- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Friday, August 10, 1990
- Date: Fri, 10 Aug 1990
RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
MORNING REPORT
Attention: Directorate
Regional and Park Chief Rangers, USPP, BIFC, FLETC
CC: RAD Information Net
Day/date: Friday, August 10, 1990
INCIDENTS
90-248 - Mount Rushmore (South Dakota) - Motorcycle Rally
This year is the 50th anniversary of the Black Hills' Sturgis Motorcycle
Classic, and between 200,000 and 500,000 motorcyclists are expected to
attend the event, which runs from August 6th to the 13th. On August 6th,
11,300 motorcycles with 16,000 riders showed up at Mount Rushmore, including
representatives from the Hell's Angels, Sons of Silence, Bandits, Outlaws
and Pagans. About a dozen small gangs were also present. Park staff and
one SET team provided traffic and crowd control. Several motorcycle
accidents occurred, two of them with injuries. There were numerous drug
violations, a DOT arrest, and many incidents involving riders wearing
knives. A bat and a cane sword were confiscated. No serious problems
occurred, however. Rangers transmitted information to the South Dakota
State Command Center, where warrants for serious violations were being
formulated and executed. Several other area parks have also been
peripherally involved in the event:
* Devil's Tower - The park had 1,500 motorcycles with 2,500 riders visit
on the 6th. There were no problems.
* Wind Cave - The park reported heavy motorcycle traffic and full parking
lots on the 6th. Numerous citations were issued, but there were no
major problems. A "Southern Hills Run" scheduled for the 8th was
expected to have a considerable impact on the park.
* Badlands - Over 3,000 bikers went through the park on the 5th, and another
3,000 passed through the following day. No problems were reported.
(SEAdog report from RAD/RMRO, 8/7).
90-249 - Glacier (Montana) - Motorcycle Fatality
On August 8th, 29-year-old N.W. of Kerrobert, Saskatchewan, went off
the Going-To-The-Sun Road with his motorcycle and fell approximately 100
feet to his death. The accident occurred in the vicinity of Triple Arches,
about two miles down the west side of the highway from logan Pass. N.W.
was apparently westbound at the time. N.W. was pronounced dead at the
scene. (Telefax report from Amy Vanderbilt, RAO, GLCA, 8/9).
90-250 - Glen Canyon (Utah/Arizona) - Assault on Ranger
Just before midnight on July 31st, ranger Steve Luckesen responded to a
domestic dispute at the concession trailer village at Hall's Crossing
Marina. While attempting to arrest C.O., a 22-year-old from
Mexican Hat, Utah, Luckesen was knocked off the trailer porch. Before he
could regain his feet, C.O. kicked him in the face, breaking his nose,
crushing a sinus, and lacerating his face. Luckesen was able to control and
arrest C.O. without use of his defensive equipment, however. C.O. was
transported to Salt Lake City, where he is awaiting trial after being
indicted by a grand jury. Luckesen is recuperating and has suffered no
apparent permanent injury. (CompuServe message from Larry Clark, CR, GLCA).
90-251 - Glen Canyon (Utah/Arizona) - Assault on Federal Witness
Late on the evening of July 29th, R.F., an ARA concession employee
from Grand Junction who worked at Hall's Crossing, assaulted C.T.,
another concession employee. The assault was planned and carried out with
the support of fellow employee A.L. of Las Vegas, Nevada, and
came about because C.T. was providing information about a third employee
which resulted in the filing of Federal vandalism charges and the subsequent
firing of that employee. C.T. was severely beaten before a watching
audience. He lost several days' work, but will recover completely. R.F.
and A.L. were arrested and transported to Salt lake City for trial.
(CompuServe message from Larry Clark, CR, GLCA).
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - V (HIGHEST LEVEL)
Several geographic areas are experiencing major incidents which have the
potential to exhaust all agency fire resources. 625 crews committed
nationally.
2) NATIONAL OVERVIEW
Approximately 19,000 firefighters have been committed to almost 300,000
acres of fires in eight Western states. Lightning activity has continued
throughout the West, and numerous new fires have been reported. Almost
14,000 lightning strikes were reported in the Western United States during
the 24-hour period ending at 9 p.m. yesterday evening.
The most significant NPS fire is the Arch Rock Fire in Yosemite, which led
to the park's closure and the evacuation of several communities (see below
for details). Here are some brief highlights from non-NPS fires:
* Stormy Complex - Made a major run yesterday afternoon and burned over a
base camp. The fire is within two miles of Kernville.
