[Geysers] SLC Tribune - Mom talks to press about Boy & burn (photos at link)

[V]

I am assuming the SLC Tribune / Mom has the 
wrong Geyser?   Lynn and the NPS said it was 
near Grand West Triplet.   I've posted the writers
email address under his name.   ~ Vicky


06/13/2006 12:53:54 AM MDT

A boy's brush with death
Yellowstone outing: Richie, 6, is scalded by geyser runoff; his 
family cautions others to be careful
By Michael N. Westley 
mwestley at sltrib.com 
The Salt Lake Tribune

Richie Robinson rests on the sofa at his South Jordan home 
with his mother, Amy, at his side. He is recovering from burns 
caused by runoff water from a Yellowstone Park geyser. 

It just happened so fast, said Amy Robinson, about the sequence 
of events that sent her 6-year-old son into scalding water runoff 
from a geyser at Yellowstone National Park. 

Richie Robinson had finished watching Old Faithful spurt water 
into the sky with his parents and two older siblings Saturday when 
tragedy struck. The South Jordan family, so fond of the park they 
make their visits semi-annual events, would have no way of knowing 
that the boy and his mother would be back in the Salt Lake Valley 
in a little more 	than an hour from when the last drops of Old Faithful

hit the ground. 

The severity of his burns, and the ease of how they were inflicted, 
prompted the Robinsons to send a call to all Utahns - parents in 
particular - to heed the dangers of one of the West's most popular 
and protected natural attractions.

"You forget - because you get so used to being around it - that 
it's dangerous," said Amy Robinson.

The day had been filled with rain. Richie was happily trotting 
along, wiping the beads of moisture from one of the many benches 
that line the semi-circular amphitheater around the park's most 
notable geyser, when, in a moment, everything changed. 

The boy tripped over the curbing on the edge of the sidewalk and 
cartwheeled into a pool of runoff water from the geyser, said Amy 
Robinson. 

Just two minutes before, or two minutes later, the hazard would 
not have existed, she said. But, at 5:30 p.m., when her son fell 
over the curb, the area used to drain the geyser would be full of 
piping-hot runoff - at an estimated 160 degrees. 
   
The boy's father, Trace Robinson, heard his son scream and moved 
quickly to pluck the boy from the scalding water. His parents quickly 
removed the boy's shoes and socks to prevent further burning, 
though it was evident that serious damage had already been done. 

A nearby park ranger radioed for help. The emergency services 
station was nearby and in minutes, little Richie, as his family calls 
him, was receiving medical treatment. 

"It couldn't' have happened a better way as far as logistics," Amy 
Robinson said. 

The boy was flown to the burn unit at Primary Children's Medical 
Center and, before his release Monday, treated for burns on his 
arms between his shoulders and wrists and his legs from the 
mid-thigh down. His hands and face were spared. 

And so, it seems, was his spirit. 

Expected to make a full recovery and tired from a day full of 
movement and visitors, Richie Robinson's feelings about the 
situation were clear Monday night as he looked at his mother, 
scowled and said, "I'm sleeping. Don't wake me up!" 

LINK 
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3930363



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