- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Friday, September 6, 1996
- Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Friday, September 6, 1996
Broadcast: By 1000 ET
INCIDENTS
96-510 - Cape Cod (Massachusetts) - Follow-up on Hurricane Edouard
The highest gusts recorded in the park during the hurricane's off-shore
passage were just under 90 mph; overall sustained winds were in the mid to
upper 70 mph range. Impacts included power outages, moderate windfall, beach
and dune erosion (and deposition), some water damage to buildings (including
historic structures), and a little erosion at an archeological site. Damage
assessments are still underway. [Rick Obernesser, CR, CACO]
96-511 - East Coast Areas - Follow-up on Hurricane Fran
Hurricane Fran, now downgraded to tropical storm status, continues its
passage through the Mid-Atlantic states this morning. Only a few reports
have been received on either storm preparations or impacts; a comprehensive
summary of impacts from all reporting areas will appear on Monday or sooner,
depending on circumstances:
o Fort Fredericka - The park will reopen at 10 a.m. Tropical storm
warnings have been lifted, and little damage is anticipated.
o Cape Hatteras Group - All three units of the group - Fort Raleigh,
Wright Brothers and Cape Hatteras - were secured by 5 p.m. yesterday in
anticipation of the hurricane's arrival. Roads on the north end of
Ocracoke Island were flooded at high tide yesterday afternoon, but
roads on Hatteras Island were not. All employees have been released
and/or moved to safe quarters. It's expected that all three areas will
reopen on Friday, as conditions permit.
o Moore's Creek - Forecasts last night indicated that the park would be
on the north or strong side of the storm, and heavy rains were
predicted from 8 p.m. until daylight today. Damage evaluation teams
will be sent to the park early today.
o Shenandoah - The park closed last night in anticipation of the storm's
arrival.
[Bob Woody, CI&VS, CAHA; John Tucker, FOSU/CHPI/MOCR; Bill Wade,
Superintendent, SHEN; Mike Tennent, FOFR]
[Additional reports pending...]
FIRE ACTIVITY
NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level V
LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY
% Est
State Unit Fire/Incident IMT 9/5 9/6 Con Con
OR Umatilla NF Tower T1 50,650 50,650 85 9/9
Summit T1 37,000 37,000 100 CND
Wallowa-Whitman NF Salt Cx T2 68,925 73,925 90 9/8
Willamette NF Moolack Cx T2 11,715 11,715 85 9/8
Umpqua NF Spring T1 13,869 13,869 75 9/12
MT Custer NF Shepard Mtn. T2 1,200 10,000 0 NEC
ID Salmon-Challis NF Bridge T1 12,000 15,894 2 10/10
UT State Golden Spike -- 12,800 12,800 100 CND
Dixie NF Wet Sandy Cx -- 353 353 100 CND
WY Bridger-Teton NF Aspen Hollow T2 NR 2,435 20 9/15
Big Horn NF Stockwell T2 - 1,000 80 NEC
Stockwell II T1 - 1,200 NR NEC
Casper District * Webb Canyon -- - 511 90 9/6
AK Statewide 10 fires -- 342,783 342,723 -- NSS
Heading Notes
Unit -- Agency = BIA area; NF = national forest; RU = CA state resource
or ranger unit; RD = state ranger district; District = BLM
district; NWR = USFWS wildlife refuge
Fire -- * = newly reported fire (on this report); Cx = complex; LSS =
limited suppression strategy; CSS = containment suppression
strategy
IMT -- T1 = Type 1; T2 = Type II; ST = State Team
% Con -- Percent of fire contained
Est Con -- Estimated containment date; NEC = no estimated date of
containment; CND = fully contained; NR = no report; LPS = limited
protection status
NPS FIRE NARRATIVES
Ackerson Complex, Yosemite - The fire has been fully contained. Management
is transitioning from a Type I to a Type II team. The final acreage and
costs will not be available until full control and rehabilitation have been
completed. Mop-up has been completed on several sections of the fire, and
fireline rehabilitation is progressing well. Infrared (IR) technology is
being used to locate hot spots along the fire line. The White Wolf
campground and concession facilities are currently closed to the public to
provide a base for firefighters. All other campgrounds, facilities, and main
roads are open. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir area and vicinity remains closed
to all public use. Cherry Lake and Evergreen Roads are closed from Highway
120 west to the entrance of Hetch Hetchy. The Mather Road to Hetch Hetchy is
closed at the Cherry Lake Road junction. Cottonwood Road into River Ranch,
Lumsden Road, and Lumsden campground are now open. The Tuolumne River is open
to rafting with permits. The evacuation order for residents of Aspen Valley
and the Peach Growers Association has been lifted. Residents may return to
homes in these areas. The evacuation advisory for the communities of
Jawbone, Plum Flat, Cherry Valley, Granite, Lake Eleanor, Woods Meadow, and
Crane Meadow remains in effect.
