RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
                       MORNING REPORT

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

Day/date: Tuesday, May 22, 1990

                       *** NOTICE ***

           Until Labor Day, the Morning Report
     will be posted between 0815 and 0830 EDT daily.

INCIDENTS

90-102 - Hot Springs (Arkansas) - Flooding

The park experienced major flooding over the past weekend. During Saturday
night and Sunday morning, just under 13" of rain fell on Hot Springs,
bringing the total rainfall for the year to 22" above normal. Water entered
the stores across the street from Bathhouse Row to a typical depth of from
two and a half to three feet. Although preliminary inspections revealed
that there hadn't been any flooding on the ground floor of any of the
bathhouses, their basements were flooded to the ceilings. The flooding in
the basement of the newly-renovated Fordyce Bathhouse inundated the main
electrical panels, the controls and motors for the building's heating,
ventilating and airconditioning system, the only public restrooms in
visitor center, and the storage room for ENPMA sales items. Preliminary
cleanup of the collapsed ceiling and floating debris has permitted access to
the basement. The impact of the flood on the park's thermal water supply is
a primary concern. The basement of the administrative building houses the
park's main thermal water collection reservoir. The principal water lines
from the underground creek arch apparently tore loose, causing significant
damage to the water monitoring weirs. Flood waters also buried the two main
pumping motors under nine feet of water. The water reservoirs are
undoubtedly contaminated by the flood waters, and all thermal water supplies
to the fountains and bathhouses have been shut down. The park has not yet
been able to estimate when the pumps can be replaced and the storage system
decontaminated. Elsewhere in the park, the West Mountain Drive was closed
by mudslides and fallen trees. Park maintenance personnel had the main
commuter route opened by Sunday, but the spur road to the summit remains
closed due to a mudslide. (CompuServe message from HOSP to RAD/SWRO,
relayed by telefax to RAD/WASO, 9 a.m. EDT, 5/21/90).

90-103 - Baltimore-Washington Parkway (Maryland) - Auto Theft; Pursuit

On the afternoon of the 17th, a Park Police officer picked up a Toyota
moving at high speed on his radar while working the parkway. The officer
pursued the vehicle, which refused to stop. The chase led from the parkway
to the westbound side of New York Avenue. During the chase, it was
determined that the vehicle had been stolen from Greenbelt, Maryland, on May
14th. When the vehicle reached a point just east of Bladensburg Road, the
operator jumped from the moving vehicle and slammed into the barricade which
divides the avenue. The vehicle continued westbound until a citizen stopped
it and put the transmission in park. The operator was transported to
Children's Hospital with a bruised brain and internal bleeding within his
head. Charges are pending. (CompuServe message from Capt. Dave Blackburn,
RAD/NCRO, 9:30 EDT, 5/21/90).

FIRE ACTIVITY

1) FIRE SITUATION - Preparedness Level II

2) FIRE SUMMARY

State  Agency      Area             Fire                    Acres  Status

NM     USFS      Lincoln NF        Big - T1                 27,590  CN 5/23

GA     FWS       Okefenokee NWR    Mother's Day                600  CN 5/21

FL     NPS       Everglades MP     Gator Bay                   200  MN
       NPS       Everglades NP    *DOF 328                     150  CL 5/23

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) - Monitoring continues.

- DOF 328 (Everglades) - The fire, started by an arsonist, began in the
mutual-aid zone of East Everglades on the afternoon of the 20th. The
fire began in a one-year-old fire scar and was headed toward another
burn scar. Due to light, patchy fuels, the fire did not carry as it
otherwise might have. Initial attack was very successful due to low
flame lengths and light fuels. Mo-up operations will probably continue
through the next few days. All staffing levels are back to normal, and
no equipment is being used on the fire at this time.

b) OTHER AGENCIES:

- Big Fire (Lincoln NF) - Denton's Type I team has been assigned to the
fire. The acreage increase resulted from burning out from roads and
drainage bottoms on the east flank. The burnout of the north flank was
hindered by a wind shift. Tactical utilization of drainage bottoms and
roads rather than constructed hardline will be the preferred method for
containment. The historical cabin previously reported to have burned
was found to be undamaged even though fire totally surrounded it.

4) FIRE ACTIVITY - 95 fires for 10,066 acres in past 24 hours.

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

       High                Very High                 Extreme

Bryce Canyon               None                     Big Bend
Everglades                                          Carlsbad Caverns
Canyon de Chelly                                    Guadalupe Mountains
Padre Island                                        Grand Canyon
Lake Meredith
Death Valley
Hawaii Volcanoes
Saguaro

6) ANALYSIS - High to extreme fire indices are being reported in the
Southwest and southern Florida. A red flag watch for strong, gusty
winds has been issued for northwest Arizona. NPS areas report the
following:

* Big Bend - The weather continues to be very hot with no chance of rain.

* Grand Canyon - Red flag winds and warm temperatures continue. One-hour
fuels are dropping to two percent daily, ten-hour readings are as low
as five percent, and thousand-hour fuels are at nine percent.

* Guadalupe - Fire restrictions still remain in effect in the park.

* Lassen - The Arrowhead hotshot crew is on detail in the park for hazard
reduction work.

7) PROGNOSIS - Activity in the Southwest is expected to continue with an
increase in forecasted winds.

(NTFCC Intelligence Section, 0530 MDT, 5/22/90; NPS National Wildland Fire
Summary, 0430 MDT, 5/22/90).

STAFF STATUS

- Branch of Resource & Visitor Protection: Kreis on SL.

- Branch of Fire: Broyles at training working team meeting in Reno,
  Nevada (5/22-25); Erskine, Botti and Norum at GAO budget hearing
  in Washington (5/23-25).