- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Monday, August 3, 1992
- Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1992
RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
MORNING REPORT
Attention: Directorate
Regional and Park Chief Rangers, USPP, BIFC, FLETC
Ranger Activities Division Information Network
Day/Date: Monday, August 3, 1992
INCIDENTS
91-670 - Gulf Islands (Florida/Mississippi) - Follow-up on Homicide
On July 24th, S.P.E., 18, was found guilty of the first degree
murder of L.R., 15, at Fort Pickens last December. The jury
returned the verdict after three hours of deliberation, and subsequently
recommended that S.P.E. be sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 25
years. A hearing for further legal arguments on what sentence the judge
should impose will be held in September. L.R., who was pregnant at the
time she was murdered, was S.P.E.'s ex-girlfriend. S.P.E. had repeatedly
assaulted her with a knife, machete and baseball bat; all three weapons were
found at the scene near L.R.'s body. S.P.E. testified that he had thrown
the bat away weeks before the murder and that he'd lost the machete in the
Fort Pickens area sometime before the murder. A receipt for the knife was
found in S.P.E.'s vehicle along with blood which matched L.R.'s. Other
evidence found at the scene and S.P.E.'s home linked him to the homicide.
[Gene Phillips, CR, GUIS, 7/27]
92-298 - Cape Cod (Massachusetts) - Follow-up on Piping Plover Closures
The entire North Beach area of the park at Race Point is now open to
off-road vehicle use and self-contained vehicle camping, but the six miles of
the South Beach ORV area are closed. That area will probably reopen this
week. (Virginia Rousseau, RCR, RAD/NARO, 7/24]
92-375 - Glacier Bay (Alaska) - Air Crash with Fatality
M.I., the owner of Gulf Air Taxi in Yakutat, Alaska, was killed on
July 29th when the plane he was flying crashed into the Barbazon Mountain
Range near Akwe Lake after leaving the park for Yakutat. M.I. had been a
bush pilot for over 30 years and a concessioner in both Glacier Bay and
Wrangell-St. Elias since 1984, and had routinely been hired by those parks
to fly rangers on patrols. The accident is under investigation by Alaska
state troopers. [Randy King, CR, GLBA, 7/31]
92-376 - Ozark (Missouri) - Drowning
On the afternoon of August 1st, E.D., 22, of Peoria, Illinois, jumped
into the Upper Current River from the cliffs at the Lipps Bluff area and
disappeared. About five minutes passed before a passing canoeist spotted
him and brought him to shore. Members of the group he was with began CPR
while a local resident summoned help. Responding rangers placed E.D. on a
backboard and continued CPR while they transferred him to an ambulance. The
ambulance crew was able to get vital signs after several defibrillations,
but E.D. was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital. Rangers
learned that E.D. was with a large group, including his family, all of whom
were making their first canoe trips on the Upper Current. E.D.'s mother
said that he had consumed up to a dozen beers before the accident, and also
noted that E.D. had seen home videos of people jumping off the cliffs into
the river before the trip. Witnesses were not clear on whether E.D. entered
the river feet first or at an angle, but did agree that he'd executed a
somersault during his dive. [Tim Blank, CR, OZAR, 8/1]
92-377 - Shenandoah (Virginia) - Drug Arrest
A four-and-a-half month investigation concluded on July 27th with the arrest
of H.R. at his rural Rappahannock county residence on charges of
cultivation of marijuana in the park. Central District rangers, accompanied
by three members of a local drug task force, executed both arrest and search
warrants and seized over 70 items of evidence and contraband, including
marijuana plants, small quantities of hashish and packaged marijuana, other
drugs, and many items connected with H.R.' indoor growing operations.
Nine other plants were harvested at a plot H.R. had been cultivating in
the park. The incident began in March when rangers discovered the plot. A
follow-up investigation led to the installation of a surveillance camera
overlooking the plot. The warrants were obtained after H.R. was twice
captured on video tending plants and other probable cause information was
developed and confirmed. [Glen Knight, CI, SHEN, 7/28]
92-378 - Mount Rushmore (South Dakota) - MVA with Fatality and Injuries
Just before 10:00 p.m. on the evening of July 25th, a van with eight people
in it left the roadway of Highway 244 about a half mile east of the main
parking lot at Mount Rushmore and crashed into a rock embankment about 125
feet off the road. Witnesses reported that they saw no brake lights or
other signals as the van left the road. The driver, D.B., 66,
of Rapid City, was dead at the scene, possibly of a heart attack or other
medical problem. Seven other passengers were injured and transported to a
regional hospital. M.B., 65, the victim's wife, and C.A.,
47, of Polson, Montana, remain hospitalized in serious condition.
Four other victims, aged from 11 to 36, remain hospitalized in fair
condition, and a 21-year-old victim was treated and released. About ten
rangers, ambulances from three municipalities, state troopers, county
deputies and local SAR units all responded to the accident. [Mike Pflaum,
CR, MORU, 7/29]
92-379 - Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico) - Rescue
A.M., a 16-year-old boy from Missouri, suffered a bad fall in New
Cave on the morning of July 25th, incurring head and possible spinal and
elbow injuries. The boy was on a tour of Slaughter Canyon Cave with rangers
and was headed down from an area called Monarch Room when he fell. An EMT
who was on the scene provided initial treatment. Rangers transported the
boy from the cave to a helicopter, where he was flown to a hospital. He was
treated and released the next day. [Felix Hernandez, CACA, 7/27]
92-380 - Gateway (New York) - Helicopter Crash with Injuries
A New York City police department twin-jet helicopter crashed on an
abandoned runway at Floyd Bennett Field on the afternoon of July 27th. Both
crew members were medevaced to area hospitals; their injuries are not
considered life-threatening. The helicopter was seriously damaged and
probably unrepairable. The cause of the crash has not been determined. An
investigation by FAA, NTSB and the Park Police is underway. [Dale
Dickerhoof, Commander, NYFO/USPP, 7/27]
92-381 - New River Gorge (West Virginia) - Car Clouting Arrest
At 11:00 p.m. on July 20th, park visitor S.S. returned to his vehicle
at Cunard Landing after hearing a loud noise and found that a person had
broken his car window and was stealing items from the vehicle. When S.S.
