RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
                           MORNING REPORT

Attention: Directorate
           Regional and Park Chief Rangers, USPP, BIFC, FLETC
           Ranger Activities Division Information Network

Day/Date:  Tuesday, August 18, 1992

INCIDENTS

92-432 - Glacier (Montana) - Car Clouts

Between midnight and dawn on August 13th, a thief or thieves broken into
four vehicles in the Fish Creek campground and took approximately $400 in
cash and about $1,000 in jewelry.  None of the travelers' checks, credit
cards, photographic equipment or other items in the vehicles were touched. 
All of the cash was taken from wallets or purses, especially those under
passenger seats or in glove boxes.  A slim jim or similar device was
apparently used to gain entrance through the vehicles' doors or windows, and
there was little damage to the vehicles themselves.  Some of the vehicles
were only 20 feet from sleeping campers.  The modus operandi is almost
exactly the same as that employed in car clouts which occurred in Glacier
last year.  [Steve Frye, CR, GLAC, 8/14]

92-433 - Statue of Liberty (New York) - Pickpocket Sentenced

On August 4th, J.T. was sentenced to six months in prison for theft on
a government reservation following his June conviction for picking pockets
on Ellis Island on April 17th.  On that date, rangers received reports of
the theft of a wallet from a park visitor's purse.  One of the visitors
who'd witnessed the theft said that he could identify the pickpocket and
accompanied rangers in a search of the Circle Line boat from which the
victim had disembarked.  One of the rangers saw J.T., who fit the witness's
description, in the boat's rest room; when J.T. came out, the visitor
identified him as the man who had taken the wallet.  J.T. was detained while
a search of the rest room's trash can was conducted.  The victim's wallet
and credit cards were found in a plastic bag, which witnesses identified as
the plastic bag they'd seen J.T. use after he'd taken the wallet from the
victim's purse.  J.T. was arrested and taken to a correctional center in
Manhattan.  When he was fingerprinted by U.S. marshals, they found that he
had removed all of his fingerprints with either sandpaper or acid.  J.T.
also refused to provide his name and address.  [Scott Pfeninger, CR, STLI,
8/14]

92-434 - Shenandoah (Virginia) - Air Crash with Two Fatalities

Late on Sunday, August 9th, a family friend of S.H. and his wife
J.M. called the FAA and reported that they were overdue from a
flight from Hanover, Virginia, to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.  The CAP sent
out aircraft at 1:00 a.m. the following morning, and state police soon found
the couple's vehicle at the Hanover airport.  Inside the car were computer
printouts for an alternate flight route that would have taken them directly
over the park.  A CAP plane which flew the route on Monday afternoon located
the wreckage southeast of the north summit of Mount Marshall in the park. 
Rangers reached the scene, which was about 300 yards east of the Appalachian
Trail, shortly thereafter and found that both S.H. and J.M. had been
killed in the crash.  The park, FAA, NTSB and state police are
investigating.  They are checking the possibility that the pilot may have
flown the alternate route to avoid bad weather.  Salvage of the aircraft is
scheduled to being today.  [Greg Stiles, ACR, SHEN, 8/11 and 8/17]

92-435 - Baltimore/Washington Parkway (Maryland) - MVA with Fatalities

On the afternoon of August 16th, a Cadillac heading southbound on the
parkway north of Big Patuxent River was struck by a Chevy Blazer.  The
accident forced the Cadillac across the median strip into the northbound
lanes of the parkway, where it struck a Chevrolet and a Nissan four-door.  A
northbound Jeep swerved and avoided the Cadillac, but struck a tree east of
the roadway.  The two occupants of the Cadillac were pronounced dead at the
scene.  Other injured parties were taken to hospitals by ambulance and by
Eagle One, the USPP helicopter.  The circumstances of the accident are under
investigation by detectives.  The northbound lanes of the parkway were
closed for about 90 minutes because of the accident.  [Robert Kass, USPP,
8/17]

92-436 - Zion (Utah) - Rescue

E.S., 28, of New Haven, Connecticut, fell approximately 25 vertical
feet and suffered head, face and leg injuries while in Hidden Canyon on the
morning of August 11th.  A 20-person rescue team responded.  Due to the
narrowness of the canyon, two members of the party had to be utilized to
relay radio messages.  It took the remaining 18 rescuers almost eight hours
to move the patient to the trailhead, arriving at that point a half hour
after midnight.  Maneuvers through high-angle boulder fields and a number of
vertical litter lowerings were required during the descent through the
canyon.  After exiting the canyon, rescuers had to belay the litter for
almost a half mile along the trail, which has vertical drops of 200 feet. 
Shu was taken to a local hospital, treated, and released.  [Larry van Slyke,
CR, ZION, 8/17]

