- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Wednesday, August 1, 1990
- Date: Wed, 1 Aug 1990
RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
MORNING REPORT
Attention: Directorate
Regional and Park Chief Rangers, USPP, BIFC, FLETC
CC: RAD Information Net
Day/date: Wednesday, August 1, 1990
INCIDENTS
90-212 - Glacier (Montana) - Mountain Lion Incident
Nine-year-old S.O. of Dayton, Wyoming, was injured by a mountain
lion in the Apgar picnic area on Lake McDonald just before noon on July
23rd. The boy, who was with his parents, was playing with other children on
the beach near the picnic area when the lion apparently attacked him. His
parents were summoned to the beach by one of the other youths, and the
mountain lion ran off as they approached yelling. S.O. received
lacerations and puncture wounds to his head, face, neck and right arm.
Rangers temporarily closed the picnic area while an investigation was
conducted. The incident appears to have been unprovoked. The cat was
reported to be full grown but small in size. Rangers are searching the area
and plan to bring in a mountain lion hunter with dogs to help track and
destroy the animal. S.O. is reported to be in stable condition. Further
details will be provided as they become available. (CompuServe message from
Bob Andrew, CR, GIAC).
90-213 - Sequoia/Kings Canyon (California) - Drowning
On the afternoon of July 24th, a 24-year-old Mexican national was swimming
with his family and friends in the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River near
Buckeye campground. He dove into a deep pool from a height of four feet
above the water. As he was swimming across the 50 feet of water to the
opposite shore, his family lost sight of him. When they next saw him, he
was at the bottom of the river approximately eight feet below the surface.
After he'd been submerged for several minutes, companions and other visitors
brought him to shore and began CPR. When rangers arrived on scene, they
continued CPR and initiated advanced life support measures. These were
continued for an hour without results. The victim, whose name is being
withheld until notification of his parents, was pronounced dead at the
scene. (CR, SEKI, via CompuServe message from Herb Gercke, RAD/WRO, 7/24).
90-214 - Great Smoky Mountains (North Carolina/Tennessee) - Arrest
On July 29th, rangers arrested 27-year-old T.L.G. of
Huntsville, Alabama, after observing him burglarize a car in the Rainbow
Falls area near Gatlinburg. Rangers had the area under surveillance after
receiving reports of 15 similar incidents at nearby tourist attractions
earlier in the weekend. Approximately $500 in cash and jewelry were
recovered. (CompuServe message from Jason Houck, CR, GRSM, 7/31).
90-215 - Rocky Mountain (Colorado) - Fatality
Park rangers received a phone report of an injured person southwest of the
summit of Long's Peak around noon on the 29th. A helicopter was called in,
but weather conditions were too bad for flight. CPR was begun on the victim
at 1:30 p.m. and continued by the ranger who arrived a half hour later. It
was suspended on the recommendation of a doctor just before 3 p.m. The
victim, who suffered a head injury from a fall, was T.F., 26, of
Longmont, Colorado. (Mary Gillette, ROMO, via telefaxed report from Capt.
Tom McDonnell, RAD/RMRO, 7/31).
90-216 - Olympic (Washington) - Assist to Agency
On July 4th, two men were arrest by four park rangers and a U.S. Forest
Service law enforcement officer in Olympic NF for theft of government
property. Based on information that a theft was likely to occur, the park
provided the Forest Service with a VARDA electronic detection device which
transmits a signal over the park's radio system. At approximately 6:30 p.m.
on the 4th, a signal was transmitted which indicated that there'd been an
intrusion at the target site. The rangers and officer responded and placed
two men under arrest. A small amount of heroin was recovered incident to
the arrest. This information was given to the Clallam County drug task
force, which resulted in eight additional felony arrests and the acquisition
of information on future shipments of narcotics from Mexico by a major drug
trafficker. These arrests were the result of a cooperative effort by
Olympic rangers and USFS officers under the authority provided by MOU's
between Interior and Agriculture and Olympic NP and Olympic NF. (CompuServe
message from RAD/PNRO, 7/24).
90-217 - Grand Teton (Wyoming) - Falling Fatality
B.P., 16, of Fishers, Indiana, was hiking in the Moose Basin
area with his father and a companion on July 20th when he slipped and fell
while scrambling on rocks and snow and fell to his death. The accident was
reported late the following day after his companion hiked out to report the
incident to park rangers. The body was removed on the 22nd by helicopter.
(CompuServe message from Ed Christian, ACR, GRTE, 7/23).
