Boy burned in a fall at Yellowstone site

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — A 6-year-old Utah boy was burned after he slipped on a wet boardwalk and fell into water from a recently erupted geyser in the Old Faithful area.

The boy's arms and legs were burned in the fall near Grand Geyser at about 6 p.m. Saturday, according to park officials.

The boy was taken to the Old Faithful Clinic, stabilized, then driven by ambulance to the West Yellowstone, Mont., airport. From there he was flown to the burn center at the University Hospital in Salt Lake City.

His condition wasn't available Sunday.

The boy, of South Jordan, had arrived at Yellowstone earlier in the day with his parents and two older siblings. They pitched camp at Madison Campground before heading to the Old Faithful area.

Park officials said the family watched the Grand Geyser erupt and the boy was playing and walking along the wet boardwalk when he fell. He was burned by water from the nearby West Triplet Geyser, which had also just erupted.

The boy's identity was not released. It is National Park Service policy not to release the identities of juvenile accident victims, according to the agency.

The boy was the first person severely burned in Yellowstone this season. In October, a 6-year-old boy was severely burned when he tripped and fell into a hot spring near the Firehole Lake Drive area while walking off a trail with his father.

Two adults — a 50-year-old woman from Spain and a 49-year-old man from New Hampshire — were burned in August after leaving marked trails and breaking through the thin crust that covers many of the park's thermal features.