- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Tuesday, August 1, 1995
- Date: Tues, 1 Aug 1995
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Tuesday, August 1, 1995
Broadcast: By 1000 ET
INCIDENTS
95-469 - South Florida Parks - Hurricane Erin
As of 5 a.m., Hurricane Erin was 290 miles east-southeast of Miami and moving
toward the west-northwest at 10 mph. This track will bring the center of the
storm near the southeast Florida coast by late tonight. Some slow
strengthening is possible today and tonight. Storm tides of five to eight feet
above normal can be expected near and to the north of the point where the
center crosses the coast. Parks in south Florida have accordingly begun making
necessary preparations:
* Everglades - The park closed at 3 p.m. yesterday and will remain closed
until the storm passes. Employees and families in park housing on
Flamingo and Key Largo have been evacuated and are staying in facilities
at Pine Island. Some employees and families from Biscayne will join them
today. No decision has yet been made on evacuation of residents of
Everglades City. The incident command system is in effect and operating
out of a command post at Pine Island. The incident commander at present
is Chuck Passek; deputy incident commander is Bill Kaage.
* Big Cypress - The hurricane incident management team has been activated;
the current incident commander is Larry Belles. The team is shuttering
up houses, contacting visitors in the backcountry and campgrounds,
backing up computers and generally shutting down daily operations. Non-
essential personnel are being released to take care of their homes and
make other necessary preparations. Some staff members remain on board
today to finish up building preparations, provide security and monitor
the storm. All others have been directed to remain at home and contact
the park for updated information.
[FEMA National Emergency Coordination Center advisory; reports from Bill Kaage,
EVER, Larry Belles, BICY, Steve Smith, SEFO]
95-470 - Death Valley (California) - Structural Fire
On July 27th, rangers received a report of a mobile home in the Stovepipe Wells
concession housing that was fully engulfed in flame. Park and volunteer fire
crews at Stovepipe Wells contained the fire to the trailer, which was
unoccupied at the time. The fire originated in one of the bedrooms. There had
been past reports of electrical problems in the structure. [Mark Maciha,
Acting CR, DEVA]
95-471 - Pinnacles (California) - Assault on Employee
On the evening of July 30th, park employee Dave Larabe was approaching the
entrance of the park when he came up behind a white pickup truck which was
weaving down the road. When the vehicles arrived at the park entrance, the
pickup pulled to the side and Larabe drove past and continued to his residence.
When he pulled into his driveway, the pickup pulled in behind him and the
driver got out. He approached Larabe and asked him if he worked in the park.
When Larabe replied in the affirmative, the man punched him above the left eye,
then got back into his truck and drove away. Larabe suffered a gash over his
eye which took five stitches. The park has begun an investigation in an effort
to find Larabe's assailant. [Bill Lester, PINN]
95-472 - Canyon de Chelly (Arizona) - Assault on VIP
Volunteer campground host Jim Palmer was assaulted by two men near the park's
amphitheater on the evening of July 7th. Palmer had contacted them earlier and
asked them to stop soliciting money in the campground. He saw one of them at a
campsite later on. As Palmer approached him, the man walked away into the
woods near the amphitheater. The second man then stepped from behind a tree
and knocked Palmer to the ground. Palmer sustained several bruises. The two
men fled on foot to a waiting vehicle parked outside the campground and fled
the area. Their identities remain unknown. [Scot McElveen, Acting CR, CACH]
95-473 - Stones River (Tennessee) - Injury to VIP
Nick Romer, 45, of Antioch, Tennessee, an experienced horseman, suffered a
broken femur and pelvis when his horse fell on him during an interpretive
cavalry program in the park on July 29th. He was taken to the Vanderbilt
University hospital by a local EMS unit. The horse was not injured. Romer is
a member of the 7th Tennessee Cavalry, a reenactment unity which presents
programs at the park on one weekend each summer. [CR, STRI]
95-474 - Glen Canyon (Arizona/Utah) - Thefts
The night auditor at the Bullfrog lodge and marina returned home at 6 a.m. on
July 23rd to find that her pickup truck was missing. Shortly thereafter, the
administrative cashier discovered that all the night deposit bags from the busy
weekend had been cut open prior to being deposited in a drop safe. An
estimated $50,000 was missing. A night security guard is the prime suspect, as
he had access to the night auditor's vehicle and signed for receipt of each of
the bags. He could not be located in the area, and failed to appear for his
shift that afternoon. Investigators have learned that there is an outstanding
warrant against him for a previous vehicle theft. [Tomie Lee, CR, GLCA]
95-475 - Glen Canyon (Arizona/Utah) - Serious Visitor Injury
On the afternoon of July 26th, J.M., 42, was waterskiing with four
other people behind a boat when the rope he was using became tangled around his
wrist, tightened and severed his hand. Park medics responded and evacuated him
to a hospital in Page. Park divers were called out in an effort to retrieve
J.M.'s hand in the hope that it could be reattached. The water at that
location, however, was about 150 feet deep, which reduced the likelihood of
recovering it. Doctors also determined that such surgery would not be feasible
due to the nature of the injury. The search was accordingly terminated.
