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 Previous: Hundreds File Comments on FCC Morse Proposal |  Next: Radio Amateurs Aid in Pacific Maritime Rescue |
 ARRL Utah Section Manager Mel Parkes, AC7CP (seated), awaits fitting with an oxygen mask by another conventioneer before being taken to the hospital in Panguitch. |
 Convention presenter Bob Craven, N7GTE, sits with his wife Kathleen, who's wearing an oxygen mask. |
 Emergency personnel assist those affected by the then-unidentified noxious substance. It was later determined to be pepper spray. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Aug 3, 2005--Radio amateurs attending the ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Convention July 30 in Bryce Canyon, Utah, were among the first to respond when release of a noxious substance felled more than 50 people. Utah ARRL Section Manager Mel Parkes, AC7CP, and other hams swung into action to assist after conventioneers and other guests near an inside pool adjacent to the convention area at Ruby's Inn lodge began complaining of nausea, headaches and difficulty breathing sometime around 11 AM. Parkes later suffered the effects of the substance--now believed to be pepper spray--and was among those treated at the scene before being taken to a hospital.
"It was fantastic to see people go into emergency mode," said ARRL Sales and Marketing Manager Dennis Motschenbacher, K7BV, who was representing the League at the Division Convention. "The calmest people there were the hams." Convention attendees helped to evacuate victims and direct traffic as emergency crews arrived on the scene. Ironically, the incident occurred just as a convention emergency communications forum was about to begin. Its topic: "Be Prepared!" Motschenbacher said several Amateur Radio Emergency Service members grabbed their "jump kits" and rendered assistance to those suffering the effects of the fumes.
At first, neither the substance nor its source were known. It was later determined that someone had apparently smeared pepper spray on the wall of a room in the lodge, and the fumes got into the inn's ventilation system.
Motschenbacher said guests in the pool area were
immediately overcome by the effects of the pepper spray and suffered varying
degrees of stress because of the exposure. "As the gas began to migrate out of the
initial release area into the hamfest area, more and more people began to be
affected," he recounted. "By this time a mass evacuation was in process.
Eventually the entire central complex was evacuated and roped off." In all,
some 300 guests were relocated into other facilities at the inn complex.
 A firefighter suited up in HazMat gear. |
HazMat crews turned up from as far away as St George--more than 100 miles distant, he said, and the local hospital was overwhelmed by the number of victims, which included several youngsters. Two temporary repeaters had already been set up at the site for the convention, but Motschenbacher didn't know if they facilitated any emergency communication during the episode. Among those helping to coordinate activities was Utah Section Emergency Coordinator Jerry Wellman, W7SAR.
The incident "totally disrupted the convention," Motschenbacher said, but as things began to calm down that afternoon, some presenters conducted their forums outdoors. An evening banquet was also held outside and away from the affected area.
After several hours, Parkes and others eventually returned
to the inn, but because authorities had confiscated their clothing for
analysis, they were attired in garb donated by a local charity. "Everybody just
pulled together," said Motschenbacher, who reported he had a sore throat but
did not require hospitalization or medical treatment. "All the authorities were
very complimentary about Amateur Radio."
| Previous: Hundreds File Comments on FCC Morse Proposal | Next: Radio Amateurs Aid in Pacific Maritime Rescue |
