- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Monday, June 13, 1994
- Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1994
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Monday, June 13, 1994
Broadcast: By 0930 ET
INCIDENTS
94-234 - Rocky Mountain (Colorado) - Follow-up on Search
On May 10th, K.L., 20, of Greeley, Colorado, committed suicide in the
park in a trailhead parking lot. On the morning of May 20th, rangers found
a car belonging to Allison Bierma, 18, K.P.'s girlfriend, on the upper Fern
Lake Road. Bierma was reportedly despondent over K.P.'s suicide, and had
not been seen since the previous evening. A search effort was begun shortly
thereafter. On June 5th, a search team comprised of a ranger and a search
dog and its handler found Bierma's body at the base of a steep, 150-foot
slope in the Cub Lake area. A five-page suicide note was found beside her.
[Joe Evans, CR, ROMO, 6/10]
94-286 - Katmai (Alaska) - Death of Employee
Peter J. McCarlo, 54, a seasonal maintenance worker at the park, died on the
evening of June 9th at Brooks Camp. He was found suffering from cardiac
arrest at his residence shortly after 9 p.m. CPR was begun and he was flown
by park aircraft to a nearby clinic, where he was pronounced dead at around
10:30 p.m. McCarlo had worked at the park for two seasons. [Steve Holder,
ARO, 6/10]
94-287 - Glacier Bay (Alaska) - Search; Presumed Drowning
A 54-year-old crew member of the 564-foot cruise ship SS Universe apparently
lost his footing and fell from the ship's port side pilot door about 20 feet
to the frigid waters of Glacier Bay in the early morning hours of June 10th.
The crewman was preparing the ship to take on park interpretive rangers, who
were scheduled to arrive in 15 minutes in a transfer vessel from park
headquarters at Bartlett Cove. The crew member, a citizen of Hong Kong, was
seen flailing in the water for several minutes before the ship could slow
and maneuver for rescue; by that time, he had disappeared and was not seen
again. Three park vessels participated in an intensive sea search along
with a Coast Guard cutter and helicopter, several private and commercial
fishing boats, and two commercial tour boats. The search continued for 12
hours, and was finally called off at 5:30 p.m. The victim's shoes and an
eyeglass case were the only items recovered. He was not wearing a life
jacket, nor was he attached to a lifeline. A joint NPS, Coast Guard, and
state investigation has been begun. [Chuck Young, DR, GLBA, 6/11]
94-288 - Whitman Mission (Washington) - Structural Fire
A fire broke out in the park's Mission 66 maintenance shop just before noon
on June 10th. Park maintenance employees were returning from lunch when the
maintenance leader's wife noticed the smoke from her residence across the
service road. Three maintenance employees utilized fire and garden hoses to
contain the damage to shelving between two of the shop's three bays. County
fire crews extinguished the fire when they arrived ten minutes later. The
building suffered $3,000 in damage to underground sprinkler parts and $4,000
to $5,000 in damage to attic joists and rafters and part of the roof. The
cause of the fire is under investigation. No employee was in the building
when the fire began, and no one had been working with paints, chemicals or
motorized equipment that morning. [Roger Trick, CI&RM, WHMI, 6/10]
94-289 - Great Smokies (North Carolina/Tennessee) - Significant Accident
On May 31st, a ranger stopped an 18-wheel truck at Newfound Gap, cited the
driver - D.R., 35, of Gaston, South Carolina - for illegal
commercial use of the highway, turned the rig around, and sent it back down
the Newfound Gap Road on the North Carolina side of the park. As D.R.
headed down the road, the truck's brakes became hot and ineffective, and it
attained speeds of up to 50 mph as it passed through sharp curves.
D.R. decided to drive the truck into the west road shoulder and up the
hillside in order to stop it. The truck subsequently jack-knifed across
both lanes of traffic and rolled onto its top, spilling its load of 25,000
feet of hardwood flooring along 500 feet of the highway. The road was
closed for five and a half hours while the rig was removed from the scene.
