Blood, beer can found at Old Faithful after man falls in scalding water, rangers say

A 48-year-old man was hospitalized after falling into scalding-hot water near the iconic Old Faithful Geyser at Yellowstone National Park on Sunday, according to park rangers.

Cade Edmond Siemers, an American who lives in India, suffered “severe burns to a significant portion of his body” after the incident, rangers said in a news release Monday.

Siemers told rangers that he was going for a walk off the Old Faithful boardwalk Sunday — after dark and without a flashlight — when he tripped and tumbled into a hot spring, according to park rangers.

After the fall, Siemers managed to get back to his room at the Old Faithful Inn. That’s where paramedics and rangers found Siemers around midnight when he called for help. Park rangers said they “detected evidence of alcohol use.”

An ambulance took Siemers to West Yellowstone Airport and he was flown on to Idaho Falls on a fixed-wing plane, park rangers said.

Siemers was taken to the burn center at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. A hospital spokesperson said Siemers was in intensive care but didn’t release other details, the Associated Press reports.

Rangers said they discovered a bloody scene at the geyser.

“Since rangers were not at the scene of the incident last night, they went out at first light this morning to investigate in the thermal area,” rangers said. “They discovered several items near the geyser (the man’s shoe, hat, and a beer can), footprints going to and from the geyser, and blood on the boardwalk.”

Rangers are checking to see if the geyser cone was damaged and will forward their findings to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for possible prosecution. Venturing off the boardwalks at Old Faithful is illegal, AP reports.

“The ground in hydrothermal areas is fragile and thin, and there is scalding water just below the surface,” rangers explained. “Visitors must always remain on boardwalks and exercise extreme caution around thermal features.”

It’s not the first geyser burn at Yellowstone, but park rangers said it’s been two years since a comparable event.

“In June 2017, a man sustained severe burns after falling in a hot spring in the Lower Geyser Basin,” rangers said. “In June 2016, a man left the boardwalk and died after slipping into a hot spring in Norris Geyser Basin.

And back in 2000, hot spring incidents in the Lower Geyser Basin killed one person and severely burned two, rangers said.