- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Monday, August 9, 1993
- Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993
RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
MORNING REPORT
Attention: Directorate
Regional and Park Chief Rangers, USPP, BIFC, FLETC
Ranger Activities Division Information Network
Day/Date: Monday, August 9, 1993
Broadcast: By 0900 EDT
INCIDENTS
93-574 - War in the Pacific (Guam) - Earthquake
An earthquake which registered between 8.1 and 8.2 on the Richter scale
struck Guam at 6:35 p.m. on August 8th. The epicenter was reported to be
from 25 to 50 miles north of the island. The quake inflicted only minor
damage to the park, mostly in the administrative offices, where books, files
and supplies were dumped from shelves and drawers. There are some minor
cracks in the visitor center's concrete walls, but the building appears to
be structurally sound; no other park structures show any sign of damage.
Several small earth slides also occurred within the park. Park staff
members have reported in, and there are no reports of injury or major
damages to any personal property or residences. Several major hotels
outside the park were destroyed and will have to be razed. Despite the
severity of the damage to these and other structures, only minor injuries
have been reported islandwide. Electrical power is out throughout the
island, with many downed lines and poles. Water and sewer systems are also
out due to broken pipes and the lack of power to pumps. At least four
highway bridges either fell or have been declared unsafe, and the roadway in
the Fonte Plateau Unit of the park has a two inch crack down the center
where the road slid down the hillside. Numerous after-shocks have been
experienced and are expected to continue for some time. Apparently no
tsunami occurred and the park was spared major water damage. The visitor
center will remain closed until power is restored. Park units are open, but
restroom facilities are closed until utilities can be restored. Telephone
service is largely intact. [Ed Wood, Superintendent, WAPA/AMME, 8/9]
93-575 - American Memorial (Saipan) - Tropical Storm
Tropical Storm Steve passed just north of the island of Saipan during the
early morning hours of August 8th. Maximum sustained winds were reported to
be around 65 mph, with gusts to 85 mph. The park was washed over with
seawater; the water was a foot deep at the Micro Beach parking lot. Only
minor damage is reported - primarily broken tree limbs. The park is open
and the staff is concentrating on cleanup. Saipan felt the shocks from the
Guam quake, but no damages or injuries occurred. [Ed Wood, Superintendent,
WAPA/AMME, 8/9]
93-576 - Petersburg (Virginia) - Tornado; Agency Assistance
Around 2 p.m. on August 6th, a tornado or tornadoes touched down in the
cities of Petersburg and Colonial Heights adjacent to the park. Power was
knocked out to the main visitor center and maintenance area, but the park
was otherwise unaffected. Damage and personal injuries were extensive in
the Old Town area of Petersburg and in the Southpark Mall in Colonial
Heights. Rangers assisted area police and fire units in search, rescue and
emergency medical service operations. [Mike Hill, Superintendent, PETE,
8/6]
93-577 - Grand Canyon (Arizona) - Helicopter Crash; Agency Assistance
Two tour helicopters owned and operated by Papillon Helicopters collided ten
feet off the ground in Tusayan on the afternoon of August 7th, injuring all
14 occupants. One helicopter was taking off at the time; the other was
landing. About 20 park personnel responded and provided EMS assistance.
Five of the victims were taken to Grand Canyon Medical Center, and the other
nine were transported to hospitals in Flagstaff. One of the victims had a
severed limb, but the nature and extent of injuries to the helicopters'
other occupants is unknown at present. [Terill Gibbons, Dispatch, GRCA,
8/7; Bill Banks, Dispatch, GRCA, 8/8]
93-578 - Great Smokies (N. Carolina/Tennessee) - Search; Attempted Suicide
Around 6 p.m. on July 28th, rangers at the Deep Creek received a message to
be on the lookout for W.J. of Bryson City, North Carolina, who had
left a suicide note in her home then departed for points unknown. Rangers
found her vehicle parked at the Deep Creek trailhead ten minutes later. The
car contained a second suicide note. Rangers conducted a hasty search and
found W.J. near a creek a mile and a half up the trail. She had consumed
about 120 one milligram tablets of lorazepam, but was still conscious. They
evacuated her down the trail to a Swain County EMS ambulance, which took her
to a local hospital. W.J. was treated and held at the facility for
psychiatric evaluation. Two more suicide notes were found in her purse.
