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Park workers leaped into pool By MICHAEL MILSTEIN Gazette Wyoming Bureau YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK – Three Yellowstone Park lodge employees critically burned Monday night said they thought they were jumping over a small creek but instead fell into a scalding hot spring, according to the preliminary results of a National Park Service investigation of the accident.
One died Tuesday while the other two remained in critical condition Wednesday. The three were trying to navigate through the River Group of hot springs in the Lower Geyser Basin north of Old Faithful without flashlights and before the moon had emerged when they decided to leap over what they thought was a small creek flowing into the Firehole River, two survivors said afterward. “This is based on statements they made to park staff who were caring for them immediately afterward,” said park spokeswoman Cheryl Matthews. “They were still alert and coherent when they were saying this.” The park’s findings contradicted statements from a doctor who treated the three burn victims in Salt Lake City and said he was under the impression they had jumped together into the scalding pool without realizing how hot it actually was. Either way, the revelations begin to explain how three people could accidentally plunge together into a scalding spring for the first time in Yellowstone’s history. At least 20 people, including seven children, have now died from burns in park hot springs, according to the book, “Death in Yellowstone,” by historian Lee Whittlesey, but never before have three people suffered critical burns all at once. One of the three, Sara Hulphers, 20, of Oroville, Wash., died Tuesday from third degree burns over her entire body. The other two, Tyler Montague and Lance Buchi, both 18 and from Salt Lake City, remained in critical but stable condition at the University of Utah’s Intermountain Burn Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, a slight improvement from Tuesday when they were in critical but unstable condition. Buchi suffered third-degree burns over 90 percent of his body, while about 97 percent of Montague’s body was burned. “It’s way too early for us to be optimistic,” said Dr. Jeffrey Saffle, director of the burn center. He estimated their chances of survival at 30 percent to 40 percent and said if they do survive, they face at least three months in the hospital and 15 to 20 surgeries to replace skin burned off by the scalding water. “They’re both going to spend the better part of the next year or two rehabilitating,” Saffle said. “They’re not going to be out of the woods for a long time.” Rangers investigating the accident and interviewing friends who had assisted the three victims after they were burned found no indication that they had jumped together into the spring, Matthews said. “Nothing has come up to support that statement, but the investigation is continuing,” she said. She said rangers have learned that Hulphers, Montague and Buchi had gone to the River Group of hot springs in the Lower Geyser Basin, about seven miles north of Old Faithful, during the day on Monday. There they met up with four or five other friends and spent the afternoon swimming in the Firehole River, which flows warm in places from an influx of hot spring water. After dark but before the moon emerged, the group split up to make their way back to their cars parked on Fountain Flat Drive, a short spur off the park’s main loop road. The other friends heard cries for help and raced toward Hulphers, Montague and Buchi to find that they had fallen into Cavern Spring, a near-boiling pool alongside the Firehole River. There was no sign that any ground had crumbled or given way at the edge of the spring, Matthews said. Montague and Buchi pulled themselves from the pool, while friends helped Hulphers out. Ambulances and aircraft then transported the three to the burn center in Salt Lake City. Friends and families of the two Utah men, both Class of 2000 graduates, gathered Tuesday at the Salt Lake City burn center. Jessica Buchi, Buchi’s 14-year-old sister, said the Skyline High graduate went to Yellowstone for his dream summer job: short hours working as a room attendant in the Old Faithful Lodge and plenty of free time to explore the wilderness in America’s oldest national park. “He said it was the best kind of freedom in the world,” she said. “He loved the wilderness, so he and his friends went up there to work in it.” Montague, an East High School graduate, worked in the kitchen of the Old Faithful Inn restaurant. His grandfather, former Salt Lake City weather announcer Bob Welti, said Montague excelled in drama classes and had planned to attend Salt Lake Community College this fall. Tuesday night, Welti said he was encouraged by Montague’s vitality. “Tyler is very strong and very healthy. He is still critical, but he looks to be improving,” Welti said. Hulphers graduated from Oroville High School in central Washington in 1998. School secretary Joan Bargen remembered her as a “beautiful young lady” who will be deeply missed. “Sara was very active in drama, in the school annual and was an honor roll student,” Bargen said. Hulphers had been working as a waitress at the inn.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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