92-437 - Zion (Utah) - Rescue

Just after 1:00 p.m. on August 11th, M.N. of El Toro, California,
reported that his wife, 47, and his son and two daughters, all in their mid-20s,
were in trouble in Zion Narrows and needed assistance.  The family had
planned a one-night campout in the Narrows over August 9th and 10th; they'd
hiked about ten hours the first day, but had not quite reached the park
boundary, which is about four miles from the trailhead.  They had camped,
then continued downstream on Monday, the 10th, but had covered less than
four miles.  During the hike, M.N. and his wife had become separated from
the rest of the family because of flash floods.  M.N.'s wife, who weighed
230 pounds and was taking medication for her heart, began having cardiac
problems and injured her leg.  M.N. hiked out through the rest of the
Narrows on Tuesday without seeing his children, and reported the situation
to rangers.  While arrangements were being made to secure a helicopter, the
son hiked out of the Narrows to report that his two sisters had returned to
help their mother.  In doing so, one of his sisters had fallen and
apparently broken her tailbone, so was now unable to hike out on her own. 
FIREPRO personnel Eric Lutz and Koby Barnhurst were dispatched to the
trailhead to hike downstream to the three women, and reached them despite
considerable difficulty with flash floods.  They spent the night with the
M.N.s, providing food and water and assessing their medical situation.  At
the time of the report, plans were to get the party to the top of Narrows
canyon so that they could be airlifted from the area if necessary.  [Larry
van Slyke, CR, ZION, 8/17]

92-438 - Colonial (Virginia) - MVA with Serious Injury to Contract Employee

H.A.B., 21, of Williamsburg, Virginia, was seriously injured in a
one-car accident on the parkway seven miles west of Yorktown on Sunday
morning.  Her car went off the wet roadway on a curve and struck a tree. 
H.A.B., who is a cast member in a historical drama being presented in the
park under a contract funded by the park's cooperating association, is
currently in stable condition with multiple compound fractures of both legs
and a fractured pelvis.  [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 8/17]

FIRE ACTIVITY

1) FIRE SITUATION - Preparedness Level II

2) FIRE SUMMARY

State  Agency     Area             Fire               8/17    8/18   Status
 
 OR    USFS    Fremont NF         Rim - T2             325     325   CND
                                  Disappointment - T2  245     245   CN 8/17

 CA    CDF     Tuolumne-
                Calaveras RU      Old Gulch            700    2,500  NEC
               Santa Clara RU   * Emos                   -      250  NR
               San Diego RU     * Wildcat                -      750  CN 8/18
       USFS    Los Padres       * Slickrock              -      750  CN 8/18

 ID    USFS    Caribou NF         Grandine             100      700  CN 8/18

 NV    BLM     Las Vegas Dist.  * Meadow                 -    1,000  CND

 AZ    BLM     Yuma Dist.       * Alamo                  -      100  CND
       USFS    Tonto NF         * Vineyard               -      270  CND

 Notes:

 * - New fire (this report)         T1/T2 - Type 1 or Type 2 team committed
 NEC - No estimate of containment   CN (date) - Expected date of containment
 NR - No report received            CND - Contained

3) FIRE REPORT HIGHLIGHTS - 

 * NPS Areas - No significant fire activity is being reported.  A few
   parks have small (less than five acre) prescribed natural fires.  
   The Arrowhead crew is on the Old Gulch Fire.

 * Tuolumne-Calaveras Ranger Unit - The Old Gulch Fire has burned into
   Fricot City and burned at least ten structures.  A precautionary
   evacuation has been ordered for the community of Sheep Ranch

4) FIRE ACTIVITY - 235 fires for 5,714 acres in past 24 hours.

5) ANALYSIS - Initial attack activity is continuing.  Numerous units in the
   West are reporting very high to extreme indices.

6) PROGNOSIS - Continuing activity is expected due to new and holdover
   lightning fires.  A red flag watch has been posted for the east slopes of
   the Cascades for strong winds and low humidity.  No resource shortages
   are expected.  

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

New River Gorge (West Virginia) - Exotic Species

On July 20th, a 13-year-old local youth caught what appeared to be a
piranha-type fish near the park's southern boundary.  The fish was silvery
grey with red fin markings and had several rows of sharp teeth.  On July
29th, another resident caught a similar fish in the park.  State DNR fish
biologists haven't been able to positively identify the fish, but believe
they are tropical in origin and are consistent in appearance with members of
the piranha or pacu families.  The fish were likely raised in an aquarium
and recently released in the river.  Unconfirmed reports of a third fish are
being investigated.  The fish are not believed to pose any threats and will
not survive the winter.  [Dave Bartlett, NERI]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

1) On August 14th, Jim Brady signed a memorandum to regional chief rangers
outlining the proposed climbing management program for the next year.  If
you have climbing activities, you should make sure you receive a copy from
your Regional office.  [Tony Sisto, RAD/WASO]

2) The Bevinetto Congressional Fellowship for 1993 - 1995 was announced on
August 10th and closes on August 31st.  The announcement number is APE 92-13.
The fellowship is a two-year developmental program in which the fellow
is assigned to work for a committee on Capitol Hill for the first year and
is assigned to the WASO Division of Legislation during the second year.
GS-11s through GS/GM-13s are eligible to apply.  For further information, call
Lucia Bragan at 202-523-5280.  [Lucia Bragan, EDD/WASO]

STAFF STATUS

Division Chief: Brady conducting "Ranger Future" site visits (8/17-8/21).

Branch of Resource and Visitor Protection: Sisto attending management grid
training session, Tampa, FL (8/17-8/21); Henry at wilderness and aircraft
overflight meetings, PNRO, Seattle, WA (8/19-8/22).

Branch of Fire and Aviation: Botti on annual leave (8/19-8/21).

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