NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Thursday, June 29, 1995

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

95-294 - Yosemite (California) - Follow-up on Employee Death

A graveside service was held on June 19th for Mather District roads foreman
Barry Hance, who died of injuries suffered on June 13th in an avalanche that
occurred near Olmstead Point on the Tioga Road.  A memorial service was held
for park employees at the Yosemite Institute campus in Crane Flat the same day. 
A trust fund has been established for the Barry Hance Family at the Yosemite
Bank (account number 2043985).  If you would like to make a donation toward the
fund, you may do so by contacting the Groveland branch of Yosemite Bank at 209-
962-7853.  [YOSE, 6/28]

95-341 - Denali (Alaska) - Rescue

Four climbers were swept 1400 feet down the South Buttress of Mount McKinley by
an avalanche late on the evening of June 27th.  Two members of the party
sustained injuries - R.R., 40, of Olympia, Washington, suffered
fractured ribs and an ankle; J.F., 38, of San Mateo, California,
suffered fractured vertebrae.  The other two members of the party miraculously
escaped serious injury.  Their CB radio call for help was picked up by a
private operator and relayed to the park just after midnight.  The park's Llama
helicopter short-hauled ranger Kevin Moore to the site, where he stabilized
J.F.'s and R.R.'s injuries.  Both were lifted out by short-haul from the
10,400 foot level and taken to Talkeetna, where a waiting ANG Pavehawk
helicopter picked them up and took them to a hospital in Anchorage.  [Ken
Kehrer, CR, DENA, 6/28]

95-342 - Shenandoah (Virginia) - Flashflooding; Assist to Neighboring Areas

Thunderstorms which struck the area and remained stationary for about eight
hours on June 27th, dropped a total of ten or more inches of rain on the park
and nearby communities.  There were numerous flash floods in Madison and Green
counties in which people were trapped on vehicles, in residences, and on high
ground.  The park suffered scattered power outages, downed trees, minor rock
slides, and related problems.  Power was knocked out at Big Meadows and the
concession lodge there was closed.  An incident management team (Bob Martin,
IC) was established which coordinated in-park responses and cooperated with
local agencies to provide rescue assistance.  As of yesterday morning, the
situation had improved.  Calls for rescue had decreased, power was restored at
Loft Mountain campground and in the Lewis Mountain area, and the rain had
tapered off.  [Greg Stiles, SHEN 6/28]

95-343 - Blue Ridge (North Carolina/Tennessee) - Bombs 

On June 21st, a maintenance employee discovered three plastic bottles
containing a milky solution with small particles of aluminum foil near Otter
Creek Restaurant.  Rangers subsequently identified these as "McGyver" bombs,
made from common household items.  The most common type of McGyver bomb
consists of a two-liter soda bottle filled with shredded aluminum foil and a
hydrochloric acid solution, such as is found in drain cleaner.  The reaction
begins almost immediately and pressure will cause the bottles to explode within
five to ten minutes.  There's no incendiary effect, but the bombs are extremely
powerful and dangerous, primarily because of the acid solution.  The bombs were
rendered inert with the assistance of representatives from the Virginia state
police and ATF.  There are no suspects at present; the investigation continues. 
[CRO, BLRI, 6/28]

95-344 - Yosemite (California) - Multiple Rescues

Four people were rescued from climbing routes on the face of El Capitan on June
15th after an unseasonable but predicted storm passed through the area,
dropping rain and snow.  Climbers D.M., 26, and C.C., 25, were
on the Zodiac route about 400 feet from the top when they became cold, wet and
hypothermic.  Due to low clouds, visual observation of the team proved
impossible; their location was established by having them drop water bottles in
response to PA calls from rangers.  When the weather cleared, rescuers were
dropped at the top of El Capitan by park and Lemoore NAS helicopters, whose
crews subsequently spotted two other climbers - B.L. and E.S. -
who were about 600 feet from the top on the Shield route and were in similar
distress.  Another team was helicoptered to the top to rescue them.  A total of
about 80 rangers and other rescuers worked through the night to get the four
climbers to the top.  All parties were airlifted to the Valley the following
morning.  Criminal charges may be lodged against all four for disorderly
conduct.  [Mary Coelho, YOSE, 6/29]

95-346 - Whiskeytown (California) - Structural Fire

Park concession employees noticed heavy black smoke and flames issuing from the
Oak Bottom bath house during the early morning hours of June 27th.  They
reported the fire to the area ranger, who found that the women's side of the
facility was completely involved.  Local fire companies and park staff
contained and extinguished the fire before it could spread any further. 
Preliminary investigation indicates that the fire began in a trash can several
hours several hours earlier.  No evidence of an incendiary device was found,
but white supremacist gang graffiti was discovered near the entrance to the
building.  Arson is strongly suspected.  [Larry Carr, CR, WHIS, 6/28]

