- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Friday, August 11, 1995
- Date: Fri, 11 Aug 1995
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Friday, August 11, 1995
Broadcast: By 1000 ET
INCIDENTS
95-469 - Gulf Islands (Florida/Mississippi) - Follow-up on Hurricane Erin
Through the efforts of park employees from all divisions, all areas in the park
(except for the Santa Rosa day use area) will reopen this morning. Santa Rosa
will remain closed until power is restored there. Work continues on clearing
trails and completing repairs to damaged buildings. Power and phone service
have been returned to all employee residences; cleanup and repair work to
quarters continues. The park extends its thanks to all who provided support or
offered assistance. [Gene Phillips, CR, GUIS]
95-511 - Lake Mead (Nevada) - Rescue
Ranger Bill VanInwagen was on patrol at a remote beach area on the north shore
of Lake Mead on August 5th when he saw a young boy struggling in the water
about 500 feet from shore. The boy, D.K., 12, was attempting to swim
to an island where his mother was caring for seven other children. D.K. was
yelling for help and having trouble staying above the surface of the water.
VanInwagen dove into the water, swam to D.K.'s location, and employed live-
saving techniques to bring him to shore. D.K. told him that he'd become too
tired to swim further and couldn't have gone on. D.K. would likely have
drowned without VanInwagen's intervention. [Bud Inman, LAME]
95-512 - Indiana Dunes (Indiana) - Homicide
The body of a 15-year-old girl was found in an isolated area of the park within
the city of Gary on the evening of August 8th. The girl was reported missing
from her nearby home by her mother on the previous evening. Initial
indications are that she was beaten to death, and that the homicide occurred in
the park. There are no suspects. The park is working with Gary police on the
investigation; the FBI has been notified. [J. Jones, Protection Branch Chief,
INDU]
95-513 - Cape Lookout (North Carolina) - Search
On the afternoon of August 5th, K.D., 32, set out to swim across Barden
Inlet from Shackleford Banks to the spit of South Core Banks, a distance of
about one mile. K.D.'s friends soon lost sight of her and set out by boat in
an attempt to locate her. When these efforts proved fruitless, they contacted
the Coast Guard. A search involving a park and two Coast Guard vessels and a
Coast Guard helicopter was initiated. Park VIPs contacted visitors on the
beach, and two more helicopters eventually joined the search. Around 8:30
p.m., K.D. called the Coast Guard from the mainland. She said that she'd been
caught up by the current and drifted to Core Sound, where a local fisherman
picked her up and took her to Harkers Island. K.D. was in the water for about
40 minutes. Alcohol is believed to have been a contributing factor. [Jim
Zahradka, Protection Branch Chief, CALO]
95-514 - Carlsbad Cavern (New Mexico) - Rescue
B.C., 40, of Ontario, Canada, was successfully extricated from
Lechuguilla Cave on August 7th after sustaining broken ribs in a fall.
B.C. was part of a LEARN (Lechuguilla Exploration and Research Network)
expedition to survey and explore the cave. The injury occurred in the Lake
Labarge area, about a mile and a half and 1,000 vertical feet into the cave.