90-218 - Grand Teton (Wyoming) - Drowning
At 6 p.m. on July 20th, M.K., 39, of Pocatello, Idaho, was in a
raft on the Snake River with four other individuals when the raft hit an
obstruction and overturned. All five people on board were thrown into the
river, and M.K. disappeared. A boat and helicopter search was initiated
shortly thereafter, and M.K.'s body was located by helicopter seven miles
below the accident scene on a gravel bar. He was not wearing a life
preserver. (CompuServe message from Ed Christian, ACR, GRTE, 7/23).
90-219 - Redwoods/Lassen/Yosemite (California) - Arrest for Thefts, Assault
On June 25th, M.F.S.S., 21, of Sequim, Washington, left
town along with two females and a male, all of them juveniles. Shortly
thereafter, they stopped in Seattle, where they stole a Seattle Police
Department undercover vice vehicle. Later that month, they committed a
burglary of a map fee box at Redwoods. On July 2nd, they broke into a
Forest Service/National Park Service visitor center at Manzanita Lake at
Lassen Volcanic and stole the safe; later that day, they committed
additional burglaries in four Forest Service buildings. On July 3rd,
M.F.S.S. sexually molested one of the two women with him, which the victim
reported to park rangers at Yosemite on the 5th. M.F.S.S. was arrested on
July 6th and charged with burglary of the visitor center at Lassen, burglary
and theft at the Forest Service sites, possession of stolen property, and
possession of a stolen vehicle. The sexual incident is being investigated
by the Mono County Sheriff's Office, and the theft of the police vehicle is
being investigated by Seattle PD. Additional charges are anticipated. (Guy
Whitmer, LAVO, via (CompuServe message from Herb Gercke, RAD/WRO, 7/23).
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - III
Two or more geographic areas experiencing incidents requiring a major
commitment of national resources. High number of fires becoming Class D
and larger. Additional resources are being ordered and mobilized through
NICC. Type 1 teams are committed in two or more areas, or 300 crews are
admitted nationally.
2) FIRE SUMMARY
State Agency Area Fire Acres Status
WA NPS North Cascades McCallister 125 CN 8/5
USFS Wenatchee Canoe Creek - T2 505 CN 8/6
OR USFS Deschutes Wake Butte - T2 360 Yes
BLM Prineville *Pine Hollow 500 CN 8/1
Vale *Echavie 500 CN 7/31
*Cedar Mountain 195 CN 7/31
ID BLM Boise Spring Creek 406 Yes
Indian Jim 152 Yes
*Blue Creek 100 Yes
UT BLM Salt Lake City *Chokecherry 1,800 CN 8/1
NV USFS Toiyabe Floriston - T2 175 CN 8/1
BLM Winnemucca South Fork 300 Yes
CA USFS Los Padres Ynez - T2 1,060 CN 8/1
AZ NPS Grand Canyon Topeka 200 None
AK FWS Yukon Flats A-197 - T1 127,260 None
BLM Tok Area 013026 831 None
Tanana Zone A-270 23,600 None
A-421 9,500 None
Southwest Area 004069 1,240 None
004068 - T2 4,210 None
Galena Zone A-168 2,900 None
NPS Denali A-148 46,000 MN
A-374 1,300 MN
A-255 23,600 MN
A-406 11,000 MN
A-413 6,000 MN
A-327 1,900 MN
A-391 67,280 MN
Army - A-133 14,000 None
AK Tok Area 013021 - T1 91,200 None
013035 11,500 None
Tanana Zone A-414 14,700 None
Delta Area 012054 7,500 None
Native Southwest Area 004066 250 Yes
Upper Yukon A-412 35,640 None
Alaska also has 32 fires unstaffed under modified suppression
strategy for a total of 1,030,728 acres and 47 fires under limited
suppression strategy for 703,879 acres.
NOTES:
- Fires - Asterisk indicates newly reported fire (on this
report). T1 and T2 indicate assigned Type I and Type II Teams.
- Status - Containment/control dates are estimates; CN means
contain, CL means control, MN means the fire is being
monitored; MS means the fire is being managed under a
modified suppression strategy; "none" means no estimate; "yes"
means the fire has been contained.
3) NPS NARRATIVES -
- Denali (Alaska) -
* A-391 Fire - This fire was mistakenly reported as A-350 in prior
reports. There's no new information on the fire.
* A-148 Fire - There's been no change in the size of the fire. A
light rain was reported to be falling on it, and there were no visible
flames.
* A-374 Fire - Fire activity continues to be low. Two percent of the
northeast flank is smoldering. At the time of the observation, skies
were overcast with some light rain falling.
* A-255 Fire - There's been a slight increase in activity since the
last observation on the 27th. About 20 percent of the fire is
active within the existing perimeter.
* A-406 - Only 5,000 acres of the total of 11,000 burned to date are
on park land. There are no visible flames.