* Campbell Complex - The fire is threatening structures in Cohasset.
* Tejon Fire - Threatening two subdivisions.
* Pine Springs Basin Complex - The 15 fires in the complex are threatening
three towns.
3) NATIONAL FIRE SUMMARY
State Agency Area Fire 8/9 8/10 Status
CA NPS Yosemite Arch Rock Comp.:
Arch Rock - T1 1,300 5,000 None
Steamboat - T1 800 3,500 None
Lava Beds Fossil - T2 250 250 Yes
Whiskeytown *Unnamed - 100 None
USFS Sequoia Stormy Comp. -
2 T1 3,070 17,500 None
Plumas Walker - T1 1,300 1,100 None
Greenville Comp. 65 65 Yes
Angeles Warm Springs - T2 160 160 Yes
Lassen *Finley - 1,000 None
BLM Susanville *Branham - 5,000 None
*Shinn - 2,500 None
CA CDF Campbell 16,000 40,000 None
*Devil - 150 None
*Mudd - 2,400 None
*Bow - 150 None
*Peak - 600 None
*Rainbow - 500 None
*Mattole - 1,000+ None
*King - 500 None
*Bear - 300 None
Kern County Tejon 6,000 7,000 None
MT USFS Custer Sand Dunes - T2 585 810 None
Deerlodge *Picnic - T2 - 60 None
ID USFS Boise *Eagle Creek - T2 - 400 None
Payette *Yellow Pn. Comp. - T1 - 500 None
BLM Shoshone Thorn Creek 30,000 40,000 None
Boise Castle Creek 3,000 13,000 CN 8/10
Rough Lake 100 532 Yes
WY USFS Bridger-Teton Maki - T2 50 50 Yes
WA USFS Wenatchee Canoe Creek - T2 505 505 CN 8/10
Okanogan Swamp Creek - T2 304 304 CN 8/11
*Pistol - 106 CN 8/12
OR USFS Ochoco Pine Springs
Comp. - T1 25,000 70,000 CN 8/14
Buck Sp. Comp. -
T2 3,575 7,825 None
Malheur Whiting Sp. - T1 3,500 6,875 None
Sheep Mt. Comp. -
T2 4,200 8,000 CN 8/17
Snowshoe 2,000 6,000 None
UT BIA Ft. Uintah/Ouray Florence - T2 5,350 5,375 CN 8/10
BLM Cedar City Millett Point - T2 250 500 None
Burley Indian Springs 7,000 12,000 CN 8/10
Salt Lake City *Big Hollow Corp. - 1,800 None
NV BLM Ely Wilson Creek 450 450 CN 8/10
Elko Wildhorse Canyon 200 250 CN 8/10
*Jiggs - 125 CN 8/10
*Frazer - 600 CN 8/10
Winemucca *Pole Creek - 1,500 CN 8/10
NV State Saval 6,000 8,000 CN 8/10
Murphey Creek 350 350 CN 8/9
AK NPS Denali A-148 46,050 46,050 MN
A-374 1,810 1,810 MN
A-255 23,800 23,800 MN
A-406 11,500 11,500 MN
A-413 6,010 6,010 MN
A-391 20,000 20,000 MN
FWS Galena Zone A-204 57,400 69,500 None
BLM Tanana Zone A-270 24,200 24,200 None
Southwest Area 004069 2,176 5,296 CN 8/15
004068 - T2 7,808 8,783 CN 8/15
004034 111,822 117,924 None
004056 NR 124,267 None
AK Tok Area 013021 - T1 94,650 94,650 CN 8/20
Native Upper Yukon A-412 37,470 43,300 None
Tanana Zone A-391 43,890 43,890 None
Alaska also has 32 fires unstaffed under modified suppression
strategy for a total of 921,144 acres and 47 fires under limited
suppression strategy for 861,257 acres.
NOTES:
- Fires - Asterisk indicates newly reported fire (on this
report). T1 and T2 indicate assigned Type I and Type II Teams.
- Status - The following abbreviations are employed:
* NR - No report received
* CN - Contained
* CL - Controlled
* MN - Being monitored
* MS - Fire is being managed under modified suppression strategy
* None - No estimate of containment
* Yes - Fire has been contained
4) NPS NARRATIVES -
- Yosemite (California) - The fires in Yosemite, including Arch Rock,
Steamboat, and at least six fires near Bridal Veil Falls, are being
managed by two of the 18 national Type I overhead teams. The Arch Rock
Complex is the number one firefighting priority in the State of
California.
