NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Park rangers and firefighters helped Lt. j.g. Scott Larson
of Aiea to the top of Kilauea Caldera yesterday after he
fell while trying to retrieve a baseball cap.

Navy officer survives
fall from volcano rim

Rescue crews rappel down
Kilauea to save a Navy officer
whose fall was halted by a tree

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By Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com

VOLCANO, Hawaii >> A tree saved the life of a 26-year-old Navy officer who tumbled 85 feet into Kilauea Caldera while trying to retrieve his baseball cap yesterday morning.

A fire tree, or myrica faya, growing out of the cliff face broke the Aiea man's fall, preventing him from plunging an additional 100 feet to his probable death, according to the National Park Service.

Lt. j.g. Scott W. Larson was with two friends at Kilauea's summit near the steam vents parking lot when his ball cap blew off and landed on the caldera's rim, said park ranger Mardie Lane of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Larson went through the safety railings and tried to climb down the caldera's edge to retrieve his hat. With nothing to hold onto and winds gusting, he slipped and fell, Lane said.

"A fall from the caldera rim can be fatal," Lane said.

In 1991 a Honolulu man was killed when he tumbled from the caldera rim just a half a mile from where Larson fell.

A Puna man died while trying to climb down the walls of Halemaumau Crater in 1994, according to the park service.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Scott W. Larson was taken to Hilo Medical Center
after his brush with death.

Larson suffered cuts and bruises to his head, chin and side, and broke his toe, but remained conscious and lodged in the tree rooted precariously on the face of the cliff.

Park rangers and firefighters from Kilauea Military Camp, along with a rescue team and paramedics from Hawaii County Fire Department, responded to the accident.

A park ranger was able to make voice contact with Larson, and he answered.

A paramedic rappelled down to Larson and assessed his condition.

Then a park ranger followed and strapped Larson into a harness, and he was hoisted out.

Larson was airlifted to Hilo Medical Center, where he received treatment that included 10 stitches to his chin and a CAT-scan, which showed no internal injuries. He was released late yesterday afternoon.

"Park railings are there for a reason," said Jeff Kracht, search and rescue coordinator at the park. "Is it worth risking your life and the lives of rescue personnel for a $10 baseball cap?"

Lane said if visitors do lose something, they should let the rangers know so they can assess the situation and "perhaps retrieve" the item. She said the park has a whole assortment of lost and found articles.

Lane said the rangers were able to put into use what they recently learned at a seven-day training program on the technical use of ropes called "Rigging for Rescue."

Larson serves as a training officer on the USS Crommelin, a guided-missile frigate docked at Hilo Harbor for the International Festival of the Pacific Thursday through today, said Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Jane Campbell. Larson was unavailable for comment.