NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Friday, June 24, 1994

Broadcast: By 0930 ET

INCIDENTS

94-220 - Saguaro (Arizona) - Follow-up on Arson Fires

R.O. of Benson, Arizona, was arrested by Pima County deputies on
June 9th and charged with five counts of arson, including one fire set on
park lands.  R.O. also admitted to setting a fire on BLM land and starting
three vehicle fires.  Investigators believe, however, that he is probably
responsible for setting 30 fires in southeastern Arizona.  The park fire was
set on April 13th in the Rincon Mountain District.  When ranger Richard
Hayes arrived at the scene after receiving the initial report, he found
R.O. extinguishing the blaze.  Hayes questioned him, then turned the
information over to the sheriff's department, which was beginning to gather
evidence against R.O.  He is currently being held in county jail on a
$250,000 cash-only bond.  [Paula Rooney, CR, SAGU, 6/23]

94-318 - Capulin Volcano (New Mexico) - Follow-up on Employee Fatality

Services for Fernando "Phil" Abeyta, 64, who was killed in an accident in
the park on Monday, will begin with a rosary this evening at Our Lady of
Guadalupe church in Des Moines, New Mexico; funeral services will follow
tomorrow morning.  Phil is survived by his wife, Marcella, who is the park's
administrative clerk, and by his daughter, Michelle.  Phil had worked at the
monument for ten years.  He was known for his steadfast service to visitors
and coworkers, and last year received the first "Phil Abeyta Award", which
is given annually to the employee that the park's staff believe best
exemplifies the mission and standards of the NPS.  A critical incident
stress debriefing (CISD) team has been flown to the park to provide support
and assistance.  Cards and condolences may be sent to his family at P.O. Box
27, Capulin, NM 88414.  A fund for the family has also been set up;
contributions should be sent to Capulin Volcano NM, P.O. Box 40, Capulin, NM
88414, Attention: Mary Alice Owensby.  [Tony Bonanno, RCR, RAD/SWRO; Mary
Jeff Karraker, Superintendent, CAVO, 6/23]

94-327 - Blue Ridge (North Carolina/Virginia) - MVA with Serious Injuries

A group of at least four motorcycles was heading north on the parkway on
June 22nd when trailing cyclist S.P. pulled out into the on-coming
lane at a high rate of speed, passed two other motorcycles in a no passing
zone, then collided with H.A., who was making a left turn on his
cycle.  S.P. and H.A. were thrown from their Harleys, and H.A.'s
passenger, L.S., was trapped under both bikes and dragged about
60 feet.  L.S. and H.A. were evacuated to helicopter to a hospital in
Roanoke, Virginia; S.P. was transported there by ambulance.  L.S.
remains in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.  Alcohol and
possibly drugs may have been contributing factors.  Most of those involved
in the accident were members of the Southern Sons motorcycle gang.  S.P.
was seeking membership, and was reportedly trying to impress the group. 
[CRO, BLRI, 6/23]

94-328 - Chattahoochee (Georgia) - Fatal Bike Accident

On June 17th, W.B., 39, of Smyrna, Georgia, was traveling south on
his bicycle on the Highway 41 bridge over the Chattahoochee River in the
park when he was struck by a hit and run vehicle and fell into the river. 
Rangers and Cobb County deputies searched the river, but were unable to find
him.  On June 20th, a fisherman discovered his body about 200 yards from the
bridge.  The hit and run driver has since been identified and arrested. 
[RAD/SERO, 6/22]

