Basejumper.com - archive

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The article was apparently removed.......

I also got a chuckle out of the comment that jumpers should be happy with the one day a year we get to jump legally.

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here's Google cached version
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/...amp;client=firefox-a

John McArdle, E&E reporter

NEW RIVER GORGE NATIONAL RIVER, W.Va. -- A sign at the New River Gorge Bridge vividly tells just how much space separates the steel span from water below.

Stack two Statues of Liberty on top of the Washington Monument, it says, and there is still 20 feet to spare beneath the arch bridge that is the third highest bridge in the United States.

But 876 feet means something else to Ranger Randy Fisher, who learned the bridge's heart-racing metrics during six years patrolling New River Gorge National River.

A parachutist goes from bridge to ground in 30 to 50 seconds. And a jumper without a parachute reaches bottom in eight seconds. Flat.
Cop bridge
Randy Fisher, a ranger at New River Gorge National River, is responsible for patrolling the river and the 876-foot bridge that stretches across it. Photo by John McArdle.

Over the past two months, Fisher, whose office is on a windy plateau a few hundred yards from the north end of the bridge, has seen a spike in both types of jumps. That includes four illegal parachute jumps, two suicides and, on Jan. 12, an attempted suicide that closed the bridge during a five-hour standoff.

"They can happen at any time, either one of them," Fisher said in an interview in his patrol truck as he drove over the bridge on a recent rainy afternoon. "But I would hope that especially after these last two months things will slow down."

Fisher's love of whitewater is what led him to become something of a law enforcement specialist on the extreme sport of BASE jumping.

BASE stands for buildings, antennas, spans and earth -- four fixed objects that serve as makeshift diving platforms for jumpers. The sport is generally considered to be more dangerous than skydiving because the shorter distances leaves no time to deploy a backup parachute if something goes wrong.

Fisher has never tried base jumping and he probably never will. But about 10 years ago the athletic 6-foot-1 former Army infantry specialist got hooked on whitewater kayaking during a posting at Zion National Park in Utah.

Kayaking led him to look for jobs at whitewater hot spots. And six years ago, when a posting opened at New River Gorge National River -- whose 70,000 acres include parts of three rivers and some of the best kayaking runs in the country -- Fisher leaped at the chance.

He landed in a BASE-jumpers' paradise.
'Very active BASE buster'

The New River Gorge Bridge is only the most famous of several BASE-jumping "exit points" here, including three other bridges and a selection of antenna towers.

The bridge is maintained by West Virginia's Department of Transportation, but the land under the bridge -- including potential landing zones for BASE jumpers -- is overseen by the National Park Service.

And since BASE jumping is illegal in national parks, Fisher and the other 17 rangers at New River Gorge are well-versed in Section 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which prohibits "illegal air delivery." The code was developed by the National Park Service to prosecute BASE jumpers.

Fisher has been involved in all but one of the BASE jumping incidents that authorities have thwarted or made arrests on at New River Gorge Bridge over the past six years.

According to an incident report filed by the Park Service last month, Fisher came across information that a group of BASE jumpers from Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana were planning a moonlight jump on the evening of Dec. 10. That night he and his fellow rangers staked out the bridge, and though BASE jumpers were able to get around the fences protecting the catwalk underneath the bridge deck and make their leaps, the four jumpers and their get-away driver were busted not long after landing near a CSX railroad track that runs under the bridge.

Before his patrol last week, Fisher showed off the thousands of dollars' worth of parachutes and gear confiscated during the Dec. 10 incident that now sits in an evidence room not far from his desk in the ranger outpost next to the bridge. It is the same place where Fisher has stored evidence from his other BASE jumping investigations over the past six years, which have netted 15 arrests or citations.

As he continues to show up on Park Service incident reports at the bridge, Fisher has developed something of a reputation in the BASE jumping community.

"The noble Randy Fisher has been a very active BASE buster," a critic wrote in a forum on basejumper.com in the wake of the December incident. "What a waste of resources."
Cop bridge 2
Fisher and other rangers have to ward off parachutists and other jumpers from the New River Gorge Bridge. Photo by John McArdle.

Added another: "This sucks for everyone involved. Good to know some rangers got to pretend to be real cops for once. I know I will sleep safer tonight knowing these dangerous criminals were properly cited for such heinous crimes."

