Crater Lake Park Staff Respond To Several Incidents Over Weekend

Crater Lake National Park (OR)
Park Staff Respond To Several Incidents Over Weekend

Park personnel were kept busy with multiple incidents during the weekend of August 18th. On Saturday, a rock and tree fall temporarily closed the Cleetwood Cove Trail, the only access to the lake and the location of the park’s boat tour operation. The park’s trail crew was able to reopen the trail in a few hours. On Sunday, several EMS incidents were managed by staff from several park divisions. The first incident was a mutual aid call to a motor vehicle collision with multiple injuries a mile outside the park’s north boundary. Later in the day, park maintenance worker Doris Wilson came across a single vehicle accident on Highway 62 in the park. A vehicle left the roadway, rolled over and came to rest approximately 15 feet from the road, upright and on a 25 degree slope. Inside was a family of three visiting the park. The husband and child escaped the vehicle uninjured, but the mother was trapped inside by the crushed roof. Her arm, which was outside the passenger window, was pinned between a tree and the window frame. She was conscious with multiple systems trauma and a head injury. Wilson made the initial assessment, called in the report, and provided on-scene management until other assistance arrived. Due to the instability of the vehicle, ropes were attached to secure it from slipping further down the slope. Wildland fire personnel used a chainsaw to remove the trees pinning the woman’s arm and park structural fire personnel used extrication equipment from the park’s structural engine to free her. After removing her from the vehicle, personnel used a rope belay to move the woman on a backboard up the slope to a waiting ambulance. She was then transported via park ambulance to a Mercy Air helicopter and flown to a hospital in Medford, Oregon. Her husband later reported that she escaped with no major injuries or fractures. Communications supervisor Lucy Gasaway was incident commander and supervisory park ranger Jason Ramsdell served as operations chief and medical leader. Park staff from maintenance, fee collection, wildland fire, and resource management – along with the park superintendent – assisted rangers on this incident along with personnel from the Chiloquin EMS and Fire Departments. During this latter incident, ranger Paul Schauer responded to two additional medicals elsewhere in the park involving a dislocated shoulder and a possible allergic reaction to a bee sting.