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2005 Whitney lightning deaths in 2015 medical journal

The most recent Wilderness and Environmental Medicine Journal had an article on a Boy Scout troop lightning event in 2005. Not sure why the article is published now so many years later. Some of you may already know about this story. I did not, and share it as a learning experience. It is not meant to be critical by me, just FYI. Sometimes no matter what you do, Mother Nature wins.

The comments below are paraphrased or interpreted from the article’s Medspeak. Those from me in brackets.

General Location: Sandy Meadow 10,600 ft, about a mile from Crabtree Ranger Station.

Storm: highly localized 4:28 pm and continued off and on for hours. Apparently at Sandy Meadow was intense, but “unremarkable” at the Ranger Station at the time of the incident. [?? Surely thunder would have been heard from a lightning strike 1 mile away]

Location of tents: As weather deteriorated, they correctly spread out, they correctly went about 150 yds into the woods rather than staying in the meadow. One tarp was tied to a larger, taller (55ft) more mature pine than made it a more likely target – it was.

Tents spread out? – yes, correctly. 4 tarps or tents over about 100ft. This (A) mathematically increases the risk of something being hit, (B) decreases the risk of total injuries, and provides more uninjured people to assist the victims. [In this case, 100 ft was not enough].

Assume the position? Burns on backs and buttocks of several members indicated at least some had not assumed a crouched position.

Initial triage: – 8 of 12 people initially unconscious and/or paralyzed. 3 required CPR started by fellow Scout members. One victim was later declared dead at the scene, one had limited signs of survival and died later in hospital. One survived.

Help: 2 uninjured people correctly and immediately sent to Ranger Station for help – yes.

Ranger leaving station in middle of storm to assist in an unsafe area: - NOT endorsed by EMS agencies, going by the rule of not potentially adding to the injury or fatality list. [I dare say, many rangers would have gone like he did to become first responder….although heavy lightning would give one great pause]

Other assets: 5 helicopters, 2 ambulances, 2 hospitals, 15 field personnel + 14 logistical support. multiple attempts to evacuate were compromised by continued storm, darkness. Took 4+ hrs.


Was evacuation manually by litter possible? Timewise?-unlikely, not for critically injured. Ever?- unlikely. Workload is extraordinary. Because of rapid fatigue, terrain, etc, they estimated needing 16 people and even then only making 0.25 mph. (!)

Is CPR effective? For immediate revival – yes. Longer term – no. Time is of the essence. Survival rate plummets even in best of situations. Effective CPR on a carried litter or horseback is impossible, difficult on a helicopter unless performer is unbuckled / conditions smooth.

Rescue difficulties: problems in continuing storm: helicopters, effective two-way communications, personnel safety.

Followup: Now almost 10 years later: The survivors all recovered physically, but “were still recovering emotionally. None of the original [surviving] party has maintained backpacking or hiking hobbies since the event.”

Hi I remember the time period very well.The location of the strike would not appear a problem , not on a ridge /side slope and not in dense coverage. Afternoon storms can build for hours and a discharge can occur as happened here. Or in the city, at the beach or on the golf course.
I worked many years in Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Kansas were lighting strikes are very common during the summer months and the best resource after all else is do not be in the location of a strike, hard fact is no one can find you that location. Watch the direction of the storm ,look at the width and head of the system and if you can travel away from the front do so, but most likely the system will cover a large area and you will be blind to the upper atmosphere and direction of travel.
We had a system move over the Portal several years ago,a strike was very close and took out our power and shorted many of the electronic devices. I went up to restart the generator and thought I had it started when I felt the electrical surge , it was shortly after that I discovered I was being hit with another strike and with luck I was able to back away from the generator . These strikes destroyed the generator and the backup but unlike the above event no injuries.

The group above did an honorable task of taking charge and insuring the safety of the group and bringing the group down safely.These are very sad events and we all pray they never happen , but they do and in the course of time we heal but never forget.

My daughter and I hiked through Sandy Meadow two weeks after this tragedy. We had followed the event on the local news and decided to study up some on lightning before our hike. The following is one aspect of treating a lightning strike victim that often seems to not be appreciated:

Suppose you encounter an individual who has just been "hit by lightning" and it is determined that he has an adequate pulse. It is crucial next to observe that he has and maintains adequate spontaneous breathing. Despite adequate circulation (at least, for now), the victim might be experiencing a respiratory arrest due to a dysfunction (paralysis) of the respiratory center in the brain caused by the lightning. If there is no adequate breathing, STAY WITH THE VICTIM and BREATHE FOR HIM. Be prepared to stay with the victim and assist with breathing possibly for a long time. If he is left and can't breathe on his own, he will shortly experience a secondary (hypoxic) cardiac arrest.

