- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Friday, August 5, 1994
- Date: Fri, 5 Aug 1994
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Friday, August 5, 1994
Broadcast: By 0930 ET
INCIDENTS
94-442 - Grand Canyon (Arizona) - Rescue
During the afternoon of August 2nd, a 14-year-old boy was playing along the
rim of Transept Canyon near the North Rim campground when he tripped on the
rough rock surface and fell over the edge, landing in a small scrub oak bush
about 55 feet below. The boy was evacuated by litter up a scree slope, then
taken by helicopter to Flagstaff Medical Center. A suspected lower right
leg fracture proved to be a deep puncture wound with possible tendon and
ligament damage. The boy also suffered numerous lacerations, but was
otherwise in good condition. [K. Cochary, GRCA, 8/3]
94-443 - Saguaro (Arizona) - Reptile Poaching
Rangers in the Tucson Mountain District spotted J.D. holding a
rattlesnake with a snake-catching tool on Kinney Road at midnight on July
31st. When J.D. and his partner were contacted, they stated that they
were moving the snake off the road. The pair subsequently showed the
rangers a dead gila monster - a state protected species - which they claimed
was a road kill. A consent search of their vehicle led to the discovery of
freshly-cut rattles from a Mojave rattlesnake, several snake-catching tools,
and numerous collecting jars and bottles. They were cited for both
possession and harassment of wildlife and the specimen was confiscated as
evidence, and notified state game authorities regarding possible state
prosecution. All southern Arizona parks were also alerted about the
incident. [Paula Rooney, CR, SAGU, 8/4]
94-444 - Obed (Tennessee) - Rescue
On the evening of July 18th, rangers received a report that two 16-year-old
boys were overdue from a river trip and had last been seen floating on a
single innertube below Lilly Bridge and headed for Nemo takeout. They were
not wearing life jackets and had no whitewater experience. The first three
rapids below Lilly are Class 4, with dangerous undercut rocks. Twenty
members of the local rescue squad searched the few old roads that access the
river; at 1 a.m. the following morning, they were found lying on the river
bank at the junction of Clear Creek and Obed River. The boys were bruised,
but otherwise in good shape. They were escorted out of the gorge and taken
to waiting relatives. The high water in the rivers this summer has enticed
many unskilled people into trying tubing - a dangerous undertaking because
of the many undercut rocks on the Obed river system. [Rob Turan, SAR
Coordinator, OBED, 8/4]
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - V
2) LARGE FIRE SUMMARY
State Agency Area Fire 8/3 8/5 Status
WA USFS Wenatchee NF Tyee Comp. - T1 95,800 116,300 CN 8/10
Hatchery
Comp. - T1 21,500 27,110 NEC
Round Mountain
Comp. - T1 3,400 3,400 CND
Okanogan NF Okanogan Comp. -
T1 and two T2 8,460 12,435 NEC
Colville NF Copper Butte - T1 2,300 8,960 NEC
BIA Yakima Agency Klickitat
Comp. - T1 4,100 4,800 NEC
Lakebeds - T2 6,300 6,600 NEC
State - * Palmer Comp. - 3,200 NEC
OR State - Potlach 400
BLM Vale Dis. * Swamp Creek - 43,000 NEC
* Clover Creek - 300 NEC
Burns Dis. * Gorman Creek - 600 NEC
USFS Wall.-Whit. NF * Starvation Creek - 200 NEC
* Snake River Comp. - 1,400 NEC
Malheur NF * Indian Rocks - 470 NEC
MT State - Henry Peak - T2 7,950 7,950 CN 8/5
Elk River
Comp. - T2 130 160 CN 8/6
* Chamberlin - T2 - 300 NEC
USFS Lolo NF Ninemile
Comp. - T2 950 990 CN 8/5
* Superior
Support - T2 - 353 CN 8/6
Bitterroot NF * Trail - T2 - 335 NEC