An incident command team comprised of 28 park and LEARN personnel completed the
extrication by rigging and hauling B.C. up all of the vertical passages,
including 150-foot-high Boulder Falls. B.C. himself assisted in the
rescue by walking and climbing with team assistance where possible. [Tim
Stubbs, Acting CR, CACA]
95-515 - Apostle Islands (Wisconsin) - "Shooting" Incident
On August 5th, volunteer lighthouse keepers on Devils Island reported that men
on a sailboat anchored offshore were shooting at them with a red and white
rifle. Although forced to take cover, the volunteers were able to provide a
full description of the vessel, including its name. Rangers intercepted the
boat, with backup assistance from the Coast Guard, and discovered that the
rifle was in fact a homemade "potato cannon" - a device constructed from PVC
pipe which employs combustible hair spray as a propellant to fire raw potatoes
with considerable force to a distance of up to 200 yards. C.P., 40,
and P.B., 38, both from Minnesota, admitted firing toward the island
and were cited for disorderly conduct. Initial research indicates that this
may be the first naval bombardment of a shore installation on the Great Lakes
since the War of 1812. [Bob Mackreth, DR, APIS]
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level III
2) LARGE FIRE SUMMARY
% Est
State Area Fire IMT 8/10 8/11 Con Con
MI Superior NF * Sag Corridor T2 - 1,000 0 NEC
ID Boise NF Lakes T1 1,000 1,000 80 CN 8/11
Shoshone Dis. * NAF West -- - 600 75 CN 8/10
UT State Camp William -- 3,300 3,300 85 CN 8/11
* Turkey -- - 1,000 40 CN 8/11
S.L. City Dis. Puddle/Lake T2 22,700 22,700 90 CN 8/11
CA Klamath NF Pony T2 1,950 2,063 60 CN 8/19
Riverside RU Verbenia ST 23,455 23,455 100 CND
AZ State Black Hill -- 2,800 2,800 100 CND
Hill Top -- 400 400 45 CN 8/11
* Pond -- - 130 90 CN 8/10
Phoenix Dis. Whitlock -- 972 972 80 CN 8/12
Coronado NF Fagen -- 190 190 100 CND
Tonto NF * Parallel -- - 400 100 CND
OR Deschutes NF Wind -- 180 211 100 CND
NV Humboldt NF Battle Creek T2 11,000 11,000 60 CN 8/11
WY Rawlins Dis. West Cotton -- 400 650 80 CN 8/11
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 6 26 0 145 60 237
Acres Burned 3 57 888 0 2,347 1,483 4,778
4) COMMITTED RESOURCES -
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Federal 88 116 44 5 469
Non-federal 18 25 0 0 20
5) COMPARATIVE SUMMARY -
CY 1995 Five Year Average
Year-to-Date Year-to-Date
Number of Fires - U.S. 57,446 51,982
Acres Burned - U.S. 1,374,563 2,063,366
Number of Fires - Canada 6,669 -
Acres Burned - Canada 14,715,138 -
6) FIRE NARRATIVES -
* Sag Corridor, Superior NF - The fire is being driven by high winds. About
200 people have been evacuated from residences, summer homes and resorts in the
Gunflint Trail area. The fire has crossed the border and is threatening
numerous structures in both countries. It is being fought under a unified
command with Canada.
7) SITUATION - Large fire activity increased in the east yesterday, and
resources are being mobilized to the area today.
8) OUTLOOK - Moderate fire activity is expected to continue.
[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 8/11]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
No field reports today.
OPERATIONAL NOTES
1) Fire Policies - The public comment period on the draft report of the Federal
Wildland Fire Management Policy and Program Review, which was scheduled to end
on July 24th, has been reopened because of the large number of requests for
additional time. Comments must now be received no later than September 25th.
Comments should be sent to: Federal Wildland Fire Policy and Program Review,
Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street NW, Mail Stop 7356, Washington, D.C.
20240, or via fax to 202-208-5078. For additional information, contact Tim
Hartzell, Bureau of Land Management, at 202-208-5472. The final report is
expected to be forwarded to the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior by
December 31st. Note: A copy of the draft report was mailed to every park and
system support office two months ago. If you need a copy, contact Dorla
Kubitschek at 208-387-5200 or by name via cc:Mail. (Doug Erskine, Branch of
Fire and Aviation Management)
2) 6(c) Retirement - The Department has announced a deadline of November 1st
for the submission of FERS claims for coverage for past FERS service under the
provisions of 5 CFR 842.801-809. This will be a one-time window for claiming
all relevant past service for FERS employees only. A favorable determination
could be the basis for providing additional years toward enhanced retirement if
an employee is currently in a covered position. Periods of temporary service
after December 31, 1988, are not creditable for any retirement benefits;
therefore they cannot be credited for 6(c). All FERS employees should be made
aware of this announcement. Employees are responsible for filing claims.