95-347 - Canyonlands (Utah) - Rescue

On June 26th, a 13-year-old girl from Grand Rapids, Michigan, was injured when
one of her legs was crushed when it was caught in the frame of a commercial
raft while transiting a major rapid in Cataract Canyon.  One of the rafting
concession employees hiked to the rim of the canyon and notified the park by
radio of the incident.  An air ambulance flew to the scene from Grand Junction
and evacuated her to a hospital in that city.  Although there was no fracture
to the leg, the girl did sustain damage to her leg muscles.  [Larry Van Slyke,
CR, CANY, 6/28]

95-348 - Cape Hatteras (North Carolina) - Fatality

T.B., 14, of Harwood, Maryland, was playing frisbee with his mother
at Oregon Inlet beach on the afternoon of June 23rd when he suddenly collapsed
in knee deep surf.  His mother though he was playing with her, but found him
limp in the water when she went to him.  She immediately brought him to shore
and began CPR with the help of another visitor.  Rangers and county EMS
personnel soon arrived and took over from them.  He was taken to a medical
center in Nags Head, where he was pronounced dead.  The cause of death remains
unknown.  [Joe Smith, CR, CAHA, 6/27]

FIRE ACTIVITY

1) NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II

2) LARGE FIRE SUMMARY
                                                                   %   Est
State    Area                Fire         IMT      6/28    6/29   Con  Con  

 NM    State             * Elrod           --         -     175     0  NEC

 OR    Deschutes NF        Green Mountain  --       100+    120   100  CND

 MN    Superior NF         Gunflint        T2     2,922   2,346    50  CN 7/1 

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            2      26       18       0        36       74        156
Acres Burned      0     219      808       0       237      118      1,382

4) COMMITTED RESOURCES -

               Crews     Engines     Helicopters     Airtankers     Overhead

Federal           32        48           22               4             67
Non-federal        3         1            2               0             20

5) COMPARATIVE SUMMARY -
                                      CY 1995            Five Year Average
                                    Year-to-Date           Year-to-Date

Number of Fires                        42,786                  38,512     
Acres Burned                          699,697                 721,519 

6) SITUATION - Initial attack and large fire activity continued in the
Southwest yesterday.  Fires continue to burn impressive acreages in Canada -
over 570,000 acres yesterday alone.

7) OUTLOOK - A fire weather watch continues in Arizona for dry lightning. 
Initial attack operations are expected to continue in the Southwest.

[NIFCC Incident Management Situation Report, 6/29]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Arches (Utah) - Significant Rock Fall

Segments of Landscape Arch continue to fall.  On June 13th, a large segment of
rock came down directly on the trail under the arch and covered about 100 feet
of it with debris.  A witness said that she heard a loud crack just before the
section fell, but that she hadn't seen the actual fall because she had her back
to the arch at the time.  It's estimated that the section was about 25 feet
long by four feet wide by two feet thick.  On June 21st, another but smaller
section fell.  The trail that passes under the arch remains closed.  [Karen
McKinlay-Jones, ARCH] 

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No notes.

OBSERVATIONS

Because of the wealth of insights, often wry, in William Everhart's "The
National Park Service", we will focus for a few days on excerpts from his 
account of the history, organization and function of the Service:

"An urgent need of the Park Service [in its early years] was to develop a
capable and professional ranger force.  At his first national parks conference,
Mather had been disappointed with the caliber of the superintendents, many of
whom were politically appointed lightweights, unmoved by his idealism.  Rangers
and superintendents were not under civil service, and predictably the parks
were crippled by vigorous application of the spoils system.  When a new
administration took office in Washington, the faces of new superintendents
appeared in the parks, for appointments to many jobs were prerogatives of local
congressmen.  A story is told, which has the ring of truth, that one such
ranger appointee in Glacier National Park had to be assigned patrol duty along
the railroad tracks so that he wouldn't get lost in the woods.  Postponing
entry into civil service, the Park Service thoroughly cleaned house.  It
unloaded misfits and shifted jobs around and was highly successful in finding
good men, many of whom were attracted from other agencies.  Fortunately, from
its beginnings, the Park Service has been able to attract a different type of
individual.  A group of men from unlikely backgrounds have somehow been
assembled who combine a cultivated disregard for standard operating procedures
with an unorthodox ability to get the job done.  For the special flavor that
such men have imparted to the agency, the Park Service has been grateful -
generally."

                                          William C. Everhart, "The
                                          National Park Service", 1972

[Do you have a favorite quote about the NPS?  If so, send it along for possible
inclusion in a future Morning Report...]

Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation and
support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.


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