- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Friday, August 17, 1990
- Date: Fri, 17 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 17, 1990
INCIDENTS
90-253 - Rock Creek Park (D.C.) - Follow-up on Assault on USPP Officer
A second suspect in the assault on Officer James Culver was arrested by FBI
agents on the 15th in Mobile, Alabama, after they learned that he was on a
Greyhound bus en route to Houston, Texas. The suspect, J.B.S.,
38, did not resist when agents boarded the bus in mid-afternoon and
identified themselves. J.B.S., whose 35-year-old brother, H., was
arrested Monday, was scheduled to appear before a magistrate in Mobile
yesterday. He has been charged with assaulting a federal officer while
armed. The brothers are from El Salvador, and immigration
officials said on Wednesday that H.S. is in the country
illegally. Culver's condition is improving, but he was still listed in
critical condition yesterday with multiple fractures, bruises to the brain
and a fractured jaw. Cards and messages of support should be sent to
Officer James Culver, Room 3F6, Washington Hospital Center, 110 Irving
Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20010. (News report from The Washington Post.
8/16, and supplemental information from USPP Dispatch).
90-260 - New River Gorge (West Virginia) - Marijuana Eradication
On August 15th, rangers eradicated 19 marijuana plants found in the park.
The street value of these plants is estimated at $38,000. The discovery of
this small plantation resulted from NERI's involvement in an inter-agency
cooperative effort. Information developed by this group shows that
southwest West Virginia is experiencing a 100 percent increase in marijuana
cultivation over 1989. To date, rangers have located approximately 530
plants - a 110 percent increase over last year. (Telefaxed report from Bill
Blake, CR, NERI, 8/17).
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - IV
Two or more geographic areas experiencing incidents requiring Type I teams.
Competition exists for resources between geographic areas. At least 450
crews or nine Type I teams committed nationally.
2) NATIONAL OVERVIEW
There are 21,000 firefighters and 2,000 soldiers currently committed to 15
major fires in five Western states. At this time last year, there were
approximately 11,000 firefighters assigned to eight major fires and numerous
small fires in the West.
3) NATIONAL FIRE SUMMARY
State Agency Area Fire 8/16 8/17 Status
CA NPS Yosemite Arch Rock Comp. -
T1:
A-Rock 17,876 17,876 CN 8/17
Steamboat - T1 5,200 5,280 Yes
USFS Sequoia Stormy Comp. -
T1 24,200 24,200 Yes
Lassen Finley Lake 21,880 22,980 CN 8/17
Mendocino Recer 3,182 3,182 Yes
CA CDF Campbell 115,000 121,600 CN 8/17
ID USFS Payette Wilderness Comp. -
T2 4,668 6,860 None
Boise Badger - T2 800 1,500 CN 8/19
WA USFS Wenatchee Leavenworth Comp. -
T2: 540 604 Yes
Okanogan Freeze Out 195 195 CN 8/18
OR USFS Ochoco Buck Sp. Comp. -
T2 21,640 21,640 Yes
Malheur Snowsheep Comp. -
Sheep Mt. - T2 11,306 11,306 CN 8/18
Snowshoe - T1 12,457 12,530 CN 8/18
MT BIA North. Cheyenne Joy Complex - T2 550 552 CN 8/17
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 16,000 16,000 MN
A-413 6,010 6,010 MN
FWS Galena Zone A-204 150,000 150,000 None
BLM Southwest Area 004069 5,836 5,836 None
004068 - T2 11,709 11,709 None
004034 117,924 118,254 None
004056 127,373 127,373 None
AK Tok Area 013021 - T1 94,650 96,070 CN 8/20
Galena Zone A-467 17,000 22,000 None
A-468 3,000 3,000 None
Native Galena Zone A-469 550 NR None
Tanana Zone A-391 43,890 NR None
Alaska also has 31 fires unstaffed under modified suppression
strategy for a total of 1,270,617 acres and 47 fires under limited
suppression strategy for 915,147 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
* None - No estimate of containment
* Yes - Fire has been contained
4) NPS NARRATIVES -
- Yosemite (California) - The following reports all come from ICS 209
incident status summaries prepared yesterday at 6 p.m. POT by incident
overhead teams:
* A-Rock Fire - The fire is 95% contained; full containment is predicted
for 6 p.m. today and control is predicted for 6 p.m. on the 19th.
The acreage increase resulted from another successful burnout
operation. Full-scale demobilization of the 1,730 personnel
assigned to the fire (149 NPS, 841 USFS, 219 CDF, 148 state [from
16 states], 37 BLM, 58 private, one OES, 25 military, 184 BIA, 27
San Francisco, and 41 inter-agency) is in progress. The cost
to date for the fire is $3.9 million; anticipated total cost will be
$7.6 million.