[Tomie Lee, CR, GLCA]
95-476 - Glen Canyon (Arizona/Utah) - Drug and Theft Arrests
On July 23rd, camper J.S. reported to rangers that L.H., a
friend of his, was camping at the Upper Bullfrog beach and had a stolen Jeep in
his possession. The Jeep was sighted and stopped as it left the area. =
first provided an alias, but subsequently admitted to both stealing the vehicle
and possessing methamphetamine. It also turned out that J.S. had reported
L.H. because L.H. had stolen the methamphetamine from J.S.. L.H.,
J.S., and a third companion, Howard Martindale, were arrested and charged on
a number of counts, including check fraud. The trio had stolen and forged
checks in their possession, and had used at least one while in the area.
Rangers also found that L.H. was wanted on several warrants and had been
involved in a high speed chase in Salt Lake City during the previous week.
[Tomie Lee, CR, GLCA]
95-477 - Lake Meredith (Texas) - Rescue
Rangers received word that a man was drowning at the Stilling Basin swimming
area on July 27th; when they arrived on scene, they found a visitor performing
CPR on P.K., 40. The rangers assisted with CPR and rescue breathing
until paramedics arrived on scene. Witnesses said that P.K., drank two quarts
of beer immediately before entering the water, and that another visitor had
pulled him from the lake. P.K., was taken to a local, where he refused
treatment and left against medical advice. [Mark Foust, ACR, LAMR]
95-478 - Chattahoochee (Georgia) - Suicide
A hiker came upon the body of a 38-year-old woman on the Fox Lopp trail in the
Sope Creek unit on the morning of July 25th. A joint park-county investigation
was conducted, and it was determined that the woman, P.J., had
committed suicide at that location. [Dispatch, CHAT]
[More pending incident reports tomorrow...]
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level III
The preparedness level went up one step over the past weekend. Preparedness
Level III goes into effect when the following conditions are met: Two or more
geographic areas experiencing incidents requiring a major commitment of
national resources. High number of fires becoming Class D and larger.
Additional resources are being ordered and mobilized through NICC. Type 1
teams are committed in two or more areas, or 300 crews are committed
nationally.
2) LARGE FIRE SUMMARY
% Est
State Area Fire IMT 7/28 8/1 Con Con
AZ Coronado NF * Shovel -- - 1,225 75 NEC
* Green -- - 190 100 NEC
Tonto NF * Squaw -- - 7,000 100 CN 7/31
Coconino NF * Bear Jaw T2 - 800 80 CN 8/2
Ariz. Strip Dis. * Dutchman -- - 500 0 NEC
* Jacobs Well -- - 250 0 NEC
* Wilder Point -- - 1,200 0 NEC
Safford Dis. * Farrell Mountain -- - 225 60 CN 8/1
Phoenix Dis. * New Water -- - 1,300 90 CN 8/1
Truxton Canyon
Agency * Mud -- - 1,280 100 CND
NM Gila NF * HB T2 - 4,530 50 CN 8/2
UT S.L. City Dis. Stansbury Island -- 3,430 4,840 99 NEC
Moab Dis. * Triangle T1 - 3,500 0 CN 8/4
Cedar City Dis. * Cedar Pocket -- - 12,911 50 CN 8/1
CO Grand Junc. Dis. * Mitchell T2 - 1,500 40 CN 8/1
Craig Dis. * Dinosaur -- - 500 100 CND
ID Boise Dis. * Twin Butte -- - 29,300 75 CN 8/1
* Tuana Cx -- - 100,000 100 CND
Shoshone Dis. * Walcott -- - 1,100 100 CND
NV Elko Dis. * McGill -- - 196 100 CND
* Pilot -- - 500 25 CN 8/3
* Bluff Creek -- - 200 100 CN 7/31
Battle Mtn. Dis. * Buffalo -- - 3,000 100 CND
CA Mojave NP * Colton -- - 100 90 CN 8/1
* Tuttle -- - 300 40 CN 8/1
Kern County * Lopez -- - 2,300 50 NEC
San Diego RU * Church -- - 175 NR
* Ribbonwood -- - 100 NR
* Forrest Gate -- - 1,620 NR
San Benito RU * Ashurst -- - 463 NR
MT Crow Agency * West Pryor -- - 700 95 CN 8/2
Miles City Dis. * Indian Creek -- - 172 100 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 12 27 34 1 108 82 264
Acres Burned 405 42 23,612 20 771 8,861 33,711
4) COMMITTED RESOURCES -
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Federal 166 273 52 2 273
Non-federal 43 43 3 0 78
5) COMPARATIVE SUMMARY -
CY 1995 Five Year Average
Year-to-Date Year-to-Date
Number of Fires - U.S. 55,005 48,516
Acres Burned - U.S. 1,230,460 1,746,743
Number of Fires - Canada 6,324 -
Acres Burned - Canada 13,157,660 -
6) SITUATION - Fire activity remained constant in most areas of the West
yesterday. Thunderstorms continued to affect existing fires and start new ones
in the Southwest. Very high to extreme indices are being reported in the
Southwest, Rockies, Great Basin and California. Mobilization of resources
through NICC continues at a moderate pace.