[Dave Panebaker, ACR, GRSM, 8/5]
93-579 - Great Smokies (N. Carolina/Tennessee) - EMS Incident
A VIP in the Clingman's Dome area received a report of a man down on a trail
about a half mile from the parking lot at 3:30 pm on August 1st. Two
visiting emergency room nurses began performing CPR on the man, 60-year-old
R.R. of Long Beach, Mississippi, and were assisted by responding
rangers. R.R. was taken to the Collins Gap area, where he was picked up
and evacuated by a Bell 412 Life Star helicopter from the University of
Tennessee Medical Center. He later died at the center. Rangers
subsequently learned that R.R. had been taking medication for high blood
pressure. After the helicopter left the scene, the rangers were collecting
used medical equipment and placing it in a red bio-hazard plastic bag when
one of them was accidentally stuck in the leg by an unshielded epinephrine
syringe needle. The ranger had completed his hepatitis B vaccinations and
had a tetanus booster within the last year. The syringe had been used to
administer medication to R.R. through an endotracheal tube. [Dave
Panebaker, ACR, GRSM, 8/5]
93-580 - Baltimore-Washington Parkway (D.C./Maryland) - Drug Arrest
Around 1 a.m. on July 31st, a citizen advised a Park Police officer that a
vehicle was being operated in a reckless manner on the parkway and provided
a complete description of the vehicle. The car was subsequently stopped.
During the stop, the officer discovered over 40 grams of crack cocaine in
the vehicle along with cash, a pager, a cellular telephone, and materials
commonly used to distribute narcotics. The value of the narcotics has been
placed at $5,000. [Lt. M.A. Wood, USPP, 8/5]
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) FIRE SITUATION - Preparedness Level II
2) FIRE SUMMARY
State Agency Area Fire 8/6 8/9 Status
AK State SW Area 304632 - T2 11,550 11,550 CND
Tanana Zone B248 36,000 36,250 NEC
NPS Yukon-Charley Webber Creek 12,600# 19,245 NEC
B557 80,000# 158,300 CS
Rock Creek 450# 220 CS
OR USFS Deschutes * Sage Brush - 120 CN 8/9
CA State Lassen-Modoc Widow 300 830 CND
USFS San Bernadino * Bee - 475 CND
NV BLM Winnemucca Willow Creek 3,500 2,500 CND
Las Vegas Jumbled 1,000 1,000 CND
Carson City * Fairview - 350 CND
AZ BLM Arizona Strip Pakoon 1,000 1,125 CND
Phoenix Belmonte 150 150 CND
Nellie 150 150 CND
* Junction
Complex - T2 - 4,000 CN 8/9
State - Big Well - T2 3,000 3,000 CND
* Skeleton - 260 CL
FL USFS Ocala Juniper 1,150 1,150 CN 8/10
TX State Menard County * Menard County - 13,000 CND
- * San Saba - 13,120 CND
# Acreages as of August 3rd.
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 -
* Hawaii Volcanoes - Park personnel suppressed a 200-acre backing fire
yesterday which had been ignited by a recent lava flow. Two helicopters and
30 people have been assigned to the fire.
* Yukon-Charley Rivers - Nine fires are burning in or near the park, the
largest of which has now grown to 158,300 acres. Cooler weather and rain
showers have dampened the fires, and that trend is expected to continue. A
fire crew and an NPS archeologist were pulled from the Woodchopper Creek
mining area about three miles ahead of the Webber Creek Fire last week.
Hazardous materials specialists felt that fuel, decaying explosives and lead
associated with past mining operations posed too much of a threat if the
fire moved into the developments. Because of weather shifts, the fire is
unlikely to reach the creek.
4) ANALYSIS - Moderate initial attack activity occurred yesterday in the
Great Basin, California and the South. Demobilization of project fires in
the Southwest continued.
5) PROGNOSIS - Scattered, mostly wet afternoon and evening thunderstorms
throughout the Northwest should keep initial attack at a moderate level in
that region. Scattered showers are forecast for Alaska. Showers and
thundershowers in the South should minimize initial attack activity in that
area.
