- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Friday, June 9, 1995
- Date: Fri, 9 Jun 1995
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Friday, June 9, 1995
95-276 - Glacier (Montana) - Follow-up on Flooding and Storm Damage
The weather in western Montana has improved significantly and creek and river
levels are slowly dropping. The area flood watch was canceled yesterday, and
parkwide assessments are underway to determine the overall scope of road,
structural and backcountry trail and bridge damage. Washouts and other types
of damage have been detected in various locations along the Going-to-the-Sun
Road, including stress fractures and the loss of a 60-by-80 foot section of the
highway. A geotechnical expert and representative of the Federal Highway
Administration will be in the park today to inspect roads. At least 31 of the
park's 200 trail bridges have washed out. Backcountry travel has been strongly
discouraged due to high water levels and the uncertainty of trail conditions
throughout the park. All visitors have been accounted for; no injuries or
property damage have been reported. A time table is being developed for
reopening of sections of the park. Although many park roads remain closed,
facilities and services are open at Lake McDonald and Two Medicine. [Amy
Vanderbilt, PAO, GLAC, 6/8]
95-280 - Canyonlands (Utah) - Boating Accident; SAR; Wildland Fire
On June 7th, D.F., 47, and his daughter, M.F., 18, both of Fairway,
Kansas, began a four-day canoe trip down the Green River to its confluence with
the Colorado River. Their canoe capsized about two-and-a-half hours into the
trip; each of the F.s made it to shore, but on opposite sides of the
river. Around midnight, D.F. kindled a fire to warm himself, but it
soon blew up. D.F. received second degree burns over almost half his body,
and also suffered from burns or smoke-caused injury to his airway. The fire
ran for about two miles and burned approximately 50 acres of tamarisk and
cottonwoods. Smoke from the fire awoke Island in the Sky rangers at 2 a.m. on
the 8th, and they immediately began a search for its source. Meanwhile,
resource management specialist Craig Hauke, who was on the river on a fisheries
project, came upon M.F., who told him about the boating mishap and
reported her father as missing. Hauke located D.F., who was immersed
in the river in an effort to counter the pain of his burns. At about that
time, ranger Shawn McCormack, who had been searching for the fire, arrived on
scene and assisted Hauke in stabilizing D.F., who was subsequently
airlifted with his daughter and taken to a hospital in Grand Junction. D.F.
was then taken to a burn center in Denver, where he was last reported
to be in critical condition. [Larry Van Slyke, CR, CANY, 6/8]
95-281 - National Capital Region (D.C.) - Park Police Officer Shot
On the afternoon of June 8th, members of a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms task force, including an undercover Park Police officer, were
conducting surveillance of an area in northwest Washington when they witnessed
a street shooting. When the officer and other members of the team attempted to
intervene and arrest the man, he began shooting at the officers. One round
struck the officer in the arm. The suspect fled the scene, but was later
apprehended by city officers. The Park Police officer was taken to the
Washington Hospital Center, where he was treated for the gunshot wound and
released. The victim of the initial shooting was pronounced dead at the scene.
Because of the Park Police officer's undercover role, his name is being
withheld. [Bill Lynch, Acting RLES, RAD/NCRO, 6/9]
95-282 - Mount Rushmore (South Dakota) - Search and Rescue
Rangers were involved in a major interagency search for 12-year-old L.D.
of Rapid City during the period from May 12th to the 16th. L.D.
became separated from his school group on Harney Peak and was missing in the
rugged wilderness area immediately adjacent to the park's boundary. Rangers
covered many miles of difficult terrain while searching for him, and, on May
14th, located the boy's tracks in the snow. Seasonal ranger Brian McMahon
found L.D. about two miles south of the park's boundary on May 16th.
L.D. was alive and doing well, but had frostbitten feet and mild
hypothermia. A local television news crew filmed his evacuation from the
backcountry. During the five days L.D. was missing, about eight inches of
wet snow and two inches of total precipitation fell on the area. Because of
the extremely wet and cold weather, searchers had little hope of finding him
alive. [Mike Pflaum, CR, MORU, 6/8]
95-283 - Zion (Utah) - EMS Incidents; Lives Saved
During a period of less than 20 hours in early June, park medics provided
advanced life support to two park neighbors suffering cardiac arrests and
successfully revived both of them. On the evening of June 2nd, medics
responded to Springdale to assist local EMTs with an 88-year-old man
experiencing chest pain. Shortly after their arrival, the man went into full
arrest. Cardiac drugs, CPR and defibrillation were utilized to restore his
pulse and breathing. During the lengthy transport to the hospital, the patient
again went into full arrest and was again revived. He was treated at the
hospital, and was to be released this week. On the following afternoon, medics
and an off-duty park maintenance worker responded outside the park to assist
EMTs with a 70-year-old resident who required resuscitation. Advanced airways,
drugs and defibrillation were employed to revive him on scene. Emergency room
doctors expressed their amazement at the medical crew's ability to resuscitate
these particular patients while sustaining them during the almost hour-long
transports. [CRO, ZION, 6/5]
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level I
2) LARGE FIRE SUMMARY
% Est
State Area Fire IMT 6/6 6/7 Con Con
AZ Arizona Strip
District, BLM Mud -- - 1,900 100 CND
* Littlefield -- - 400 100 CND
HEADING NOTES:
Fire * = newly reported fire (on this report). Cx = complex.
IMT T1 = Type 1; T2 = Type II; ST1 = state Type 1; ST2 = state Type 2.
% Con Percent of fire contained.
Est Con Estimated containment date. NEC = no estimated date of
containment; CND = fully contained; NR = no report.
3) FIRES YESTERDAY -
NPS BIA BLM FWS States USFS Total
Number 0 10 5 0 14 9 38
Acres Burned 0 10 3 0 9 12 34
4) COMMITTED RESOURCES -
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Federal 1 28 3 0 14
Non-federal 2 11 0 0 0
5) COMPARATIVE SUMMARY -
CY 1995 Five Year Average
Year-to-Date Year-to-Date
Number of Fires 39,615 33,920
Acres Burned 570,713 499,897
6) SITUATION - Minor initial attack activity continues in the Southwest. Large
fires continue in Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territory; blow-up conditions
were reported on several Northwest Territory fires yesterday. Fire activity in
Manitoba and Ontario has moderated.
7) OUTLOOK - Moderate initial attack activity is expected in the Southwest.
[NIFCC Incident Management Situation Report, 6/9]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
No field reports today.
OPERATIONAL NOTES
No notes.
OBSERVATIONS
"The abiding purpose of a national park is to bring man and his environment
into closer harmony. The ultimate hope that a delicate balance between
preservation and use can be maintained will depend upon the ability of the Park
Service to promote, and the willingness of the visitor to accept, perception as
the highest form of park use. Every visitor reacts to the beauty of the
natural scene or the stirring drama of the historical past, if only passively.
Salvation for the parks lies in the hope that the park visitor can be actively
stimulated, by the immediacy of his surroundings and the substance of the
interpretive programs, to perceive and treasure the natural and historical
processes through which the land and all living things have achieved their form
and by which they maintain their dependent existence."
William C. Everhart, "The
National Park Service",
1972
Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation and
support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.
Telephone: 202-208-4874
Telefax: 202-208-6756
cc:Mail: WASO Ranger Activities
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