RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
                           MORNING REPORT

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

Day/Date:  Friday, July 23, 1993

Broadcast: By 0900 EDT

INCIDENTS

93-247 - Haleakala (Hawaii) - Follow-up on Employee Injury

Facility manager Mike Gerrity, who was seriously injured in a bicycle
accident on May 10th, is now in a hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado, and
is slowly improving.  Although the casts for his several fractures will
likely be removed this week, it will likely be some time before he fully
recovers his mental abilities.  Mike's doctors think that his comprehension
level will gradually improve over months or years, but can not yet say how
long the recovery will take or how complete it will be.  His family and
friends hope to take him out of the hospital for an outing at the end of the
month.  Ronnie Gerrity has quit her job so that she can spend the majority
of her time with her husband.  [Karen Ardoin, CR, HALE, 7/18]

93-510 - Zion (Utah) - Two Drownings; Rescue 

On July 14th, a group of five Explorer scouts and three leaders from the
Mormon Church's Riviera Ward in Salt Lake City headed out from Lava Point
for a four-day hike into the park through Zion Narrows.  The group had hiked
two miles into the Kolob Creek area, where heavy spring runoff had filled
the creek to nearly double its normal level, when D.F., 24, got
caught in a whirlpool.  K.E., another of the group's leaders, pulled
him out, but was in turn sucked into the pool.  K.E.'s body was recovered by
M.B., 35, the third leader, who tried but failed to resuscitate him. 
The hikers left K.E.'s body on the bank and hiked another 150 years, where
D.F. was swept over a waterfall and sucked into another whirlpool.  He
did not resurface.  M.B. decided that the group shouldn't risk further
forays into the creek and should instead await rescue.  Their wet suits,
ropes and dehydrated food were lost in the creek, so the hikers huddled in
an alcove and shared food from the one remaining backpack.  The group was
reported missing on Sunday, July 18th, and was spotted the following
evening, largely because the party alerted searchers by lighting a fire with
glue and burning plastic, thereby sending black smoke into the air. 
Rescuers flown in by helicopter rappelled down the canyon wall and used a
hand winch to hoist the six survivors to a ledge.  After spending the night
there, they were flown out by helicopter.  Surviving were M.B.; S.E., 14,
the son of K.E.; C.S., 15; M.P., 17; J.N., 18; and R.L., 16.  [Denver Post, 7/21]

93-511 - Delaware Water Gap (New Jersey/Pennsylvania) - Rescue

Around 7:45 p.m. on July 20th, the park's communications center received a
call that an individual was trapped on a ledge at the Childs Park picnic
area.  The park's technical rescue team responded and found M.K., a
20-year-old youth counselor, clinging to a 12-inch-wide shale ledge 50 feet
above the base of Fullmer Falls.  Several youths in his group had dared him
to jump to this ledge; although he reached it, he was unable to retreat from
the ledge, which began to crumble beneath him as he moved.  The team
performed a technical rescue and removed Kowaski from the ledge at 10:20
p.m.  M.K. had no serious injuries, but was slightly hypothermic. 
Delaware Township fire and ambulance assisted at the scene.  [Doyle Nelson,
CR, DEWA, 7/21]

93-512 - Mammoth Cave (Kentucky) - Search and Rescue

Just after midnight on July 21st, canoers T.B. and J.C. advised
rangers that two other members of their party, M.H. and D.C.,
were overdue from a trip town the Green River.  The four had put in
approximately ten miles above the park boundary and planned to canoe through
the park and land at Dennison Ferry campground.  The canoe carrying T.B.
and J.C. had capsized, though, and the group became separated.  T.B. and
J.C. were able to reach shore, walk to a nearby community, and call
rangers.  A search of the river was begun at 5 a.m.  Hoots and Carder were
found in good condition on Three Sisters Island around 5:45 a.m.  They had
been unprepared for an overnight trip and had stopped at the island when
darkness fell.  [RAD/SERO, 7/21]

93-513 - Great Smokies (Tennessee/North Carolina) - Motor Vehicle Fatality

W.M. and C.M. of Huber Heights, Ohio, were travelling on the
Newfound Gap Road near Mingus Mill on July 20th when C.M. jumped from the
vehicle and was run over by its rear wheel and killed.  A medical examiner
at the hospital in Cherokee confirmed that the tire pattern on M.'s body
matched the tires of their vehicle.  An investigation into the incident is
underway.  [Don Utterback, Acting CR, GRSM, 7/21]

FIRE ACTIVITY

1) FIRE SITUATION - Preparedness Level II

2) FIRE SUMMARY

State  Agency     Area            Fire              7/22      7/23   Status

 AK    State   SW Area           304632 - T2       2,400    10,270   NEC
       BLM     Anchorage         B627                238       238   CND

 CA    USFS    Angeles           Maxwell             100       100   CND

 AZ    USFS    Coconino        * Daddy                 -       500   CND
       State   -               * Chadway               -       400   CND

 GA    NPS     Cumberland Isl.   High Point          160       160   CN 7/25
       FWS     Okefenokee        Hummingbird         160       170   CN 7/26

 IL    USFS    Shawnee         * Flood assist - T2   N/A       N/A   N/A

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
  CND - Contained              CN (date) - Expected date of containment

3) PARK FIRE REPORTS - 

* Cumberland Island - Burnout operations on the High Point fire are
  continuing using existing roads for firelines.  A helicopter with a bucket
  is working the fire.  The fire currently threatens structures and historic
  sites.  Safety for firefighters is a particular concern because of the
  extreme heat and humidity.  

* George Washington Parkway - A small fire broke out on a nearly vertical
  slope along the palisades of the Potomac River.  It appears to have been
  caused by a cigarette or burning debris tossed by a hiker.  Firefighters
  had to use ropes and belay techniques to reach portions of the fire.

4) ANALYSIS - Initial attack activity continued throughout the Southwest. 
Some fires in Alaska continued to gain acreage.  There was no activity in
the Northwest.

5) PROGNOSIS - Scattered showers and thundershowers are forecast for the
northern Great Basin and the central Rockies.  Seasonal temperatures and
below normal humidities continue in the Southwest.  Scattered thundershowers
are forecast for southern and eastern New Mexico.  Alaska will be mostly
sunny and warm with widely scattered thunderstorms across McGrath to Big
Delta and east.  Initial attack will continue in Alaska, California and the
Southwest.

[NIFCC Intelligence Section, 0630, 7/23]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No field reports today.

STAFF STATUS

Division Chief: No leave or travel scheduled.

Branch of Resource and Visitor Protection: Dickerhoof on AL (7/19-7/22).

Branch of Fire and Aviation: Farrel at NPS-58 revision meeting (7/19-7/23);
Botti and Berg on FIREPRO audit of SWR (7/19-7/23); Gale on AL (7/22-7/23).

Prepared by WASO Division of Ranger Activities

Telephone: Branch of R&VP - 202-208-4874
           Branch of F&A (WASO) - 202-208-5572
Telefax:   Branch of R&VP - 202-208-6756
           Branch of F&A (WASO) - 202-208-5977
cc:Mail:   Branch of R&VP - WASO Ranger Activities
           Branch of F&A (WASO) - WASO Fire and Aviation
SkyPager:  Emergencies ONLY (numeric message) - 1-800-759-7243, PIN 2404843 
SkyTalk:   Emergencies ONLY (voice message) - 1-800-759-8255, PIN 2404843