NUMBER OF NEW FIRES (FIVE DAY TREND)
NPS BIA BLM FWS States USFS Total
Sunday, 9/1 3 72 30 0 53 52 147
Monday, 9/2 0 4 14 0 34 62 114
Tuesday, 9/3 2 4 8 0 61 44 119
Wednesday, 9/4 2 5 7 1 26 43 84
Thursday, 9/5 0 5 7 0 33 23 68
TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FIVE DAY TREND)
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Sunday, 9/1 621 729 162 13 2,481
Monday, 9/2 481 548 154 16 1,873
Tuesday, 9/3 403 353 123 3 2,457
Wednesday, 9/4 342 277 106 2 1,977
Thursday, 9/5 362 276 86 8 1,903
CURRENT SITUATION
There was little initial attack yesterday, and all but the Shepard and
Stockwell fires were relatively quiet.
NATIONAL OUTLOOK
NICC has posted a RED FLAG WARNING for north winds of 10-20 mph, low humidity
and warm temperatures in the northern Sacramento Valley and surrounding
foothills below 2,000 feet.
[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 9/6; Hal Grovert, YOSE, 9/5]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Mesa Verde (Colorado) - Burned Area Rehabilitation
The DOI burn area emergency rehabilitation (BAER) team has completed a plan
containing specifications for stabilization of fire and fire suppression
impacts and for rehabilitation of areas burned by the Chapin #5 fire in
August. The team has identified four critical issues:
o The fire and fire suppression efforts damaged 295 documented, 75 newly
discovered and an estimated 300 undiscovered archeological sites within
the burned area.
o The burn has created a high risk of floods and debris flows within and
downstream of the burn area which should persist for the next three
years. This heightened risk was caused by relatively moderate to high
burn intensities, hydrophobic soils, step slopes, relatively high
stored sediment loads, and complete ground and canopy removal over much
of the area.
o There is a heightened risk of flood and debris flow damage to cultural
resource sites within and downstream of the burned area.
o There is a heightened risk of fire-generated floods and debris flows
impacting on downstream park neighbors and fisheries.
The team has identified and requested immediate emergency fire rehabilitation
funding for the following, in addition to safety repairs of facilities and
infrastructure:
o A cultural resource damage assessment and analysis of watershed
treatments to protect the documented sites within the burn area,
including 27 cliff dwellings, kiva complexes, reservoirs, check dams,
terraces, ceremonial areas, burials and sherd concentrations.
o A cultural resource damage assessment of the 75 or so previously
undocumented sites impacted by fire suppression actions.
o A damage assessment and documentation of impacts to rock art by a rock
conservator and rock art documentation specialist for a large Anasazi
panel severely damaged by the fire.
Other priority safety and resource actions proposed include:
o Installation of flood hazard signs at all access points to canyons at
risk for fire-related floods and debris flows.
o Notification of downstream park neighbors of the potential for same.
o Completion of a geo-hazard analysis of potential earth movements
resulting from stream bank cutting generated by fire-related floods and
debris flows.
o Installation of straw bale check dams to reduce down-cutting and keep
stored sediment loads from entering flood flows at appropriate upper
watershed locations.
o Monitoring of vegetation recovery, including two park and state
sensitive plants to determine if additional management actions are
required.
