Injured Man Rescued After Fall From Bluff

Just before midnight on April 3rd, the Midwest Region Ozark Communication Center (MROCC), the park’s dispatch office, received a report that a man had fallen from a bluff and was injured.  The injury was reported to be in the area of Hemmed-In-Hollow Falls in the Upper District, “the tallest waterfall between the Rockies and the Appalachians” and the site of numerous past search and rescue incidents. Rangers, other park staff, park volunteers, local first responders, and AirEvac medics assembled at the Compton Trailhead.  Two search teams headed down the trail with a wheeled litter and other rescue equipment and located the 22-year-old victim, Tyler Kerr of Bedford, Indiana. Kerr had fallen approximately 50 to 75 feet after attempting to jump from a bluff to a nearby tree and had suffered a broken arm, broken elbow, dislocated hip, broken hip socket, bruised heart, and bruised lung. He also had several deep lacerations causing a significant loss of blood.  The rescue teams packaged Kerr in the wheeled litter and transported him toward a suitable landing zone. The trail accessing the falls drops more than 1000 feet and extrication via the trial was impractical.  During the transport, low-angle belays were used to traverse the steep and narrow trails.  The AirEvac helicopter landed in a deep ravine approximately two-and-a-half miles from the falls, the closest suitable location for a landing.  Kerr was transported to the Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas, for treatment.  Over 25 people responded to assist with the rescue.  Rangers and other SAR team members had completed a three-day swiftwater rescue course the afternoon before the rescue.  The course was instructed by Rick Brown, retired NPS assistant chief ranger and chief of field operations at Great Smokies.  Brown, who had worked at the Buffalo in the early 1980’s, assisted in the rescue.  Buffalo National River recently upgraded its radio system, adding several new repeater sites, upgrading both portable and mobile radios, and converting from analog to digital.  During the incident, radio communications were exceptional and played a pivotal role in the overall success of the incident.