[NIFCC Intelligence Section, 8/9; NPS Wildland Fire Report, 8/9; John
Quinley, PAO/ARO, 8/6]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Shenandoah (Virginia) - Eastern Hemlock Infestations
Infestations of the introduced hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) in
association with other forest stressors have resulted in widespread crown
health decline and mortality of eastern hemlock throughout the park. Since
infestations were first documented in the park in 1989, approximately 75
percent of the park's hemlock trees have become unhealthy and another five
percent have died. Only 20 percent of the trees are considered healthy.
Current management techniques are insufficient to effectively control
adelgid populations in a forest environment. Extensive damage is expected
in the park and throughout the eastern United Sates where eastern and
Carolina hemlocks are found. Crown health decline is being observed in the
Virginia section of Blue Ridge Parkway and at Delaware Water Gap. Efforts
to improve hemlock woolly adelgid management through monitoring, research
and education are being coordinated by a working group consisting of
federal, state and non-governmental organizations. If you suspect that
hemlocks in your park are infested and/or would like to participate in the
efforts of the working group, please contact the Forest Service's forest
pest management representative near you or Keith Watson at Shenandoah (703-
999-3496). Forest Service contacts include Rusty Rhea, Southeast Region
(704-257-4314); Bradley Onken, Northeast Region (304-285-1546); and Dennis
Souto (603-834-5765). [Keith Watson, RMS, SHEN]
CALENDAR
Calendar appears in the morning report every other Monday. If you know of a
conference, meeting or training session with Servicewide interest and
implications, please provide the specifics to Bill Halainen in Ranger
Activities. Entries are listed no earlier than four months before the
event. Asterisks indicate new entries; brackets at end of entry indicate
source of information:
Current -- Bevinetto Congressional Fellowship, developmental assignment,
Washington, DC. The first year of the two-year assignment is as
a staffer on a committee or to a member; the second is in WASO
Legislative and Congressional Affairs. The vacancy closed on
August 18th. For further information, see the article on the
fellowship in the April, 1993, Courier, or call Lucia Bragen at
202-523-5280. [Vaughn Baker, LCA/WASO]
8/12-15 -- 66th Pecos Conference: Southwest Archeology, Casa Malpais NHL,
Springerville, AZ. Themes will include PaleoIndian, Archaic,
Anasazi, Mogollon, Hohokam, MesoAmerican, Entrada, Historic, or
Method and Theory. Contact: Dr. John Hohmann, Louis Berger and
Associates, 5343 N. 16th St., Suite 260, Phoenix, AZ 85016 (602-
234-1124; fax 241-1561) or Brian Kenny, Arizona State Land
Department (602-506-4608; fax 506-4882). [Cal Cummings,
Anthropology/WASO]
8/24-26 -- Sponsored by Olympic Natural Resources Center, College of Forest
Resources, University of Washington. Contact: 800-942-4978 or
509-335-3530.
8/30-9/1 -- Historic Landscape Maintenance Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Registration for the conference will be $55, and the course will
be limited to approximately 140 participants. More detailed
information and registration forms will be sent to all parks and
regions in early June. Contact: Lucy Lawliss, historical
landscape architect, at 404-730-2275. [Lucy Lawliss]
9/1-3 -- Fifth Annual Crimes Against Children Seminar, Dallas, TX.
Presented by the Dallas Police Department and Dallas Children's
Advocacy Center. The seminar will provide practical information
that can be used by those investigating and prosecuting crimes
against children. Registration is $100 ($75 before 8/15).
Contact: Dale Dickerhoof, LES, RAD/WASO, at 202-208-4209. [Dale
Dickerhoof, RAD/WASO]
9/12-16 -- Resource Technology '94, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Symposium
for scientists, practitioners and educators that will give the
inside track on information technologies for the future. For
further information, contact Bill White at 303-498-1777 or Sindy
Coley at 303-490-1688. [Steve Cinnamon, MWRO]
9/19-21 -- "The Ecological Implications of Fire in Greater Yellowstone",
Second Biennial Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,
Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, Mammoth, WY. Contact: Conference
Registration, Yellowstone Association, PO Box 117, Yellowstone
NP, WY 82190. [Kathy Jope, PNRO]
9/19-25 -- First International Wildlife Management Conference, Hotel
Cariaia, San Jose, Costa Rica. Contact IWMC Secretariat
Director, The Wilderness Society, 5410 Grosvenor Lane, Bethesda,
MD 20814 (301-897-9770). [Steve Cinnamon, MWRO]
9/20-24 -- Teaching with Historic Places, training course, Mather EDC,
Harpers Ferry, WV. Participants will use and established model
to develop lesson plans using historic places in their parks.