[Irv Gasser, BAER Team]
OPERATIONAL NOTES
No notes.
MEMORANDA
Yesterday's Morning Report contained an informational copy of the text of a
memorandum entitled "Interagency Incident Coordination" which was addressed
to field directors. It was inadvertently sent along for inclusion in the MR
when the intent was to instead share the following with you...
"Type I All-Risk Incident Management Team," signed by Maureen Finnerty,
Associate Director, Park Operations and Education, and sent to all field
directors and SSO superintendents, with a reply due date of October 15th.
The text follows - see the original for the attachments:
"Earlier this year, we issued [a memo soliciting applications for the
Service's Type I all-risk incident management team]. We had a very poor
response and have since learned that very few people ever saw the
announcement. Therefore, we are re-issuing this and request that you notify
all parks and program centers of this announcement.
"The National Park Service national Type I All-Risk Incident Management Team
(IMT1) is recruiting for these vacant positions; Information Officer (IOT1),
two Finance Section Chiefs (FSC1), and one Logistics Section Chief (LSC1).
Candidates who responded to the original announcement need not
re-apply.
"The way the national IMT1 is currently structured, two individuals are
selected for each position, a 'primary' and an 'alternate.' These
designations may rotate within any given position, given availability of the
incumbents or the nature of a particular incident to which the team is
responding. The designations are not intended in any way to indicate varying
skills level or a preference at time of dispatch. Both the 'primary' and
'alternate' team members will be fully qualified. With only one national
team at this time, the intent is simply to ensure that at any given time
throughout the year, a full overhead team will be available for dispatch to
any need within the National Park System or elsewhere as requested. As in
the past, the team consists of an Incident Commander, an Information Officer,
and Operations, Planning, Logistics and Finance Section Chiefs. Other
positions are filled on an incident by incident basis, as needed.
"As you are well aware, since its inception in 1991, the national IMT1 has
successfully managed several significant incidents including the 50th
Anniversary of Pearl Harbor at the USS Arizona Memorial, the NPS response to
Hurricane Andrew and this past summer's visit of the First Family to Grand
Teton and the Greater Yellowstone Area. Overall this program has been a
great success; park managers who have utilized this team have been consistent
in their praise of its effectiveness.
"As a reminder, the national IMT1 is available for use on significant
incidents of all types including:
o a national, non-fire emergency of such magnitude, complexity, or
duration dictates;
o a planned event of significant national impact which cannot be managed
at the park or regional level;
o a national or regional non-fire emergency occurs and the NPS is
requested by another agency, or is obligated by agreement to provide
assistance;
o the Director or a Field Director requests them; or
o an international request is received through proper channels.
"Local Type II Incident Management Teams are available for similar incidents,
which exceed the capability of a particular park, but which do not warrant a
Type I Team. If at any time you have questions about which teams would be
most appropriate for your needs, please feel free to consult WASO Deputy
Chief Ranger Rick Gale at 202-208-4874.
"Attached [Editor's note: Attachments only included with the original memo]
please find an application form for these vacant positions. Assignments to
the IMT1, contingent on approval by the applicant's Supervisor, will be for
three years.
"In order to avoid conflicts and to minimize impacts on any person or area,
the IMT's will not include any individual who is currently obligated to a
regional or national fire, special event, or administrative payment team.
"Completed applications for these positions should be submitted through
channels to the Ranger Activities Division ,WASO by October 15, 1996. IMT
selections will be approved by the Associate Director, Park Operations and
Education.
"National incident management teams are crucial to enhancing our 'state of
the art' emergency and special event response capability. These teams are
another tool to help you accomplish your mission, and I strongly encourage
you to use them. Your continued support of this program is appreciated.
"Please ensure that all park system support offices and program centers
receive a copy of this announcement."
EXCHANGE
No submissions.
Distribution of the Morning Report is through a mailing list managed by park,
office and/or field area cc:Mail hub coordinators. Please address requests
for the Morning Report to your servicing hub coordinator.
Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation and
support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.
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