Of course, prevention of injury is best. As Doug Sr. suggests, if possible try not to be where the lightning hits. Similarly, as Norman Clyde notes in Thunderstorms in the Sierra Nevada, "I have preferred to be on my way elsewhere as soon as I am aware that one is approaching."

Jim

I may be mistaken, but I seem to recall that Ranger Rob P received a Commendation for his efforts in that rescue...

I remember this incident well but I'd never read the analysis of it. Thanks Richard for sharing this. To respond to your comment about them hearing thunder a mile away... they may not have heard any thunder. As Doug suggests clouds can build into a thunderstorm over several hours and eventually discharge. That first strike has to happen at some point. I don't know if that's what happened here but it seems likely although they obviously knew they were in an electrical storm by their actions before the strike.

Interesting stuff. Like all accidents and incidents in the backcountry I like to analyse them and try to squeeze out as much learning as possible.

Kurt,
I was the one who posted this summary, and made that comment. It was not to be picky, just curious. I went over Forester Pass again Aug 2014 and while the clouds, rain, hail, etc, was all around, the lightning was fairly localized. One second counts. Gulp.

The 2005 group had stopped for the day, noticed storm gathering, and appropriately moved out of the open meadow to the relative safety of a group of trees (rather than an isolated one). AFTER the lightning strike occurred, 2 boys were sent to fetch the ranger, so the strike (and the thunder) had already occurred.

I think the comment (in the fog of 10 years passing by) was that there was no violent storm (rain, wind, etc) just one mile away, and the intense area may have been localized, but surely clouds were visible and thunder heard. This is all a minor point in the story, but a major one for the unfortunate who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My guess about why the story is published now is not explained in my summary. The article (by subscription only) seems to focus a bit more on the EMS, communication, evacuation topics
and perhaps the authors finally got around to writing it up. I am glad they did. Three of 4 authors were involved medical providers.

Harvey
edit: correction: Struck tent was not tied to large tree, but to anchors a few feet away from that tree. Close counts in hand grenades, nuclear war, and lightning.

Thanks for the summary. One of the things I have to keep current as a Scout leader is weather hazard training. The BSA course covers more than just lightning, including non-mountain hazards like hurricanes but emphasizes how to mitigate hazards if you are caught out in heavy weather. If you're interested, you can create a login to myscouting.org and take that course.

From personal experience, I can tell you that the charge from a lightning strike can travel quite a distance. Years ago, my parents' house was near the top of a hill (in MO). At the top of the hill was a steel water tower, about 1/4 mile from our house. I was getting into the car one afternoon during a thunderstorm and lightning struck the water tower just as I grabbed the door handle on the car. I didn't get enough of a shock to knock me out but it definitely hurt and that was 1/4 mile away.

Here in MO, we get frequent afternoon and evening t-storms during the spring and summer, so when we're out in the back country on our Scout property, we have to be aware of where the storms are and where they are moving. A lightning strike started a small fire at one of our backcountry campsites a few years ago. Fortunately, nobody was camped there but the shrapnel from the oak tree that was hit would have posed yet another hazard to anyone within 100' of the strike. We found splinters and pieces of bark at least that far away from the tree.

Alan, thanks.

The ground current you mentioned was probably what caused the back and buttock burns mentioned in the 2005 story. I vaguely remember from a Wilderness course that ground currents cause many more injuries( or deaths?) than actual direct strikes, even more so in large animals whose feet are farther apart.

I am also a (former) asst scoutmaster. Here is a scenario I faced once. It is not wilderness, but still illustrates a decision-making problem:

We were at summer camp here in VA years ago. At dinnertime, all the 200 kids and adults congregated as usual at the entrance to the dining hall main door, waiting for the bell to ring, then they could go inside. Guess what is 10 ft from that door? The flagpole! An obvious storm was brewing up, with close strikes nearby, and wind picking up. I yelled at the guy inside who was in charge that it would be safer for everyone to be inside the structure, than outside literally hanging around the flagpole (located at the edge of the woods and at the top of a 30 ft high hillside above the lake}. He disagreed and overuled me (twice).

I think he was more concerned about "the rules of the dining room," and his rank, than safety. There was no strike on the flagpole, but just think of what might have happened. It is so unpredictable despite our rules. Lightning does not always play by these rules - for example, hitting the water rather than the boat nearby, the highest point for miles around.

The scouts in the 2005, or anyone else in their situation, had difficult choices to make.