RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
MORNING REPORT
Attention: Directorate
Regional and Park Chief Rangers, USPP, BIFC, FLETC
CC: RAD Information Net
Day/date: Tuesday, July 23, 1991
INCIDENTS
91-304 - Grand Teton (Wyoming) - Aircraft Accident
An ex-military, two-passenger T-28 training aircraft piloted by D.L.,
57, of Las Vegas, Nevada, made an emergency landing with
wheels retracted in sage brush approximately one mile from park
headquarters in Moose early on the afternoon of July 21st.
Neither the pilot nor his passenger, L.L., 49, were
injured, but the propeller, right wing, under carriage and
probably the engine of the T-28 were damaged. D.L. reported
that he was flying over the park with a group of similar type
aircraft when his plane sustained a loss of oil pressure. He
attempted an emergency landing at Jackson Hole Airport, but did
not have enough altitude or air speed to reach the airport and
landed about a mile and a half short of the north end of the
runway. Park rangers, Wyoming Highway Patrol and Teton County
officers, and crash rescue units from the airport responded to
the incident. [Telefax from Don Coelho, LES, GRTE, 7/22]
91-305 - Fort Jefferson (Florida) - Resources Conviction
B.B., 37, captain of the 38-foot Sea Quest, was
convicted of damaging almost 50 feet of a major coral reef off
Loggerhead Key in the Dry Tortugas in magistrate's court on July
19th. B.B. admitted that his passengers had been snorkeling
in the area a short time before his boat hit the reef, and that
the nautical charts showed a water depth of from one half to
three feet in the area. The documentation for B.B.'s boat
showed that it required just over five feet of water. B.B.
had appeared in the same court almost a year earlier for
possession of short fish, fileted fish and protected plant life.
He was convicted on all counts and had been fined $100. United
States Magistrate Judge William Turnoff told B.B. that his
irresponsible boating was the direct cause of the death and
destruction of a portion of the living coral reef and fined
B.B. $2,500. [Telefax from Mark Lewis, LES, EVER, 7/19]
91-306 - New River Gorge (West Virginia) - Accidental Shooting
J.S.C., 17, of Victor, West Virginia, was
accidentally shot with a .22 caliber pistol while camping with
his parents at a primitive site at Koontz Bend on the Gauley
River on July 19th. J.S.C. was searching for some items in a bag
when the pistol fell out and discharged. The round entered the
lower part of his leg near the ankle and lodged behind the knee.
J.S.C. is presently in stable condition in Plateau Medical Center
in Oak Hill. An investigation is underway. [Telefax from Rick
Brown, Acting CR, NERI, 7/22]
91-307 - Lincoln Home (Illinois) - Armed Robbery
Just before 8 a.m. on the morning of the 21st, M.B.,
an employee of National Garages, which operates the parking lot
concession for the park, was robbed of $939 in concession funds
and $270 in personal funds and possessions by two men with a
small caliber revolver. The men had employed a ruse to gain
entrance to the parking lot's fee collection kiosk. M.B.
was not hurt. The Springfield police are investigating, and the
FBI has been notified. [Larry Blake, CR, LIHO, via telefax from
John Townsend, RAD/MWRO, 7/22]
[More pending incident reports tomorrow...]
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) ACTIVITY LEVEL Planning Level II
2) FIRE SUMMARY
State Agency Area Fire 7/22 7/23 Status
AK BIA Southwest Area B544 4,710 4,710 NEC
FWS Up. Yukon Zone B460 73,330 74,890 NEC
Up. Yukon Zone B562 91,310 91,310 DM
MT USFS Gallatin NF Thompson Crk. T1 7,000 7,746 CN 7/28
CA USFS Klamath NF * Garner 140 CN 7/22
Alaska also has 13 fires under modified suppression strategy for
379,789 acres and 43 fires under limited suppression for 531,749 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 MS Modified suppression strategy
CN Contained MN Being monitored
CL Controlled NEC No estimate of containment
CS Confinement strategy DM Demobed
3) 1990/1991 COMPARATIVE ACTIVITY SUMMARY
Fires Acres
1990 (Year-to-date) 38,815 1,776,874
1991 (Year-to-date) 40,223 1,714,292
1990-1991 (% difference) + 4% 5%
4) ANALYSIS - Minor fire activity continues throughout most of
the United States, but very few fires are escaping initial
attack.
5) PROGNOSIS - The potential exists for increased fire activity,
as temperatures are expected to rise and thunderstorms to
develop over most of the West this week. No resource shortages
are anticipated.
[Fire Management Situation Report, NIFCC Intelligence Section,
7/23]
STAFF STATUS
Division Chief: Dick Martin is the acting division chief.
Branch of Resource & Visitor Protection: Coffey at conference of
regional resource management specialists, Indiana Dunes, Indiana
(7/22-7/26); Schamp and Marriott at National Technical
Investigators' Association training seminar, Washington, DC
(7/22-7/26).
Branch of Fire & Aviation: Broyles at RX-95 faculty meeting, Fort
Apache, Arizona (7/23-7/26); Bristol at COR training, Seattle,
Washington (7/22-7/26); Clark conducting prevention analysis for
Yellowstone (7/20-7/28); Cook at S290 training development
session, Denver, Colorado (7/22-7/25); Gale in NAR for fire
suppression review at Acadia, Cape Cod and elsewhere (7/20-7/26).
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