NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                               MORNING REPORT
     
To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices
     
From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
     
Day/Date:   Thursday, July 16, 1998
     
INCIDENTS

98-391 - Capitol Reef NP (UT) - Flash Flood; Rescues

Heavy rains led to serious flash floods in Grand Wash, Capitol Gorge, and 
other canyons along the park's Scenic Drive on July 10th.  A number of 
visitors and vehicles were stranded by flood waters resulting from a 
localized storm that dropped a quarter of an inch of rain in about 20 minutes 
around noon that day.  Park personnel from four divisions responded, 
evacuating visitors and their vehicles from the canyons and closing the drive 
and its three spur roads.  Grand Wash, a popular hike in a normally dry 
canyon, had a flow that reached river intensity and ran at a probable record 
level.  The water was about 12 feet deep and spread about 230 feet wide at 
the point where the canyon opens out near Utah Highway 24 and flows into the 
Fremont River.  Highway culverts overflowed, covering the highway to a depth 
of three feet and resulting in a three-hour road closure that backed up 
traffic about a mile in each direction.  Flood waters were an extraordinary 
20 feet deep in The Narrows of Grand Wash.  A visitor waiting for his family 
to complete a hike was stranded in his pickup truck at the Grand Wash parking 
lot when flowing water surrounded his vehicle.  The five members of his 
family hiking in the wash climbed to high ground about a quarter mile from 
the parking area and waited for the water to recede.  At the other end of the 
wash, ranger Paulina Russell escorted three visitor vehicles out the canyon, 
beating the headwall by less than a minute.  She then held the vehicles in a 
high spot between two flowing washes until they could safely exit. Another 
vehicle had to be left behind until it could be removed the following 
morning.  In Capitol Gorge, a group of visitors was stranded by another 
flood.  A mid-size RV occupied by a German family was exiting the canyon on 
the road as it follows the wash bottom and met this flood's five-foot deep 
headwall.  Water immediately washed over the hood of the RV, obscuring the 
view out the windshield, rotating the vehicle 180 degrees, and lodging it on 
some rocks.  Another 23 people in six vehicles had to wait at high points 
within this canyon until there were reached by a rescue team led by equipment 
operator Lamont Chappell in a road grader.  Flood waters reached seven feet 
deep in Capitol Gorge.  In all, approximately 100 people and 40 vehicles were 
evacuated over a seven-hour period.  There were no injuries.  Lessons learned 
during an intensive flash flood season last year proved useful.  The staff 
conducted less aggressive, safety-oriented rescue actions, with staff members 
waiting at several wash crossings until water receded to levels they judged 
to be safe enough to cross with four-wheel-drive vehicles or heavy equipment. 
Two days of unsuccessful repair work to one of the park's antiquated radio 
repeaters earlier in the week left the park with only one functioning 
repeater.  This failure in the park's radio system resulted in significant 
delays in the rescue operations, as park staff within the canyons could not 
communicate with park dispatch.  Ranger Bob Kreiling was IC.  [Tom Cox, CR, 
CARE, 7-14]
     
98-392 - Yosemite NP (CA) - MVA with Injuries to YCC Staff

On the evening of July 2nd, an NPS Youth Conservation Corps crew was 
returning to its camp at Crane Flat from a recreational trip to Yosemite 
Valley when the driver lost control of the eleven-passenger van on a sharp 
curve on the Big Oak Flat Road.  The van spun around, left the road, and 
rolled over.  All eleven occupants were transported by ambulance to the park 
clinic.  Ten suffered minor injuries and were released that evening.  One 
girl was transferred to a hospital in Modesto for observation, then released 
the next day.  [Dan Horner, CI, YOSE, 7/15]
     
98-393 - Olympic NP (WA) - Former Ranger Sentenced for Theft

Former NPS ranger G.G., 48, was sentenced on July 10th following his 
guilty plea on charges of theft of public money.  G.G. was sentenced to 
eight months in prison and three years' supervised probation and was ordered 
to pay $17,500 in restitution.  G.G. had been a ranger at Olympic for 
about ten years until he resigned last November, and for several years had 
coordinated the park's fee collection program.  During the period from April 
1 to October 18, 1997, G.G. stole approximately $17,500 from the NPS.  The 
stolen money was taken from fees deposited in fee canisters by campers in the 
park.  Investigators have not been able to determine an exact figure, and 
G.G. doesn't know how much he stole from the park.  Bill Frazier was the 
lead investigator for the park; assistant United States attorney Steven 
Gonzalez prosecuted the case.  [Curt Sauer, CR, OLYM, 7/15]
     