Payette NF * Corral Creek - T2 - 3,200 NEC
BIA Blackfeet Ag. Livermore - T2 325 376 CN 8/7
Flathead Ag. Perma - T2 500 670 CN 8/5
UT BLM SLC Dis. * Er Knoll - 900 NEC
* East Harker - 3,000 NEC
USFS Fishlake NF * Burnt Hollow - 500 CN 8/5
* Black Willow - 450 CN 8/8
Was.-Cache NF * Edgar - T2 - 400 NEC
State - * Dry Canyon II - 1,000 CN 8/6
ID USFS Boise NF Idaho City Comp. -
T1 and T2 4,047 4,470 CN 8/10
Idaho Pan. NF * Pass Creek - T2 - 96 CN 8/7
Payette NF * Blackwell - 1,000 CN 8/18
Salmon NF * Colt - 130 CND
BLM Idaho Fall Dis. Arbon 500 540 CND
CA USFS Klamath NF Dillon Comp. - T1 14,214 17,672 CN 8/5
Tahoe NF * Crystal - T1 - 2,000 NEC
S. Bernadino NF Railroad 200 200 NEC
State - Powerhouse 200 200 NEC
AZ BLM Safford Dis. Peachtree 211 211 CND
USFS Coconino NF * Lost - 910 NEC
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 NEC - No estimate of containment
CND - Contained CN/CS (date) - Expected date of containment
3) FIRE HIGHLIGHTS -
* Hatchery Complex, Wenatchee NF - Twenty-five National Guard cres will
arrive at base camp today and being working day shifts tomorrow. Lower
temperatures and higher humidities have helped control efforts.
* Copper Butte, Colville NF - The fire continues to burn actively at night,
with increased activity during the day. Long range spotting is occurring.
Evacuation of several communities is imminent.
* Blackwell, Payette NF - Current threats are to structures, including
multi-million dollar homes, and a high visibility recreation area. Last
night, firefighters were removed from the line due to intense heat and
severe fire behavior.
* Olympic NP - The park has a total of 33 new fires, but none is larger than
ten acres. As of yesterday, they had two helicopters and a twenty-person
crew en route to them.
* North Cascades NP - The park turned over the Falls Creek fire (about 110
acres) to the Okanogan Complex because of lack of resources. The 15-acre
Fisher Creek fire is burning in a remote area of the park.
* Crater Lake NP - The 155-acre Dessert Rich fire has been contained and
controlled and has been turned back to the park.
4) FIRES YESTERDAY -
NPS BIA BLM FWS States USFS Total
Number 10 18 26 0 71 1,209 1,334
Acres Burned 6 42 31,259 1,200 2,159 3,518 38,184
5) COMMITTED RESOURCES -
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Federal 465 250 78 26 2,483
Non-federal 113 440 26 12 761
6) COMPARATIVE SUMMARY -
CY 1994 Five Year Average
Year-to-Date Year-to-Date
Number of Fires 50,616 47,795
Acres Burned 2,101,729 1,748,603
7) SITUATION - Numerous new fires along with severe burning conditions
continue the high level of activity in Western states. Type II teams were
mobilized in the northern Rockies, eastern Great Basin and Northwest; Type I
teams were sent to the eastern Great Basin and northern California.
Reassignments continue to occur, with shortages of some resources becoming
more common.
The situation in the NPS is generally good. A few fires have been reported,
as noted above. Zion, Joshua Tree, Lava Beds and Sequoia/Kings Canyon all
report extreme fire danger; Grand Teton, Mesa Verde, Dinosaur, Great Basin
and Yosemite have very high fire danger. Many units in Southwest Region
report drying conditions and increasing fire danger.
8) OUTLOOK - A red flag warning has been posted for isolated dry lightning
in central Idaho and for increasing southwest to west winds in northern
Idaho and western Montana. Fire activity will increase as holdover fires
are detected and new fires emerge from forecasted dry lightning. Initial
attack resources are stretched to the limit due to all the new activity over
the past few days.