* T-4 Fire - The fire is fully controlled. There were no problems
yesterday, and full control was scheduled for the evening hours.
Demobilization is in progress.
* Steamboat Fire - The fire is fully contained; it should be controlled
by 6 a.m. on the 20th. Burnout operations have been completed. Mop-up
continues on all divisions. Additional lightning fires are showing
up within the area. A chance of thunderstorms exists within the area
today. Demobilization of the 1,369 people working the fire (654 Forest
Service, 521 CDF, 17 NPS, 25 private, five BLM, one National Weather
Service, 20 Air Force, 30 CCC, 12 California National Guard, 81 BIA and
three others) is underway. The cost to date for the fire is $2.66
million; anticipated total cost will be $3.5 million.
- Whiskeytown/Shasta/Trinity (California) -
* Kanaka Fire - Demobilization and mop-up continue. One engine and two
crews remain on the northeast corner of the fire.
- Death Valley (California) -
* Hunter Mountain Fire - One engine, five firefighters and three ELM
overhead personnel remain committed to the fire.
- Lava Beds (California) -
* Ross Fire - The fire is being managed by the Modoc Type II team.
Three engines, seven Type II crews, three helicopters, 15 firefighters
and two air tankers remain committed.
- Lassen Volcanic (California) -
* Finley Lake Fire - The fire is 80% contained with no estimate of full
containment. A second Army battalion was committed to the fire
yesterday. Two strike teams - 10 fire engines with crews - remain
staged for possible building protection. Demobilization is underway.
- Denali (Alaska) - A helicopter overflight was conducted yesterday, and
no new fires were found. The weather is cool and humid; rain is forecast
for the next several days. Acreages remain unchanged. The A-364 Fire
merged with the A-255 Fire and is no longer being tracked separately.
5) NATIONAL FIRE ACTIVITY - 197 fires for 22,084 acres in past 24 hours.
6) NPS FIRE DANGERS - The following parks reported high to extreme fire
danger yesterday:
High Very High Extreme
Grant-Kohrs Crater Lake Lava Beds
Golden Gate Craters of the Moon Badlands
Joshua Tree Hawaii Volcanoes John Day Fossil Beds
Dinosaur Lassen Volcanic Noatak
Yosemite Death Valley Yukon-Charlie
Redwoods North Cascades Coulee Dam
Denali Cumberland Island Bighorn Canyon
Indiana Dunes Theodore Roosevelt
Point Reyes
Gulf Islands
Olympic
Voyageurs
Wrangell-St. Elias
Scotts Bluff
Everglades
Pinnacles
Isle Royale
Sequoia/Kings
Whiskeytown
7) NPS MOBILIZATION/DEMOBILIZATION -
Resource August 15 August 16
Firefighters 933 935
Monitors 13 13
Overhead personnel 200 200
Type I crews 2 2
Engines 14 14
Helicopters 4 4
The breakdown by region of personnel committed as of yesterday is
as follows:
AR MAR MWR NAR NCR PNR RMR SER SWR WR
Firefighters 0 70 77 31 25 83 122 105 42 380
Overhead 2 12 7 0 2 24 58 37 31 35
The breakdown by region of personnel available for callout at their
home parks as of yesterday is as follows:
AR MAR MWR NAR NCR PNR RMR SER SWR WR
Firefighters 28 20 20 17 10 0 53 63 79 4
Overhead 0 9 5 0 1 0 21 14 32 0
8) ANALYSIS - Demobilization is in progress from several large fires in
the West. Fire occurrence and fire activity have slowed due to
lower temperatures, higher humidities and less wind.
9) PROGNOSIS - Fire activity is expected to decrease due to favorable
weather conditions. Significant demobilization is expected over the
next few days as large fires continue to reach containment. No
resource shortages are expected.
(209's from YOSE fires, 8/16; CompuServe report from Diane Wisley and Kristy
MacMillan, Branch of Fire, Boise, 2030 MDT, 8/16; National Fire Information
Center's "National Fire News", 1200 MDT, 8/16; NICC Intelligence Section,
Fire Management Situation Report, 0530 MDT, 8/17).
STAFF STATUS
- Division Chief: No travel scheduled.
- Branch of Resource & Visitor Protection: Coffey on SL (8/13-8/17).
- Branch of Fire: Len Dems and Sandy Rives from Shenandoah detailed to the
Branch (WASO) indefinitely; Diane Wisely detailed to the Branch (Boise)
from PNRO (8/6-8/24); Kristy MacMillan detailed to the Branch (Boise)
from Buffalo NSR (8/10-8/20).