In nearby Fayetteville, at the popular pizza restaurant Pies & Pints, general manager Angie Bard summed up the tension between the local law enforcement and the BASE jumping community.

"Technically, it's illegal," said Bard, who poured beer from a local brewery, Bridge Brew Works, during her shift on a recent weekday evening. "But nobody cares about them. They don't hurt anybody."

Jerry Long, who works for the local ambulance service and had stopped by that night for a few slices of pizza, shrugged his shoulders and added, "If they're crazy enough to jump off the bridge."

Earlier that day, as he drove the winding road that used to be the only way to get down the gorge and across the New River before the bridge was built in 1977, Fisher said he is simply doing his job in upholding park law. Despite what some anonymous posters say about him on the Internet, his life's obsession is not to torment BASE jumpers.

"We have a lot of other things we'd like to concentrate on," he said. "Stuff that's actually protecting the park. Doing boundary work, the cultural resources, the archaeological resources, spending more time on the river and watershed. It would be a much better use of time."
Handshake to handcuffs

Between the railroad and kayaking and whitewater rafting routes beneath the bridge, Fisher said it just would not be feasible to simply legalize BASE jumping at New River Gorge.

"As a land manager, that's up to us to manage a park that's going to benefit everybody," he said. "We can't just legalize everything just because someone wants to do everything."

But because the New River Gorge Bridge has become such a destination for the jumping community over the years, the National Park Service has been offering BASE jumpers a compromise for the past 32 years.

Each year, on the third weekend of October, the NPS allows BASE jumpers a six-hour window to make legal jumps. The event, the focus of the annual Bridge Day festivities, has earned a reputation as the largest one-day BASE jumping event in the world.

"For one day out of every year, we're completely immersed in BASE jumping," Fisher said.

Last year, 421 jumpers participated in Bridge Day, making a total of 750 jumps. The Park Service and other federal law enforcement groups are all involved in the event and provide swift water rescue teams, security and onsite emergency medical assistance. The jumps themselves are coordinated by a private group.

In his five Bridge Days, Fisher has seen three jumpers hit the water before their parachutes could fully deploy. One died from his injuries. Two other participants have died since the event was first held in 1980.

Despite the danger, Fisher said he enjoys the annual festival in part because he gets a chance to interact with the BASE jumpers, who are all outdoor enthusiasts like himself. The problem, he said, is that some participants have not been content to leap just one day each year.

"You can be right here and say thanks for coming to Bridge Day, and the next day putting them in handcuffs," Fisher said.

That is what happened in 2008, after a group of Bridge Day participants from Florida decided to stick around for a follow-up jump from the nearby Glade Creek Bridge the following day.

Fisher said that there is no way to know for sure, but he expects that illegal jumps are happening every month at the bridge. And he questions if Bridge Day isn't undermining efforts to keep BASE jumpers off the bridge the rest of the year.

"We're saying, we are providing legal jumps, but keep it within the guidelines," Fisher said. "All we ask is that you leave us alone the rest of the year."
'It comes in waves'

There is a little-known fact about suicides at New River Gorge Bridge. Because the span is 3,030 feet long but the river below is less than 200 feet wide, most who commit suicide by jumping don't die by hitting the water. They hit rocks and trees.

It usually makes for gruesome recovery operations for Fisher and his fellow rangers.

In Fisher's time at the gorge, about 20 people have committed suicide from the bridge. He has been a part of many recovery efforts.

The most recent suicide was a 33-year-old California man who leapt the night of Dec. 29. A Virginia woman threw herself to her death on Dec. 6 at approximately 4 p.m.

Fisher said most jumpers tend to drive in from out of state, and the holidays are usually the time when suicides are most likely.

"It comes in waves," he said. "When the recession hit, we saw a wave."

Before the two suicides last month, New River Gorge Bridge had gone nearly two years without a successful attempt.

But if Fisher has become notorious among BASE jumpers, he has distinguished himself in suicide prevention.

Certified by the FBI in crisis negotiation, Fisher has a simple rule for dealing with jumpers.

"If they are still standing there [when he arrives] they are not fully committed to it," Fisher said.

Which means he's got a chance to save a life.

That was the case in September 2006 when Fisher and a local police officer responded to a call about a man standing on the side of the bridge.

Fisher and the police officer were able to get the man talking. And at one point, when the man reached down to pick up a phone that Fisher had put on the ground, Fisher and the fellow officer tackled the would-be jumper.