- North Cascades (Washington) -
* McCallister Fire - current commitments to the fire include two Type I
and two Type II helicopters, one Type I and two Type II crews, and
a Type II short team. A wilderness assessment team is also on scene.
The fire is about a third contained, with full containment expected
by Sunday.
- Sequoia/Kings Canyon (California) -
* Avalanche 1 RX Fire - The fire had burned 450 acres as of the 31st.
The park is looking at setting up a base camp near the fire, then flying
in four monitors. A recon flight was to have been conducted yesterday.
The fire is still within prescription.
- Grand Canyon (Arizona) -
* Topeka Fire - The fire remains within prescription and has increased
in size by only a tenth of an acre.
- Yosemite (California) -
* Moraine Fire - This six-acre fire was controlled on Monday.
* Hoover Creek RX Fire - This slow moving fire has burned just over 16
acres. It is within prescription.
4) FIRE ACTIVITY - 424 fires for 33,034 acres in past 24 hours.
5) NPS FIRE DANGERS - The following parks are experiencing high to
extreme fire danger this morning:
High Very High Extreme
Padre Island Sequoia/Kings Joshua Tree
Redwoods Zion Cumberland Island
Bryce Canyon Death Valley
Joshua Tree El Malpais
Lava Beds
Hawaii Volcanoes
Whiskeytown
Denali
6) ANALYSIS - High to extreme indices are being reported in many areas
throughout the West. Fires continue to burn in California, Alaska,
the Northwest, the Great Basin and Nevada. Demobilization is occurring
in Alaska, as rain and cooler temperatures have slowed fire activity.
As of Tuesday, the parks reporting to the NTS Branch of Fire Management
in Boise had 42 firefighters, eight monitors, two Type II crews and 13
overhead personnel committed to fires nationally. Four NPS helicopters
and six engines have also been committed.
7) PROGNOSIS - The potential for holdover fires from lightning activity
exists in the Northwest, the Great Basin, Nevada and the northern
Rockies.
(CompuServe report from Hallie Locklear, Branch of Fire, Boise, 7/31; NICC
Intelligence Section, Fire Management Situation Report, 0530 MDT, 8/1).
OFFICE NOTES
1) On July 27th, an experienced park ranger was injured while using a "No
AIS-25 EZ Jim Car Door Opener" brand of lock-out tool to assist a motorist
who had locked his keys inside his vehicle. The instructions which came
with the tool describe bending the tool for certain applications. The
ranger was making a sharp bend in the metal blade about one inch from the
end of the tool when it snapped. The recoiling sharp edge of the tool
made a deep cut in the palmar base of the ranger's right thumb. The cut
required six sutures to close and the ranger was off work for the rest of
the day. The potential for more serious injury is clearly present. Anyone
using this tool should be aware of this danger. (Herb Gercke, RAD/WRO).
2) Earlier this year, the WD-40 Company approached the NTS about doing a
promotional campaign involving the parks. The Service and the WD-40 Company
entered into a memorandum of agreement in January. Under the agreement, WD.
40 will be running an advertising campaign with full page ads in major
magazines and in store displays. As part of the promotion, WD-40 has
contributed $50,000 to the NPS for the "Preserve Our Parks" fund, and is
offering the public an opportunity to contribute to the fund through the
promotional campaign. In adoption, WD-40 has invited 180 newspaper,
magazine and outdoor writers to travel to parks in their areas to encourage
and enhance public awareness of park areas. There is come (confusion,
however, regarding a recent letter sent to all superintendents by Philips-
Ramsey, the public relations firm for WD-40. The confusion arises when the
decision has to be made whether media personnel should be exempt from paying
entrance fees. In NPS-22, Chapter 3, page 16, it states that "the Land and
Water Conservation Fund Act prohibits enlarging a recreation fee for any non-
recreation visit." The media person, acting in his/her professional
capacity while researching or writing an article, is considered to be in a
"non-recreational" status and is exempt from paying the entrance fee. If
there are any questions concerning the fee exemption, please contact Was
Kreis at FTS 268-4205; questions about the promotional campaign should go to
Peggy Sandretzky at FTS 268-4027.
STAFF STATUS
- Division Chief: No travel scheduled.
- Branch of Resource & Visitor Protection: No travel scheduled.
- Branch of Fire: Norum on AL (7/24-8/5); Gale on SL (7/25-8/5); Botti
on AL (7/30-8/10); Hallie Locklear from SWRO on detail to Branch of Fire
Management (7/23-8/4).
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 (Branch of R&VP); WASO-FIRE-WO (Branch of Fire)
SEAdog: 1/650