7) OUTLOOK - Thunderstorms in the Southwest will cause large fires to persist
and initial attack to continue. Holdover fires from previous storms are a
concern throughout the rest of the West.
[NIFCC Incident Management Situation Report, 7/31]
OPERATIONAL NOTES
1) Use of Names in Incident Reports - By now, all of you have received an open
"Letter to the Editor" sent Servicewide on the Morning Report net by Russell
Miller, the Halls Crossing subdistrict ranger at Glen Canyon. The following
points are being offered in response to his observations:
* The discussion on when to use and when not to use employee names on
incident reports has gone on for many years. The consensus among the
many park and regional chief rangers involved in the discussion has been
to use names when the employee has been involved in a significant
activity (rescue, arrest, investigation, etc.) but to omit them when it's
a routine incident (general EMS response, traffic accident, etc.) or when
a large number of people are involved in an incident (the names, for
instance, of all the members of a SAR operation).
* There has not been a "definite trend" - at least on this end - toward use
of the generic term "responding rangers" in lieu of individual names. Now
and then, that term has been used when the rangers in question were
numerous and/or the response has been relatively routine, but as a rule
the phrase appears because that's how it was sent in. Reporting offices
can and should include names whenever appropriate. In the interest of
erring on the side of acknowledgement, however, the MR will now contain
ALL names that are submitted, whether on routine matters or not.
* Names of victims are included because the Morning Report serves several
functions, one of which is to provide a single reporting point for the
field. When the MR was created in 1986, parks were often required to
send in the same report to four or five offices. By design and with the
concurrence of several WASO offices, incident reporting criteria were
established which would include the information needed by those offices,
thereby eliminating one more burden to the field. All chief rangers have
copies of these criteria.
* The names of reporting parties are added at the end of each report to
provide proper attribution and to provide readers with a verifiable
source.
* The Morning Report was also created in part to specifically acknowledge
the accomplishments of field rangers, and has been successful in
attaining this end - both in general and specific terms. The myriad
reports that have appeared (600-800 per year for the last nine years)
have gone a very long way toward enlightening people who haven't worked
in parks on the realities of the work rangers perform. Compilations of
incidents have been used for everything from justifications for increased
ARPA and drug funding to providing OPM with a rationale for 6(c) status
for law enforcement rangers. Individual recognition of rangers involved
in valorous activities have been used to support valor awards and are
frequently provided to interested reporters for use in a range of
magazine articles, from "Outside" to "Response".
* A final point: Individual messages to the editor are appreciated and
answered. It is not necessary to send out a Systemwide message on the
Morning Report network in order to "send a message" to Washington. We
are neither so obdurate nor so callous as to be indifferent to field
concerns. The MR was established by field rangers for the benefit and
advancement of both rangers and other employees (hence "Calendar",
"Upcoming in Congress" and several other new sections about to be added).
It will continue to serve that function and will be fine tuned as
necessary.
UPCOMING IN CONGRESS
The following activities will be taking place in Congress during coming weeks
on matters pertaining to the National Park Service. If you would like further
information on any of these hearings or bills, please contact Stacey Rickard in
WASO Legislation at 202-208-3636.
August 2
House Resources Committee (Young): Markup of H.R. 238, to provide for the
protection of wild horses within the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and
prohibit the removal of such horses; H.R. 1745, to designate public lands in
the State of Utah as wilderness.
August 3
House Resources' Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands (Hansen):
Hearing on H.R. 205, Park Renewal Fund Act; H.R. 2107, Visitor Services
Improvement and Outdoor Legacy Act.
August 4
House Resources' Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands (Hansen):
Markup of H.R. 1280, National Heritage Areas; H.R. 1713, Livestock Grazing.
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
SkyPager: Emergencies ONLY: 1-800-759-7243, PIN 2404843