94-329 - Gulf Island (Florida/Mississippi) - Drownings

Two drownings and a near drowning occurred in the park on Sunday, June
19th - a red flag day with high surf that forced intermittent closures of
supervised beaches.  The first incident occurred off the extreme west tip of
West Ship Island in the Mississippi District.  L.B., 35, of Metairie,
Louisiana, waded into the three- to five-foot surf when he realized his ten-
year-old son and another boy were having trouble getting back to shore.  The
strong currents pulled him underwater and out into the Gulf of Mexico. 
While rangers and a park lifeguard responded, a passing boater was able to
pull one of the boys from the water and throw a life jacket to the second,
who was able to make it to shore with the help of ranger Woods and a
visitor.  Lifeguard Kerry Huston searched the surf and underwater for L.B.
for three hours without success.  A Coast Guard vessel and helicopter joined
in the search, which had to be suspended several hours later because of
thunderstorms and increased seas.  L.B. is presumed to have drowned.  The
second incident occurred in the afternoon at the Santa Rosa area in the
Florida District.  D.E., 17, of the Philippines, had been swimming
and surfing west of the guarded beach area; around 2:30 p.m., NPS lifeguard
Aaron Patterson noticed that he'd fallen off his surfboard and was
struggling less than 100 yards from shore.  Patterson and lifeguard Todd
Reinhold responded, brought D.E. to shore and administered CPR until a
Life Flight helicopter arrived at the scene.  D.E. did not survive.  The
third incident took place a short time later east of the guarded beach at
Santa Rosa.  Tetsuro Svetsugu, 36, of Mobile, Alabama, was struggling in the
surf, but managed to return to shore on his own after taking in an
undetermined amount of salt water.  NPS lifeguards responded and rendered
assistance until a rescue unit could arrive.  Svetsugu is reported to be in
good condition.  [Gene Phillips, CR, GUIS, 6/21]

FIRE ACTIVITY

1) PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - II

2) LARGE FIRE SUMMARY

State  Agency     Area            Fire                6/22    6/23   Status

 CA    USFS    Sequoia NF        White - T1          2,500   2,120    NEC

 NM    USFS    Gila NF           Pigeon - T1         3,290   3,290   CN 6/23
       BLM     Las Cruces Dis.   Organ               3,800   4,800   CN 6/23

 AK    State   -                 404274 - T2        41,120  41,120   NEC

 OR    State   -               * Yonna                   -     238   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 HIGHLIGHTS -

White, Sequoia NF - The fire, which was previously called the White Blanket
fire and reported as burning on BLM, USFS and state land, is now in the Dome
Land wilderness in the national forest, has split into two heads and has
spread in extremely steep and rocky, inaccessible terrain.  A Type I team
(Harbour) has been assigned.

4) FIRES THURSDAY (BY AGENCY) -

                NPS     BIA      BLM     FWS    States     USFS      Total

Number            1       6       20       0        67       29        123
Acres Burned      1      21    1,005       0       558       20      1,605

5) COMMITTED RESOURCES -

               Crews     Engines     Helicopters     Airtankers     Overhead

Federal           78        38           49              15           198
Non-federal        0        12            2               0            30

[NIFCC Incident Management Situation Report, Thursday, 6/23]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No field reports today.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

1) Internet - There have been a number of questions regarding the form of
Internet addresses.  The Internet address is exactly the same as the cc:Mail
address, except that underscores replace the spaces.  Thus, names with
middle initials, such as Fred G. Smith, have as their Internet address
fred_g._smith@nps.gov.  Note that the period is included if it is used in
the cc:Mail address.  Be careful to use the underscore symbol (_), and not a
hyphen(-).  We regret any confusion.  Also, there have been some slow
message transport times due to the very heavy use and some minor bugs that
showed up under the heavy volume.  We are monitoring the gateway constantly
and correcting problems as they occur.  Transport times will improve.  Users
should remember that some of the transmission still takes place as a cc:Mail
transmission and this can add some time as well.  [Betsy Chittenden,
ITD/WASO]

MEMORANDA

"Placement Assistance Procedures", signed June 14th by Dick Martin, Incident
Commander, Operation Opportunity, and being sent to all NPS areas and
offices this morning as attachments to today's Morning Report.  The next
message you received will contain the text of the memorandum; attached will
be two WordPerfect files containing the forms referred to in the text of the
memo.  These must be downloaded to your computer.

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