- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Thursday, July 6, 1995
- Date: Thurs, 6 Jul 1995
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Thursday, July 6, 1995
Broadcast: By 1000 ET
INCIDENTS
94-196 - Death Valley (California) - Follow-up on ARPA Arrests
While conducting overflights of the park as part of Operation Alliance on April
27, 1994, rangers observed a vehicle parked in a remote area of Mesquite Flat
in such a manner that it led them to believe that the operator was attempting
to hide it from view. Subsequent investigation on the ground led to contacts
with R.B. and W.J., both of Bishop, California, who were in the
process of removing a winnowing tray and bowl from a sandy knoll. The two men
were charged by the U.S. attorney with misdemeanor ARPA violations. On June
28th, they pleaded guilty to the charges, and were each sentenced to two years'
probation, payment of a $2,745 criminal fine, restitution of $500 to the park,
prohibition from the park during the probation period, and a small court
assessment. [Eric Inman, DEVA]
95-371 - Fort Sumter (South Carolina) - Area Closure
During the early morning hours of July 4th, a man drove past security guards at
the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, part of the Patriots Point Naval and
Maritime Museum, entered the vessel with a rifle and duffle bag, and
commandeered the ship. Patriots Point serves as the tour boat departure point
for the park. When local authorities sealed off the area, all visitor traffic
was detoured to the Charleston City Marina departure point. Many visitors
detoured to nearby Fort Moultrie, a unit of the park, creating extremely high
visitation there. When the man finally surrendered the following morning, tour
boat operations from the point were resumed. [CR, FOSU]
95-372 - Yellowstone (Wyoming) - Aircraft Crash with Fatality
A single-engine airplane crashed in rugged terrain about two miles from Sylvan
Pass around noon on July 4th, killing the pilot and lone occupant. The plane
apparently lost power as it approached the area. The pilot was K.W.,
58, a deputy sheriff from Denton, Texas, who had departed the airport
in Cody, Wyoming, earlier that day. K.W. was traveling with two companions,
each in their own planes; both witnessed the accident. By the time rangers
arrived at the scene about an hour after the crash, the plane had burned and
was almost totally destroyed. The cause of the accident is under investigation
by the NTSB. [Mike Murray, ACR, YELL]
95-373 - Yosemite (California) - Equine Rescue
On the morning of June 21st, park SAR personnel were en route on Highway 140 to
assist a county SAR team in the search for a drowning victim outside the park
when one of the searchers saw a saddled horse swimming downstream through class
4 and 5 rapids. It was later learned that the horse had fallen in the river
three miles upstream, and that the rider had jumped clear of the animal before
it fell in. The horse was able to swim into an eddy along the stream bank,
where it became stranded on its side on submerged rocks. One of the searchers
was able to reach the horse, lead it upstream in the eddy to a flat rock shelf,
then help it to struggle out of the water onto the shelf. The horse was
tranquilized by a veterinarian and lifted out of the river by a utility boom
truck. Although bruised and cut, the horse survived and is reportedly doing
well. [Mary Coelho, YOSE]
95-374 - Colonial (Virginia) - Visitor Rescued by Visitors
E.B., 31, was crabbing in the York River along Colonial Parkway on
June 23rd when he was swept off his feet by the river's current. Three boys -
B.W., 19, J.W., 15, and J.F., 16 - heard his cries
for help, swam out to him, and, after a struggle with the panicked victim,
brought him safely to shore. E.B. was treated by local EMS personnel and
released. He said that he would certainly have drowned without the assistance
of the three youths. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO]
95-375 - Jefferson National Expansion (Missouri) - Visitor Rescued by Worker
On June 7th, a two-year-old child visiting the Arch with her family ran ahead
of the group and fell into the North Reflecting Pool. A contract construction
worker heard the mother yelling for help, dove into the pond, retrieved the
child, and cleared her airway with back blows, restoring her breathing. The
family refused ambulance transport and left the park. [Deryl Stone, CR, JEFF]
95-376 - Little River (Alabama) - Car Clouting Arrests
On the evening of June 29th, R.R., a park visitor, caught three
individuals - N.W., R.T.mas and a juvenile - breaking into his
vehicle; he took their car keys to prevent them from leaving the area and
advised the park. The chief ranger responded, conducted a consent search of
the vehicle, and found items belonging to R.R. in the back seat. The three
were arrested; the adults were taken before a U.S. magistrate the next day and
charged with felony burglary, the juvenile was turned over to his stepfather.
