RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
                       MORNING REPORT

Attention: Directorate
           Regional and Park Chief Rangers, USPP, BIFC, FLETC
           CC: RAD Information Net

Day/date: Friday, May 18, 1990

INCIDENTS

No new incidents reported.

FIRE ACTIVITY

1) FIRE SITUATION - Preparedness Level I

2) FIRE SUMMARY

State  Agency      Area             Fire                    Acres  Status

NM     USFS      Lincoln NF        Big                       6,160  CN 5/18

GA     FWS       Okefenokee NWR    Mother's Day                600  CN 5/19

FL     NPS       Everglades NP     Gator Bay                   200  MN
       FL        State land       *Mac's Fish Camp          12,000  None

NOTES:

- Fires - Asterisk indicates newly reported fire.
- Status - Containment/control dates are estimates; CN means
  contain, CL means control, MN means the fire is being
  monitored; "none" means no estimate; "yes" means the fire has been
  contained.

3) FIRE NARRATIVES

a) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE:

- Gator Bay (Everglades) - The fire is still being monitored, and has
been contained by margrave vegetation.

b) OTHER AGENCIES:

- Big Fire (Lincoln NF) - Light drizzle and higher humidities have
helped fire suppression efforts.

4) FIRE ACTIVITY - 58 fires for 1,523 acres in past 24 hours.

5) FIRE DANGERS - The following parks are experiencing high to extreme fire
danger this morning:

       High                Very High                 Extreme

Homestead              Guadalupe Mountains          Big Bend
Hawaii Volcanoes       Death Valley                 Grand Canyon
Saguaro

6) ANALYSIS - Several areas in the Southwest continue to report very high
to extreme fire indices. NPS areas report the following:

* Everglades - Fire danger is back to moderate; no new starts.

* Carlsbad - The park's fire danger (Trapped to low yesterday
under cloudy and drizzly skies.

* Guadalupe - On Wednesday, the Big Fire burned within a half mile
of the park's boundary. Fire restrictions continue in effect, and
an initial attack remains staged at Pine Springs.

* Grand Canyon - Red flag conditions continue.

* Yosemite - The park reports two fires - the Chapel Fire, which was
started by a campfire, and the Sweathouse Fire, which was started
accidentally during sweathouse activities in an Indian village.

7) PROGNOSIS - Continued activity is expected in Florida and the Southwest
due to dry conditions and forecasted weather.

(NIFCC Intelligence Section, 0530 MDT, 5/18/90; NPS National Wildland Fire
Summary, 0430 MDT, 5/18/90).

RESOURCE PROTECTION/MANAGEMENT

New River Gorge (West Virginia) - On the 17th, Governor Gaston Caperton
visited the park to speak with and congratulate workers on their efforts to
clean up and restore the park. Crews from the state's Department of Natural
Resources have been working with park maintenance crews for the past six
months on removing trash from the 90,000 acres that comprise New River and
the two areas it administers. Together, the state and NPS crews have
removed 600 tons of trash from inside the park, much of it generated during
the industrial use of areas which are now park lands. The park benefitted
from over 9,000 hours of work from state crews made up of youthful
offenders, who've filled and removed over 22,000 bags of trash. (Bill
Blake, CR, NERI)

OFFICE NOTES

1) NBC News will be focusing on the national parks throughout the craning
week. On Monday, the "Today1' show will feature a live interview with
Director Ridenour at Delaware Water Gap (between 7 and 7:30 EDT), then will
focus on other parks during ensuing shows. The NBC Evening News will be
examining current issues within the NPS on each of its shows between Monday
and Friday. (Duncan Morrow, PA/WASO)

STAFF STATUS

- Division Chief: Dabney at BIPC for Center's 25th anniversary and for
  meetings with FXRE staff (5/16-19).

- Branch of Resource & Visitor Protection: Kreis on lieu day.

- Branch of Fire: No scheduled travel.


Prepared by WASO Division of Ranger Activities

Telephone:  FTS 268-4874/6039 or 202-208-4874/6039
Telefax:    FTS 268-5977 or 202-208-5977
CompuServe: WASO-RANGER
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