[NIFCC Incident Management Situation Report, 8/5; NPS fire situation
coordinator, Branch of Fire and Aviation Management, 8/4]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Bering Land Bridge (Alaska) - Site Restoration
The Corps of Engineers has completed the first stage of removing steel drums
with fuel residue from the Lava Lake weather station, which was built in
1945 and used to forecast weather for lend-lease aircraft flights to Russia
across the Bering Strait. When the station was abandoned, more than 250
drums were left on site. The Corps has combined the contents of the
approximately 50 that still contain fuel residue into two salvage drums and
has removed the emptied containers. The two salvage drums are to be removed
in late August and shipped to an approved landfill. Further testing will be
done at the site later this summer to assess the risk of spread of
contaminants present in the soil at this site. [RMS, BELA]
OPERATIONAL NOTES
No notes.
MEMORANDA
"Park Housing Improvement Program - Informational Memorandum # 1 - Overall
Program", signed by Director Kennedy on July 28th and sent to all regional
directors and park superintendents. The full text follows:
"Park housing is a critical part of enabling our employees to operate and
manage our park units. Due to the age of our housing stock, many units have
degenerated to a deplorable state. Our Congressional Committees have helped
significantly and made improvements over the past several years. Secretary
Babbitt has now personally undertaken the effort to accelerate this work.
He has announced that one of his top priorities for 1994 and beyond is to
forge a public/private partnership to address the housing crisis in our
national parks. His two primary goals are: (1) to identify several "target
parks" and make as much improvement as possible by May 1995; and (2) during
his tenure, to replace all of the trailers currently in use in our parks.
"The Secretary's Chief of Staff, Tom Collier, has also made this project one
of his personal priorities. Both have been active in securing the support
of the National Park Foundation, as well as outside partners, including
representatives of the housing industry, financial institutions, and others.
"The direct support of the Secretary and Chief of Staff has been, and will
continue to be, extremely valuable to us in addressing this problem. It is
crucial that all of us give our full support to their efforts. To that end,
I am asking you to consider the park housing initiative to be a priority
project and to make every effort to carry out the implementation plan
developed for each region.
"In addition to the public/private partnership, the Park Service will be
requesting additional funds in 1996 for the Housing Program. These dollars
are to be used primarily for trailer replacement, and the Service must be
ready by 1996 with planning, infrastructure and site development to replace
as many trailers as possible.
"Because of the need to plan and develop housing sites and the need to
established a Park Housing Improvement Team and I have asked Donald Herring,
WASO Chief, Engineering and Safety Services Division, to coordinate all
operational aspects of the program between the Department, National Park
Service Washington Office, and the field implementers. Billy Garrett,
Chief, Falls Church Branch of the Denver Service Center, will serve as
liaison between the Department and Denver Service Center on line item
construction issues. Terry Gess, Chief of Planning, Design and Maintenance,
Rocky Mountain Region, has been asked to serve as field coordinator to
implement the trailer replacement and repair/rehabilitation program. He
will be working with Jack Williams, Chief, Park Facility Management Western
Region, and Dale J. Wilking, Chief, Park Facility Management Mid-Atlantic
Region, to facilitate this program. Another memo will follow shortly that
will describe the current status of work on the two priorities and will
describe other key participants involved in this project.
"We have a very short time to prepare for this, but as noted previously,
housing is a very critical issue to the Park Service, both for managers and
for the morale of our employees. We must take advantage of every
possibility to maximize our efforts to replace the 659 trailers currently in
use Servicewide. This is a priority Park Service project, and we will be
utilizing all available resources to assist in this project.
"In conclusion, I am also directing the program managers to utilize the
housing initiative program and a portion of the repair/rehabilitation
program for 1995 and 1996 for the planning, infrastructure, and site
development. Together we can move this program forward and make substantial
improvements to our park housing situation. I am asking each of you for
your full cooperation and participation in working with any team member who
may contact you or your staff for input or information."
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