Crowdog
05-31-2005, 08:24 AM
Weekend marred by accidents at Sand Mountain
BURKE WASSON
May 31, 2005
While authorities continued to search Monday at Lake Lahontan for two victims of separate alleged drownings, a spate of accidents at Sand Mountain also kept officials busy during Memorial Day weekend.
According to Banner Churchill Community Hospital ambulance services, 13 people were reported injured at Sand Mountain between Friday and Sunday. Ten of those people were Care-flighted to hospitals in Washoe County.
Representatives for Banner Churchill Community Hospital declined to release the names of those injured or their conditions, but did say that the majority of reported injuries were related to dirt bike and all-terrain vehicle accidents.
The hospital's ambulance department had one call Friday to the recreation area. That person was Care-flighted to Washoe County.
On Saturday, the ambulance department received two calls to Sand Mountain. There were a total of four patients between those two calls - one was treated at Banner Churchill Community Hospital and three were flown to Washoe County.
The hospital's ambulance service dispatchers received six calls to Sand Mountain on Sunday. Out of those six calls, six people were transported to Washoe County, one was treated at Banner Churchill Community Hospital and one left the hospital against medical advice.
Dispatchers and representatives from the Bureau of Land Management declined to comment Monday on the reported accidents at Sand Mountain during the holiday weekend.
It was unclear if the crowd was as rowdy as Easter weekend, when BLM rangers were pelted with eggs and one BLM vehicle had a window broken.
An estimated 7,800 people flocked between Saturday and Sunday to the massive sand dune located off U.S. Highway 50 about 30 miles east of Fallon. Previous holiday weekends like Memorial Day and Labor Day have attracted closer to 5,000 people.
BLM officials have explored the idea of raising fees to camp at Sand Mountain and possibly limiting the number of people who camp there next year.
Currently, campers pay $20 to stay up to a week. A $45 annual pass is also available.
BLM officials said the fees collected to camp at Sand Mountain are not nearly enough to provide enough law enforcement, road grading, restrooms, trash service and medical emergency services.
Those medical emergency services were unfortunately used during Labor Day weekend in 2004 at Sand Mountain when a 21-year-old man died in a motorcycle accident.
Burke Wasson can be contacted at bwasson@lahontanvalleynews.com
http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20050531/News/105310011/-1/NEWS
BURKE WASSON
May 31, 2005
While authorities continued to search Monday at Lake Lahontan for two victims of separate alleged drownings, a spate of accidents at Sand Mountain also kept officials busy during Memorial Day weekend.
According to Banner Churchill Community Hospital ambulance services, 13 people were reported injured at Sand Mountain between Friday and Sunday. Ten of those people were Care-flighted to hospitals in Washoe County.
Representatives for Banner Churchill Community Hospital declined to release the names of those injured or their conditions, but did say that the majority of reported injuries were related to dirt bike and all-terrain vehicle accidents.
The hospital's ambulance department had one call Friday to the recreation area. That person was Care-flighted to Washoe County.
On Saturday, the ambulance department received two calls to Sand Mountain. There were a total of four patients between those two calls - one was treated at Banner Churchill Community Hospital and three were flown to Washoe County.
The hospital's ambulance service dispatchers received six calls to Sand Mountain on Sunday. Out of those six calls, six people were transported to Washoe County, one was treated at Banner Churchill Community Hospital and one left the hospital against medical advice.
Dispatchers and representatives from the Bureau of Land Management declined to comment Monday on the reported accidents at Sand Mountain during the holiday weekend.
It was unclear if the crowd was as rowdy as Easter weekend, when BLM rangers were pelted with eggs and one BLM vehicle had a window broken.
An estimated 7,800 people flocked between Saturday and Sunday to the massive sand dune located off U.S. Highway 50 about 30 miles east of Fallon. Previous holiday weekends like Memorial Day and Labor Day have attracted closer to 5,000 people.
BLM officials have explored the idea of raising fees to camp at Sand Mountain and possibly limiting the number of people who camp there next year.
Currently, campers pay $20 to stay up to a week. A $45 annual pass is also available.
BLM officials said the fees collected to camp at Sand Mountain are not nearly enough to provide enough law enforcement, road grading, restrooms, trash service and medical emergency services.
Those medical emergency services were unfortunately used during Labor Day weekend in 2004 at Sand Mountain when a 21-year-old man died in a motorcycle accident.
Burke Wasson can be contacted at bwasson@lahontanvalleynews.com
http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20050531/News/105310011/-1/NEWS