98-394 - New River Gorge NR (WV) - Shots Fired At Visitors

Rangers received a reports of shots being fired in the vicinity of the New 
River near Thayer on the afternoon of July 14th.  They determined that the 
shots had been fired from a riverside camp into and across the river.  The 
shots, which appeared to have come from a small caliber rifle, narrowly 
missed visitors and rafts as they headed down the river.  One shot landed 
about three feet from a kayaker on a commercial rafting trip.  A former 
Thayer resident who was visiting his grandmother admitted that he'd fired a 
.25 handgun from her residence about 7 a.m. that morning, but denied firing 
shots at the rafting trips in the afternoon.  He said that those shots had 
come from a couple of residences further down the river.  All evidence 
indicates that there were in fact two separate incidents involving different 
people.  There were no injuries.  The investigation is continuing.  [Rick 
Brown, Protection Unit Leader, NERI, 7/15]
     
98-395 - Lake Mead NRA (AZ/NV) - PWC Accident with Fatality

C.S., 49, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was riding his personal 
watercraft (PWC) about a mile off shore of the Hemenway Harbor area on the 
afternoon of July 10th when the PWC stalled and was struck from behind by his 
28-year-old son, who was riding a second PWC.  The elder C.S. was killed. 
This was the first time either had ridden PWCs.  [Karen Whitney, LAME, 7/15]
     
98-396 - Lake Mead NRA (AZ/NV) - PWC Accident with Fatality

On the evening of July 11th, 20-year-old K.U. of Herndon, Virginia, 
was apparently thrown from his PWC while riding it near Hemenway Harbor. 
K.U. was swimming after it when a second boat headed for the harbor ran 
over him.  The boaters retrieved K.U. from the lake and carried him to 
shore, where rangers provided emergency medical assistance until he could be 
airlifted to a hospital.  He'd suffered propeller cuts along his body and 
succumbed to these injuries just after 3 a.m. on Sunday morning.  [Karen 
Whitney, LAME, 7/15]
     
98-397 - Lake Mead NRA (AZ/NV) - Drowning

Nine-year-old D.V.M. of Costa Mesa, California, was swimming from 
his father's boat in Arizona Bay on Lake Mohave on July 11th when the boat 
began drifting away.  The boy panicked and tried to swim after it just as his 
father was starting the boat to come back and get him.  The boy went 
underwater and the father jumped in and pulled him to the surface.  He 
treaded water for about 15 minutes, holding his son, until off-duty Henderson 
police officers saw them in the water and came to their aid.  They performed 
CPR and carried the boy to Cottonwood Cove, where concession and NPS 
emergency personnel continued CPR and provided advanced life support.  He was 
flown to a hospital in Las Vegas, where he died the following afternoon. 
[Karen Whitney, LAME, 7/15]
     
98-398 - Lake Mead NRA (AZ/NV) - Drowning

On July 14th, rangers searched unsuccessfully for several hours for a 
fisherman who was last seen pulling up his anchor just off Boulder Beach 
around 10 a.m.  The park's tour boat found his boat circling without an 
operator around 10:20 a.m. and notified park dispatch.  Rangers caught the 
boat and shut it down, but could not find the operator, C.P., 54, 
of Las Vegas.  The search centered in the area the boat was found circling 
and along the shoreline.  Air support for the search was provided by a park 
aircraft and a local TV news helicopter.  The lake is about 180 feet deep at 
the point where the boat was found.  Debris found in the water included 
C.P.'s hat.  There were also indications that he'd been run over by the 
boat and hit by its propeller.  Criminal investigator Gary Sebade is leading 
the investigation.  [Bud Inman, LAME, 7/15]
     