Lesson plans can be used in classrooms both on-site and
nationwide. The application deadline is August 3rd. Contact:
Beth Boland at 202-343-9545. [Marilyn Harper, WASO]
9/30-10/2 -- First Rocky Mountain Anthropology Conference, The Virginian
Saloon and Conference Center, Jackson, WY. Theme: Human use of
high elevation environments. Topics: Mountain linguistics,
Fremont fringe and late prehistoric intensification;
Ute/Shoshone ethnology and prehistory; geoarchaeology and
paleoecology of the uplands; the greater Yellowstone ecosystem;
rock art in the "Great In-between"; management issues in the
mountains; high-altitude occupations. Contact: Michael Metcalf,
P.O. Box 899, Eagle, CO 81361 (303-328-6244). For local
arrangements, contact: Jamie Schoen, Bridger/Teton NF, PO Box
1888, Jackson, WY 83001 (307-739-5523). [Cal Cummings,
Anthropology/WASO]
10/14-16 -- Eight Annual Wilderness Emergencies Conference, Flagstaff, AZ.
Sponsored by Flagstaff Medical Center. Contact: Sharon Harbeck,
RN, PreHospital Care Coordinator, Flagstaff Medical Center, PO
Box 1268, Flagstaff, AZ 86002 (602-779-2055). [Sharon Harbeck,
FHMC]
10/14-12/22* -- Basic Law Enforcement for Land Management Agencies, FLETC,
Glynco, GA. Funded by the Law Enforcement Employee Development
Center at FLETC. Contact your regional employee development
office for application procedures. [Carole Pfeifer,
LEEDC/FLETC]
10/18-29* -- Curatorial Methods, Stephen T. Mather Employee Development
Center, Harpers Ferry, WV. Please contact your regional
employee development officer regarding nomination due dates.
[Gloria Baker, STMA]
10/18-22* -- Archeological Curation and Collections Management, Tucson, AZ.
Sponsored by Mather Employee Development Center and George
Washington University. Tuition is $500. Contact your employee
development officer regarding nomination due dates. [Gloria
Baker, STMA]
10/25-29* -- Archeology for Managers, Hot Springs, AR. Sponsored by Mather
Employee Development Center and the University of Nevada-Reno.
Tuition is $250. Contact your employee development officer
regarding nomination due dates. [Gloria Baker, STMA]
11/1-5* -- Issues in the Public Interpretation of Archeological Materials
and Sites, Portland, OR. Tuition is $300. Contact your
employee development officer for application information.
[Gloria Baker, STMA]
11/1-3* -- Fourth National Research Conference on Pesticides, Richmond, VA.
Sponsored by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center.
Contact: Dr. Diana Weigman, Virginia Water Resources Research
Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 617
North Main St., Blacksburg, VA 24060-3397 (703-231-5624).
[Steve Cinnamon, MWRO]
11/4-7* -- "The Future of America's Rivers: A Celebration of the 25th
Anniversary of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act",
Arlington, VA. Contact: JT&A, Inc., ATTN: Jennifer Paugh, 1000
Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 802, Washington, DC 20036. [Janet
Wise, RMRO]
11/8-9* -- Leadership for the Future, training course, Cavalier Hotel,
Virginia Beach, VA. Situational leadership course, sponsored by
ANPR and presented by Omega, a management consulting company.
Contact: Jeff Karraker, Capulin Volcano.
STAFF STATUS
Division Chief: No leave or travel scheduled.
Branch of Resource and Visitor Protection: Martin at Aufhauser shooting
review and on AL (8/10-8/22); Dickerhoof on AL (8/12-8/22); Smith on AL
(8/9-8/11).
Branch of Fire and Aviation: Spruill at aviation management council work
group meeting (8/8-8/13).
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