D.R. was treated and released from a local hospital that evening. It
took the truck company two days to perform the roadside lumber salvage
operation. There are multiple signs posted at all entrances advising that
the park's roads are closed to commercial traffic. [Dave Panebaker, ACR/NC,
GRSM, 6/10]
[More pending incident reports tomorrow]
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II
2) LARGE FIRE SUMMARY
State Agency Area Fire 6/10 6/11 Status
TX NPS Guadalupe NP Marcus - T2 3,000 6,250 CND
NM USFS Lincoln NF Bridge - T1 5,190 5,380 CN 6/13
Cibola NF Ryan Comp. - T1 6,940 18,478 CN 6/13
State - * Flat Comp. - T2 - 40,000 NEC
AZ BLM Phoenix Dist. * Monarch - 400 CND
* Sycamore - 900 CND
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 - Containment strategy NEC - No estimate of containment
CND - Contained CN/CS (date) - Expected date of containment
3) FIRE NARRATIVES -
Marcus Fire, Guadalupe NP - The fire burned in steep inaccessible terrain
throughout the weekend, and was pushed by erratic winds. A historic sheep
shearing pen and shade shelter were lost on Saturday. Suppression tactics
were aided by thunderstorm precipitation and higher humidities, and the fire
was contained yesterday. Mop-up and rehab activities are continuing.
Flat Complex Fires, New Mexico State - Numerous lightning-caused fires are
burning in the southwest corner of the state and are being managed as one
complex.
Bridge Fire, Lincoln NF - Dry thunderstorms caused flare-ups along control
lines and within the interior of the fire, but all lines have held.
Ryan Complex Fires, Cibola NF - The fire has been contained.
4) FIRES YESTERDAY (BY AGENCY) -
NPS BIA BLM FWS States USFS Total
Number 3 10 19 4 53 48 137
Acres Burned 33 11 301 54 41,042 2,204 43,645
5) COMMITTED RESOURCES -
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Federal 87 40 31 15 532
Non-federal 0 27 0 0 32
6) CURRENT SITUATION - New starts from lightning in western Colorado
resulted in the mobilization of smokejumpers from the western Great Basin.
Initial attack occurred in southern California, and several airtankers were
sent there. Initial attack increased in the Southwest due to lightning, but
most fires were quickly contained.
7) OUTLOOK - Arizona will be sunny, hot and breezy, with wind gusts up to 30
mph. New Mexico will be partly cloudy east and south with widely scattered
afternoon thunderstorms. Northwest New Mexico will be breezy. The
potential for initial attack and large fire activity persists in the
Southwest. Southern California will be sunny and dry above the coastal fog.
The southern desert will have winds up to 30 mph late in the afternoon.
Increased fire activity is probable.
[NIFCC Incident Management Situation Report, 6/13]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
No field reports today.
OPERATIONAL NOTES
No notes.
MEMORANDA
No memoranda.
MEETINGS/TRAINING 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 forward the listing to WASO 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:
6/17-19* -- "Reclaiming Women's History Through Historic Preservation",
national conference, Women's Rights NHP, Seneca Falls, NY. The
conference will bring together historians, preservationists,
museum staff, architects and landscape architects in a
discussion of preserving women's historic sites and landscapes
in the U.S. and Canada. Contact: Women's Way/Preservation
Conference, 215-527-4470 or 609-231-1885. [Vivien Rose, WORI]
6/17-19 -- Second Annual Western Regional Conference, Forest Fire Lookout
Association, Rigdon Ranger Station, Willamette NF, OR. $12 fee.
Replies due by May 15th. Contact: Ron Johnson, 503-782-2311 (or
R06F18D05A on USGS Data General). [Mark Forbes, RAD/PNRO]
6/20-21 -- Partners in Flight National Steering Committee Meeting,
University of Montana, Missoula, MT. Held in conjunction with
the meeting listed below. Contact: Debbie Pressman, 202-205-
1205 (fax: 205-1599). [John Dennis, NR/WASO]
6/21-26 -- Joint Ornithological Meeting, University of Montana, Missoula,
MT. First joint meeting of American Ornithological Union,
Cooper Ornithological Society, and Wilson Ornithological
Society. Contact: Don Jenni, University of Montana, 406-243-
5122. [John Dennis, NR/WASO]
7/5-6* -- Third Mammoth Cave Science Conference, Mammoth Cave NP, KY. The
conference will focus on current cultural, ecological and
hydrological research in and around the park. Twenty-four
research papers will be presented. Contact: Joe Meiman,
conference coordinator, 502-749-2508. [MACA]
7/6-8* -- Watershed Restoration Techniques, Redwood National Park, CA.
