YELLOWSTONE, WY. (THECOUNT) — Cade Siemers has been identified as the Houston, TX, man who suffered severe thermal injuries after apparently falling into a hot spring while inebriated at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming late Sunday night, according to the National Park Service.
Siemers, 48, apparently tripped into a 200-plus degree thermal body of water near the cone of Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone Sunday night, according to park officials, who added that beer cans were located near the scene around midnight.
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Siemers was able to walk back to Old Faithful Inn, where he was staying near the geyser, and call for help.
Siemers told Park Rangers that he took a walk off the boardwalk without a flashlight and tripped into the thermal water near the cone of Old Faithful Geyser, the NPS said in a statement. The park warns on their website that visitors are to always walk on the boardwalks, reports FOX43.
“The ground in hydrothermal areas is fragile and thin, and there is scalding water just below the surface,” the statement said.
Park rangers thought there were signs he had been drinking, according to the statement. They later found a beer can near the geyser, along with one of Siemers’ shoes, and footprints leading to and from the geyser.
Siemers was transported by ambulance to the West Yellowstone Airport where he was airlifted to an Idaho Falls burn center.
It took a while before Siemers made it to the hospital.
Medical helicopters were not allowed to land in the area of Old Faithful due to bad weather, which caused Siemers to have to be transported by ground ambulance and then to the local airport – where he was loaded onto a plane. Once the plane landed in Idaho, he was then again transported via ambulance that took him to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. It is unclear how long it took for the victim to finally be admitted into the medical center.
Siemers was in critical condition on Monday and unavailable for comment, a hospital spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
As Siemers fights for his life, he may also be in legal hot waters as park officials said they will inspect the area for damages and forward those finding to the US Attorney’s Office for “prosecutorial review,” if warranted.
The famed geyser attraction is known for its scalding-hot water eruptions on a consistent schedule. Eruptions occur every 51 to 120 minutes, according to the NPS. At the vent, the water is over 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Back in June 2017, a North Carolina man suffered severe burns when he fell into a hot spring in the Lower Geyser Basin north of the Old Faithful area. A year before that in 2016, an Oregon man died when he went off a boardwalk and fell into a hot spring that was 212 degrees Fahrenheit. His body was never recovered, reported Fox43.
The incident remains under investigation.
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Geo quick facts: Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The state is the 10th largest by area, the least populous, and the second most sparsely populated state in the country – Wikipedia.