It was a dangerous move since the ranger and officer might have gone over the railing. The two received citations from the West Virginia Legislature and then-Gov. and now U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D). Today the two awards hang over Fisher's desk in the ranger station.

"When a car pulls over on the bridge we assume the worst," Fisher said. "Sometimes it's just a guy with a camera and it's a huge relief."

But sometimes it is a situation like the one Fisher experienced the day before Thanksgiving in 2009.

That day, Fisher was in his truck making his regular patrol when the vehicle two cars in front of him suddenly stopped on the bridge.

"A female driver got out of the driver side," Fisher recalled. "She was on a cell phone and then threw the cell phone off the bridge."

Fisher was out of his truck within seconds.

"She looked at me and said, 'Don't stop me.' She was about 4 feet from the guardrail."

That's when Fisher decided to go for the taser gun he carries on his hip.

It was a good shot. The woman dropped to the road short of the railing.

If Park Service officials can stop a jumper, as was the case last Thursday after the five-hour standoff, they are transported to the hospital in Beckley for an evaluation by a mental health commissioner.

Fisher said he has never had the chance to later talk to a would-be jumper that he's been able to stop, but he has had members of their families thank him.

"Several of the people he's dealt with have gone on to have productive and happy lives," said Jeff West, Fisher's boss and the chief ranger at New River Gorge National River.

In the wake of the two recent successful suicides, Fisher said there has been a renewed push in the community to add additional measures to deter would-be jumpers at the bridge. But West said any decision about additional measures would be up the state Department of Transportation, the bridge's owner.

West said the effectiveness of suicide barriers is debatable. Those who really want to jump, he said, will find a way.

Besides he said, "the expense is pretty tremendous, and West Virginia is not a rich state."

And so it is likely that Fisher and his fellow rangers will continue to have to include body recoveries as part of their job profile at New River Gorge.

"I worry about every single one of my rangers, not just Randy," said West, who said the park offers counseling services to rangers.

"Every single one of them has to pick up body parts from suicides. Everybody sees that. ... But what they don't see are the rangers who end up dealing with these folks' families. That's one of the things that rips people apart."
'I never hate the bridge'

As the rain began turning to sleet and snow and the winds picked up during his patrol, Fisher pondered what his life would be like if he didn't have the New River Gorge Bridge.

"It's a mixed blessing. It generates a lot of workload for the rangers here and then ironically it's not even a National Park bridge," he said.

But the bridge is a beloved state icon.

"It's on the beer here, it's on the quarter," Fisher said. "If you live around here, the bridge is just something everyone talks about."

He paused.

"I never hate the bridge," he said. "I wouldn't mind if I didn't have to work a lot of these incidents. If the incidents weren't there, I wouldn't miss it."

Between the railroad and kayaking and whitewater rafting routes beneath the bridge, Fisher said it just would not be feasible to simply legalize BASE jumping at New River Gorge.

Could this opinion be based on the costs and risks of rescue that the park service might endure if they had to pluck every 5th jumper out of the water?

Could this opinion be based on the costs and risks of rescue that the park service might endure if they had to pluck every 5th jumper out of the water? If that's the case, I kind of think Bridge Day is pretty bad argument on behalf of the BASE community.

I felt it was odd (or intentional) to lump BASE jumpers in the same article as those who commit suicide. Actually, I didn't really understand why this type of article was being written in the first place

We have our own water rescue.

...Legal catwalk jumping, which would alleviate this problem altogether and put $ in their pocket, has been discussed quite a bit during the last few years. We even went as far as setting up the first legal weekend of jumping last year (Labor Day), only to see it get put on the back burner.

I also got a chuckle out of the comment that jumpers should be happy with the one day a year we get to jump legally. I doubt that Randy would be content with kayaking only one day a year.

But if it were legal would the amount of jumpers sustain a full time business? I think the fear every bridge day skyjumper will come down to be cool and wind up in the water. What else would the costs be?

simply doing his job

Fisher showed off the thousands of dollars' worth of parachutes and gear confiscated during the Dec. 10 incident that now sits in an evidence room not far from his desk in the ranger outpost next to the bridge.

They would cry a river of tears if they could only enjoy their sport one day a year

Very well put. They would cry a river of tears if they could only enjoy their sport one day a year

Very well put. They would cry a river of tears if they could only enjoy their sport one day a year