chief Ranger]
Delaware Water Gap NRA
Rescue Team Member Injured In Training Accident
On Wednesday, April 8th, the park's High Angle Rescue Team conducted a monthly scheduled joint-agency high angle rescue training session at High Point State Park in northwestern New Jersey near the park. The joint-agency team is comprised of park personnel, New Jersey state agencies personnel, and park volunteers.
Due to inclement weather on April 8th, it was decided to relocate the training inside the monument tower at High Point's summit. There have been several previous training sessions conducted at the park which have taken place inside the monument, which is a stone masonry obelisk standing approximately 226 feet high. The interior of the monument has a metal staircase wrapping around the inside walls with horizontal landings at each level, which provides an unobstructed area in the center for rappelling or other rope rescue training.
This training session was dedicated to raising and lowering an empty basket stretcher with a litter attendant. There were eight participants, including a team leader (a Delaware Water Gap employee) and one assistant team leader (a New Jersey State Park employee). The hauling system was rigged by the assistant team leader and a regular team member (Delaware Water Gap employee). The haul system was configured for use by rescuers situated on a horizontal landing that was approximately 26 feet above a concrete surface. The configuration permitted raising and lowering each training participant through separate evolutions as the litter attendant.
The rescuers on the second floor landing operated the hauling system on the main line, which was routed at an angle up through a high directional comprised of two locking carabiners anchored to the metal stairway structure with nylon webbing at the next level above. The webbing was rigged in a “wrap three-pull two” configuration and the area where the two wraps contacted the metal handrail stanchion was wrapped with a canvas edge guard. The leg of webbing with the two directional carabiners was positioned near additional unprotected metal stairway components. A managed separate belay line was not employed.
During the final training evolution, the assistant team leader served as the litter attendant. Just before noon, he was in the upper litter attendant position, being lowered, when the upper directional anchor failed, causing him to fall approximately 20 feet, initially colliding with a stair railing and then the concrete surface. The injured rescuer was immediately attended to by team members on scene and an aeromedical helicopter was requested due to the fall, obvious arm fracture, and suspected back injury. The assistant team leader did not suffer a loss of consciousness following the accident.
Although the aeromedical helicopter reached the scene, it was cancelled prior to landing by responding local agency paramedics. The injured man was packaged and transported to a local hospital by ground ambulance. He has been subsequently released from the hospital and is recuperating at home.
Findings at the accident scene indicate that the webbing anchor attachment to the high directional became severed from contact with the metal stairway components during the repeated training evolutions, which lead to a loss of control of the load. The accident investigation will include a facilitated learning analysis, which will be prepared and published by the WASO Emergency Services Office in order to provide an accurate and detailed understanding of this event for all NPS technical rescue personnel.
[Ken Phillips, NPS Branch Chief of Search and Rescue]
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):
Centennial and Communications Offices - The Find Your Park public awareness campaign brought the parks to the people again last week at a bustling historic monument in downtown Los Angeles. It continues in Washington, DC, tomorrow and Friday.
The White House - By order of President Obama, all US flags are to be flown at half staff today as part of a Day of Remembrance for President Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated 150 years ago today.
Operational Leadership - Intermountain Regional Office recently hosted the eighth and final NPS Operational Leadership eight-hour supervisors' pilot class. The class will now be widely available to parks and offices.
US Park Police - On March 24th, members of the United States Park Police's New York Field Office hosted an orientation to closed circuit television security at the Statue of Liberty.
Commercial Services - Dr. James Eyster, who served on the NPS Concession Management Advisory Board for 15 years and was the chairman of the board for 10 of those years, passed away on Tuesday, April 7th.
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).
--- ### ---