Yellowstone

Woman in Critical Condition After Jumping in Yellowstone Hot Spring Trying to Save Dog

The woman and her father had stopped to look around when their dog jumped out of their car

Yellowstone Hot Spring
AP Photo/Beth Harpaz, File

A woman from Washington state suffered burns from her shoulders to her feet when she tried to rescue her dog from a Yellowstone National Park hot spring.

Park rangers and firefighters cared for the 20-year-old woman before she was taken to the burn unit at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, park officials said in a statement Tuesday.

The woman was in critical condition Wednesday, officials told NBC News. She has not been identified since being burned Monday afternoon in the Madison Junction area.

The woman and her father had stopped to look around when their dog jumped out of their car and into Maiden's Grave Spring near the Firehole River. After the woman tried rescuing the dog, her father pulled her out of the spring and drove her to West Yellowstone, Montana.

The animal was pulled out but later died, according to the park officials.

She was the second woman burned in a Yellowstone thermal feature in recent weeks.

A park concessions employee suffered second- and third-degree burns to 5% of her body near Old Faithful Geyser in September, park officials said.

Yellowstone has more than 10,000 thermal features, which can be as hot as 280 degrees Fahrenheit (138 Celsius).

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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