Yellowstone National Park Employee Suffers Significant Thermal Burns In The Park

A 19-year old Rhode Island woman is in the hospital as a result of getting burn marks from the thermal water inside Yellowstone National Park.

Park officials say sometime early Thursday morning (September 16th), the woman, who is also a concessions employee, suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns to 5% of her body while in the Old Faithful area.

She was taken via ambulance to West Yellowstone, Montana, and then life-flighted to the burn center at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.

The incident is still under investigation.

It is unknown if the woman wandered off the trail and got too close to one of the thermal areas, or was accidentally hit by thermal water.

This is the first significant injury in a thermal area in 2021.

In 2020, a 3 year old suffered second degree thermal burns to the lower body and back, and a visitor that had entered the park illegally, fell into a thermal feature at Old Faithful while backing up and taking photos.