Contact your servicing personnel office for details. (Doug Erskine, Branch of
Fire and Aviation Management)
3) Park Boundary Information - The Water Resources Division recently provided
the U.S. Bureau of Census, Geography Division, with digital copies of NPS park
unit boundaries for use in updating their national digital cartographic data
base (often referred to as TIGER files). The NPS digital park unit database
includes boundaries for 332 units. The data have been derived from a variety
of sources (park-based GIS, park land status maps, USGS 7.5' quadrangles, legal
descriptions, etc.) and are used by the Water Resources Division to frame
queries to spatially related information sources such as EPA's STORET data base
for desktop mapping and other water resources GIS applications. The Bureau of
Census' TIGER file data on NPS units will be improved by the addition of this
data, which is available from the Water Resources Division to any NPS unit
which has need for it. Please contact Dean Tucker by name on cc:Mail for more
information. (Bill Walker, Water Resources Division)
OBSERVATIONS
Yesterday's quote from Horace Albright's farewell letter to National Park
Service employees elicited several favorable notes from the field. Although
the entire letter is somewhat long, it merits full citation. Here it is:
"In this letter, perhaps one of my last official statements to you, let me urge
you to be aggressive and vigorous in the fulfillment of your administrative
duties. The National Park Service, from its beginning, has been an outstanding
organization because its leaders, both in Washington and out in the field,
worked increasingly and with high public spirit to carry out the noble policies
and maintain the lofty ideals of the service as expressed in law and executive
pronouncement. Do not let the service become 'just another Government bureau;'
keep it youthful, vigorous, clean and strong. We are not here to simply
protect what we have been given so far; we are here to try to be the future
guardians of those areas as well as to sweep our protective arms around the
vast lands which may well need us as man and his industrial world expand and
encroach on the last bastions of wilderness.
"I hope that particular attention will be accorded always to that mandate in
the National Park Service Act of 1916 and in many organic acts of the
individual parks which enjoin us to keep our great parks in their natural
condition. Oppose with all your strength and power all proposals to penetrate
your wilderness regions with motorways and other symbols of modern
mechanization. Keep large sections of primitive country free from the
influence of destructive civilization. Keep these bits of primitive America
for those who seek peace and rest in the silent places; keep them for the hardy
climbers of the crags and peaks; keep them for the horseman and the pack train;
keep them for the scientist and student of nature; keep them for all who would
use their minds and hearts to know what God had created. Remember, once
opened, they can never be wholly restored to primeval charm and grandeur.
"I also urge you to be ever on the alert to detect and defeat attempts to
exploit commercially the resources of the national parks. Often projects will
be formulated and come to you 'sugar-coated' with an alluring argument that the
park will be benefitted by its adoption. We National Park men and women know
that nature's work as expressed in the world-famous regions in our charge
cannot be improved upon by man.
"Beware, too, of innovation in making the parks accessible. For a half
century, elevators, cableways, electric railways and similar contrivances have
been proposed from time to time and have been uniformly rejected. The
airplane, while now an accepted means of transportation, should not be
permitted to land in our primitive areas.
"Park usefulness and popularity should not be measured in terms of mere numbers
of visitors. Some precious park areas can easily be destroyed by the
concentration of too many visitors. We should be interested in the quality of
park patronage, not by the quantity. The parks, while theoretically for
everyone to use and enjoy, should be so managed what only those numbers of
visitors that can enjoy them while at the same time not overuse and harm them
would be admitted at a given time. We must keep elements of our crowded
civilization to a minimum in our parks. Certain comforts, such as safe roads,
sanitary facilities, water, food and modest lodging, should be available. Also
extra care must be taken for the children, the elderly and the incapacitated to
enjoy the beauty of the parks.
"We have been compared to the military forces because of our dedication and
esprit de corps. In a sense this is true. We do act as guardians of our
country's land. Our National Park Service uniform which we wear with pride
does command the respect of our fellow citizens. We have the spirit of
fighters, not as a destructive force, but as a power for good. With this
spirit, each of us is an integral part of the preservation of the magnificent
heritage we have been given, so that centuries from now people of our world, or
perhaps of other worlds, may see and understand what is unique to our earth,
never changing, eternal."
Farewell message to the
Service, Horace M. Albright,
1933
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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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