The park is now closed, as all Valley entrances either have fire activity
nearby or have had rock slides. Over 10,000 people were in Yosemite
Valley yesterday; firefighters hoped, however, to be able to reopen
Highway 120 by some time yesterday evening. El Portal, Foresta, Crane
Flat, Yosemite West and Bridal Veil (Campground have been evacuated.
Thirty residences were lost in Foresta last night, and there's a very good
possibility that the entire community will be lost. A park engine also
burned yesterday, but no one was injured. Big Meadow was being used as a
safety zone, and 140 people had to take refuge there yesterday.
Because of the delay in crew mobilization, the park has been authorized
to use bulldozers within the park boundary to protect the town of
Foresta if needed. A bulldozer line was also built around Big Meadow to
provide additional protection to that area. Retardant drops are being
made on the community of El Portal.
On Wednesday, extreme fire conditions caused both the Arch Rock
and Steamboat Fires to increase in size from 10 acres to 800 acres within
one hour. Erratic winds again caused the fire to blow up yesterday
afternoon. Thunderstorm activity will continue in the area for the next
two days. Conditions may improve over the weekend, but thunderstorms are
expected to resume again next week.
- Lava Beds (California) -
* Fossil Fire - The fire was contained and controlled yesterday.
- Whiskeytown/Shasta/Trinity (California) -
* Unnamed Fire - The 100-acre fire began yesterday. There's no further
information at present on its status.
- Denali (Alaska) - The fires have not been flown recently. The park
reports a general overcast with light rain falling.
- North Cascades (Washington) -
* McCallister Fire - Two Type I crews remain on the fire, which was
turned back over to the park Wednesday.
- Sequoia/Kings Canyon (California) -
* Avalanche 1 RX Fire - No change.
5) NATIONAL FIRE ACTIVITY - 604 fires for 83,294 acres in past 24 hours.
1989 1990
Year-to-date Fires 41,123 43,576
Year-to-date Acres 1,416,520 3,244,218
6) NPS FIRE DANGERS - The following parks reported high to extreme fire
danger yesterday:
High Very High Extreme
Grant-Kohrs Bryce Canyon Death Valley
Redwoods Colorado Badlands
Joshua Tree Wind Cave Noatak
Great Basin Lassen Yukon-Charlie
Yosemite Pinnacles John Day Fossil Beds
Whiskeytown Theodore Roosevelt Coulee Dam
Denali Cumberland Island
Grand Canyon Zion
Indiana Dunes North Cascades
Padre Island Sequoia/Kings
El Malpais Crater Lake
Olympic Craters of the Moon
Great Basin Hawaii Volcanoes
Wrangell-St. Elias Lava Beds
Gulf Islands
Scotts Bluff
Voyageurs
Grand Teton
Point Reyes
Isle Royale
Golden Gate
7) NPS MOBILIZATION/DEMOBILIZATION -
Resource August 8 August 9
Firefighters 172 196
Monitors 11 13
Overhead personnel 51 76
Type I crews 2 2
Engines 7 10
Helicopters 5 4
8) ANALYSIS - Dry lightning has been widespread throughout the West, with
most areas reporting new fire starts. Extreme fire behavior has been
reported on many large fires due to very hot temperatures, low
humidities and strong, erratic winds. Crews, airtankers, helicopters,
lead planes, caterers and showers remain in short supply.
9) PROGNOSIS - Fire activity is expected to continue throughout the
West with no relief in sight from the current weather conditions. New
fire starts and large acreage increases are expected to continue.
(CompuServe report from Diane Wisley, Branch of Fire, Boise, 2000 MDT, 8/9;
National Fire Information Center's "National Fire News", 2100 MDT, 8/9; NICC
Intelligence Section, Fire Management Situation Report, 0530 MDT, 8/10).
STAFF STATUS
- Division Chief: Meeting of management task group in Seattle (8/8-8/10).
- Branch of Resource & Visitor Protection: Coffey on SL (8/9-8/10); Kreis
on lieu day.
- Branch of Fire: Botti on AL (7/30-8/10); Clark on AL (7/29-8/10); Diane
Wisley on detail to branch from PNRO (8/6-8/24).
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