A search of R.T. and N.W.'s residence led to the discovery of other items
that may have been taken in car clouts. [Dwight Dixon, CR, LIRI]
95-377 - Blue Ridge (North Carolina/Virginia) - Suicide
On June 23rd, a ranger checking a vehicle parked on the roadside discovered
that its engine was running, that all the doors were locked, and that it was
occupied by an older woman. The ranger broke out a window and gained access to
the vehicle. A quick check of vital signs revealed that she'd been dead for
some time. Investigators subsequently determined that the victim, J.J.,
66, of Little Switzerland, North Carolina, had been suffering from
terminal cancer and had overdosed on a variety of prescription and non-
prescription pills. [CRO, BLRI]
95-378 - Yellowstone (Wyoming) - MVA with Concessioner Fatality
Early on the morning of July 2nd, a Ford Tempo sedan crossed the center line of
the Grand Loop Road near Craig Pass and hit a Colorado Charter Lines tour bus
with 27 passengers head on. The driver and lone occupant of the sedan, M.D.,
66, a park concession employee from Salina, Kansas, received serious
injuries and was taken to Lake Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on
arrival. Three tour bus passengers were also taken to the hospital, where they
were treated and released. The remaining passengers were either uninjured or
received minor injuries that were treated at the scene. The cause of the
accident is still under investigation. [Mike Murray, ACR, YELL]
95-379 - Blue Ridge (North Carolina/Virginia) - MVA with Fatality
Five people in two vehicles were injured in varying degrees in a two-vehicle
accident on the parkway on July 1st. One of the passengers, E.M.,
85, of Asheville, North Carolina, subsequently died from chest and abdominal
trauma. Preliminary investigation indicates that the operator of a Nissan
pickup truck lost control of his truck while going through a curve and collided
head on with the vehicle in which E.M. was riding. [CRO, BLRI]
95-380 - National Capitol Parks (D.C.) - Shooting
An unidentified man was assaulted by three other men in Meridian Hill Park at
4:40 a.m. on July 1st. One of the three men shot the victim in the arm. He
was taken to a city hospital for treatment of his wound, which was not life
threatening. Park Police officers are investigating. [Bill Lynch, Acting
RLES, RAD/NCFAO]
95-381 - Buffalo (Arkansas) - Drowning
M.T., 35, of Midway, Arkansas, drowned while swimming at the
confluence of the Buffalo and White Rivers with two friends late on the evening
of July 3rd. Alcohol may have been involved. The county sheriff's office
responded and is conducting a joint investigation with park rangers. [Carl
Hinrichs, CR, BUFF]
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II
2) LARGE FIRE SUMMARY
% Est
State Area Fire IMT 7/5 7/6 Con Con
CA California
Desert District Granite -- 300 300 100 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 1 4 6 0 215 19 245
Acres Burned 0 312 28 0 1,403 165 1,908
4) COMMITTED RESOURCES -
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Federal 34 41 15 0 6
Non-federal 0 5 0 0 2
5) COMPARATIVE SUMMARY -
CY 1995 Five Year Average
Year-to-Date Year-to-Date
Number of Fires - U.S. 45,525 40,096
Acres Burned - U.S. 776,446 906,969
Number of Fires - Canada 5,440 -
Hectares Burned - Canada 3,935,530 -
6) SITUATION - Several areas have reported increases in human-caused fires.
Large fires burned another 296,000 acres in Canada.
7) OUTLOOK - Initial attack and large fire activity may increase due to
forecasts calling for hot and dry weather.
[NIFCC Incident Management Situation Report, 7/6]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
No field reports today.
OPERATIONAL NOTES
1) Morning Report - Three notes regarding distribution of the Morning Report:
* Effective today, the Morning Report will be transmitted as a "blind copy"
to all readers, thereby eliminating or reducing the addressees on the
"To" line.
* Ranger Activities does not handle distribution of the Morning Report via
cc:Mail. If you're interested in receiving it at your terminal, please
contact your park or regional cc:Mail hub coordinator.
* A WordPerfect 5.1 version of the Morning Report is sent out to a number
of offices via a separate mailing list managed by this office. If you're
interested in receiving a copy, please send a cc:Mail message to that
effect.
OBSERVATIONS
"The ultimate purposes for which parks are managed have spiritual overtones.
To some degree, each of the bountiful elements of the parks - plant or tree or
bird, historic building or artifact, sea shell or pot shard - helps a person to
find his place in the universe. The function of a national park might be
considered as contributing insight into those sovereign questions that human
knowledge derived from practical experience finds so difficult to answer: Who
are we, where are we, and why?"
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.
Telephone: 202-208-4874
Telefax: 202-208-6756
cc:Mail: WASO Ranger Activities
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