This three-day course provides an introduction to watershed
rehab techniques, concentrating on erosion control, road removal
and watershed restoration. It is intended for professionals
working in land management agencies who have knowledge of basic
geomorphic principles. $100 fee. For registration of further
information, contact Loretta Farley at 707-465-4113 or 5668, or
via cc:Mail by name. [Loretta Farley, REDW]
7/12-15 -- "Sustaining the Ecological Integrity of Large Floodplain Rivers:
Application of Ecological Knowledge to River Management,"
LaCrosse, WI. Contact: Penny Tiedt, University of Wisconsin -
LaCrosse, 608-785-6503. [Kathy Jope, RAD/PNRO]
7/26-28 -- Southeast Region Chief Ranger/Chief Interpreter Conference,
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. [Bill Springer, RAD/SERO]
7/28-30 -- Watershed Restoration Techniques, Redwood National Park, CA.
This three-day course provides an introduction to watershed
rehab techniques, concentrating on erosion control, road removal
and watershed restoration. It is intended for professionals
working in land management agencies who have knowledge of basic
geomorphic principles. $100 fee. For registration of further
information, contact Loretta Farley at 707-465-4113 or 5668, or
via cc:Mail by name. [Loretta Farley, REDW]
8/3-6 -- Little Bighorn Legacy Program, Billings, MT. Some two dozen of
the most noted scholars on westward expansion and the Indian
Wars will make presentations from new social, historical and
cultural perspectives. Presenters will include members of
various Indian tribes involved in the battle, historians Paul
Hutton and Alvin Josephy, authors Jerome Greene, John McDermott,
Joe Porter, Paul Hedren, Joe Marshall and Rick Williams.
Contact: Doug McChristian, Little Bighorn, 406-638-2621.
8/9-14 -- "Saving All The Pieces", Society for Ecological Restoration
Conference, Lansing, MI. Contact: Robert Welch, 517-483-9675.
[Kathy Jope, PNRO]
8/18-21 -- 67th Pecos Conference, Mesa Verde, CO. Contact: Linda Towle at
Mesa Verde at 303-529-4510.
8/24-26 -- Watershed Restoration Techniques, Redwood National Park, CA.
This three-day course provides an introduction to watershed
rehab techniques, concentrating on erosion control, road removal
and watershed restoration. It is intended for professionals
working in land management agencies who have knowledge of basic
geomorphic principles. $100 fee. For registration of further
information, contact Loretta Farley at 707-465-4113 or 5668, or
via cc:Mail by name. [Loretta Farley, REDW]
8/29-31 -- Sustaining Rangeland Ecosystems, La Grande, OR. Contact: John
Tanaka, 503-963-7122. [Kathy Jope, PNRO]
9/10-12* -- Second Annual Meeting, Central Division Working Group, Declining
Amphibian Populations Task Force, Bailly Training Center,
Indiana Dunes NL, IN. Papers given on the first two days will
include a wide range of topics related to amphibians; a
discussion on methods for establishing amphibian censuses will
take place during the session on the 12th. Contact: Registration
- Dr. Michael J. Lannoo, 712-337-3669; information - Dr. Ralph
Grundel, INDU, 219-926-7561. [Gary Sullivan, MWRO]
9/11-16* -- Managerial Grid, Phase I, and Managerial Grid Instructor
Preparation Seminar, Richmond, VA. Sponsored by ANPR. An NPS
course announcement will be out shortly. Contact: Debbie
Gorman, 518-793-3140. [Bill Wade, SHEN]
9/21-25* -- First Annual Conference of the Wildlife Society, Albuquerque,
NM. Contact: Doug Slack, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-2258.
[Steve Cinnamon, MWRO]
9/22-24 -- Watershed Restoration Techniques, Redwood National Park, CA.
This three-day course provides an introduction to watershed
rehab techniques, concentrating on erosion control, road removal
and watershed restoration. It is intended for professionals
working in land management agencies who have knowledge of basic
geomorphic principles. $100 fee. For registration of further
information, contact Loretta Farley at 707-465-4113 or 5668, or
via cc:Mail by name. [Loretta Farley, REDW]
Prepared by WASO Division of Ranger Activities
Telephone: 202-208-4874
Telefax: 202-208-6756
cc:Mail: WASO Ranger Activities
SkyPager: Emergencies ONLY: 1-800-759-7243, PIN 2404843