asked the individual, later identified as D.G., 35, what he was
doing, D.G. put his hand in his pocket, told S.S. that he had a knife,
and threatened to use it on S.S.. S.S. nonetheless asked D.G. to give
back his belongings; D.G. threw a few items on the ground, put the rest in
his truck, and drove off. He returned a few minutes later, threatened S.S.
again and told him to forget that the incident ever happened. D.G. drove
up the road, stopped about 50 yards away, turned his headlights on S.S. for
about five minutes, then left the area. S.S. reported the incident the
next day. He provided rangers with the truck's registration number and
descriptions of both D.G. and the vehicle. Ranger Tony Liguori worked
closely with Fayette County officers to identify D.G.. A search warrant
was obtained for D.G.'s residence on July 25th. During the search,
rangers identified and recovered items taken from S.S.'s vehicle, and also
discovered items incidental to two other car clouts which occurred in the
park's Stonecliff Beach area - one of four park areas in the Canyon District
which had been hit by a series of 11 car clouts over the previous four
months. Further information was obtained indicating that D.G. may have
been storing stolen property at his mother's residence, and a consent search
was conducted of her house the next day. Rangers found items from three
other car clouting incidents, two from the series of 11 reported above, one
from another park car clout. Later that day, D.G. was arrested and
charged with grand larceny and released on a $10,000 bond. Charges of
aggravated burglary, tampering, vandalism and three other counts of grand
larceny are pending. D.G. was arrested at Stonecliff Beach after
completing a whitewater rafting trip. He had accepted a fee to take a group
of nine people downriver, and was subsequently cited by West Virginia DNR
officers for illegally conducting a commercial operation without a permit.
[Rick Brown, DR, Canyon District, NERI, 7/27]
*** More pending incident reports tomorrow ***
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) FIRE SITUATION - Preparedness Level II
2) FIRE SUMMARY
State Agency Area Fire 8/2 8/3 Status
-- BLM Burns Dist. * Fish Creek 700+ 600 CN 8/3
OR USFS Winema NF * Lone Pine - T1 - 2,000 CN 8/5
Umatilla NF * Protection - 4,000 NEC
WA State Goldendale * Woodland 92 - 2,000 NEC
CA CDF Tuolumne-
Calaveras RU * Mocassin 3,000+ 5,000 NEC
USFS Los Padres NF * Seco - 2,000+ NEC
ID BLM Idaho Falls Dist. * Shives 400 400 CND
Boise Dist. * Eight Mile - 200 CND
USFS Boise NF * County Line - T1 3,900 4,000+ CN 8/14
UT State Woodruff * Sawmill Creek 1,600 4,600 CN 8/3
NV BLM Elko Dist. * Robinson Mt. 125 125 CND
* Bluff Creek 2,000 2,000 CN 8/3
* Frenchie Flat 1,000 1,757 CN 8/3
* Rain Mine - 1,800+ CN 8/5
Winemucca Dist. * Canyon - 4,500 NEC
State - * Wheeler Mt. 480 480 CND
- * Green Mt. 500 200+ CN 8/3
CO USFS Routt NF * Radium - T2 - 250 NEC
BLM Craig Dist. * Great Divide - 500 NEC
* Elk Springs - 250 NEC
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
CL - Controlled MN - Being monitored
CS - Confinement strategy NEC - No estimate of containment
CN (date) - Expected date CND - Contained
of containment DM - Demob in progress
3) FIRE ACTIVITY - 220 fires for 11,887 acres reported in the past 24 hours.
4) ANALYSIS - High to extreme fire indices are being reported throughout
most areas in the West. Increased activity is occurring in the
Northwest, California, Great Basin and Rocky Mountains. Resources are
being mobilized to the Great Basin, Northwest and California.
5) PROGNOSIS - Fire activity and mobilization of resources to the Northwest,
Great Basin and California is expected to continue, and a shortage of
Type I crews is anticipated.
[NIFCC Intelligence Section, 8/3]
STAFF STATUS
Division Chief: Brady on annual leave (8/3-8/7).
Branch of Resource and Visitor Protection: Martin on annual leave (8/3-8/7);
Schamp on annual leave (8/6-8/14).
Branch of Fire and Aviation: Hurd on fire program review in Alaska (8/1-8/7);
Gale on annual leave (8/3-8/5).
Prepared by WASO Division of Ranger Activities
Telephone: Branch of R&VP - FTS 268-4874/6039 or 202-208-4874/6039
Branch of F&A (WASO) - FTS 268-5572/5573 or 202-208-5572/5573
Telefax: Branch of R&VP - FTS 268-6756 or 202-208-6756
Branch of F&A (WASO) - FTS 268-5977 or 202-208-5977
CompuServe: Branch of R&VP - WASO-RANGER
Branch of F&A (WASO) - WASO-FIRE-WO
cc:Mail Branch of R&VP - WASO Ranger Activities
Branch of F&A (WASO) - WASO Fire and Aviation