98-399 - New River Gorge NR (WV) - Threats, Disorderly Conduct

Rangers received a report of disorderly behavior in the Sandstone Falls 
campground on the evening of July 14th.  One of the sites was occupied by a 
family group with several children, including an eight-year-old African 
American girl; the other was occupied by four middle-aged white males, two 
of them foreign nationals in the U.S. on visas.  When the four men arrived 
earlier that day, they had plans to hold spaces for 15 other men who were to 
arrive the following day.  They tried to get the family to move out, saying 
that the site was theirs because they camped there every year.  When the 
family declined to move, the men became abusive, but did not press the 
issue. After setting up their camp, however, the men started drinking 
heavily and smoking large amounts of marijuana.  They became very loud and 
directed derogatory comments, some with racial overtones, towards the family 
group. As the night wore on and the men became more intoxicated, they took a 
long rope, tied a hangman's noose in it, then threw it over the branch of a 
large tree.  They also made some general comments about hanging someone.  
Members of the family became very upset and summoned rangers, who arrived 
around midnight.  A consent search of the men's campsite led to the recovery 
of two concealed handguns, four small baggies of marijuana, and over $1,500 
in cash divided into four bank bags.  N.K., a German national, and 
J.F. of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, were cited for possession of 
firearms; J.F. and T.A. of Ona, West Virginia, were cited for 
possession of marijuana.  The group was quiet through the remainder of the 
night and was evicted from the campground the following morning.  The 
investigation is continuing.  [Rick Brown, Protection Unit Leader, NERI, 
7/15]
     
98-400 - Obed WSR (TN) - Arrest of Felon

On July 3rd, visitors in the park campground reported that J.N., who 
was camping at Rock Creek, was boasting that he had escaped from the Anderson 
County jail and that he would hide whenever a patrol vehicle appeared. 
Investigators determined that the J.N. had in fact escaped from the jail. 
Rangers and deputies arrested him without incident late that evening.  J.N. 
was found to have eight grams of marijuana in his possession.  He has a 
lengthy criminal record.  [Rob Turan, OBRI, 7/13]
     
98-401 - Glacier NP (MT) - Falling Fatality

A 27-year-old male visitor fell to his death while hiking near Red Gap Pass 
yesterday afternoon.  Initial reports indicate that he fell about 150 feet. 
Rangers were notified at 5:30 p.m. and flew by helicopter to the scene.  The 
victim's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.  [Amy 
Vanderbilt, PIO, GLAC, 7/15]
     
98-402 - Lake Mead NRA (AZ/NV) - Suicide

T.M., 66, of Las Vegas, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on July 
14th.  T.M. drove to Lake Mead, parked his car at Montana Agate Wash off 
Northshore Road, left a suicide note with the phone number of his next of kin 
and his planned method for killing himself, walked to a point ten feet off the 
roadway, and shot himself.  [Bud Inman, LAME, 7/15]
     
                       [Additional reports pending...]
     
FIRE ACTIVITY
     
NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level III
     
LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY 
     
                                                     Tue      Wed    %   Est
State      Unit             Fire/Incident     IMT    7/14     7/15  Con  Con
     
FL   State                  Suwanee Cx        T1   36,508   36,508   95  NEC 
                            Flagler/StJohn Cx T1   94,656   94,656  100  CND 
                            Jacksonville 2    T1   16,163   16,163   90  NEC
     
GA   Okefenokee NWR         Honey Scrub Cx    T1    7,094    7,094    0  NEC
     
TX   State                * Salt Fork         --        -      125  UNK  NEC
     
UT   Cedar City District    Barn              --    1,815    1,815  100  CND 
     
                                  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 
IMT         T1 = Type I; T2 = Type II; ST = State Team
% Con       Percent of fire contained; UNK = unknown
Est Con     Estimated containment date; NEC = no estimated date of
            containment; CND = fully contained; NR = no report
     
NUMBER OF NEW FIRES (FOUR DAY TREND) 
     
                    NPS    BIA      BLM     FWS    States   USFS     Total
     
Sunday, 7/12         1      5        13       0       97     48       164 
Monday, 7/13         1      2        26       2      286     34       351 
Tuesday, 7/14        6     11        18       0      138     25       198 
Wednesday, 7/15      2      8        10       0      152     28       200
     
TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FOUR DAY TREND) 
     
                  Crews     Engines    Helicopters    Airtankers   Overhead
     
Sunday, 7/12       114        528         112            13         1,667 @ 
Monday, 7/13        93        562         106            21         1,611 @ 
Tuesday, 7/14      199        357          84            12         1,488 @ 
Wednesday, 7/15     74        398         102            13         1,270
     
@ Resource reports were not received from many fires in the South.
     
CURRENT SITUATION
     
Firefighters continue to make significant progress on Florida fires, aided by 
rain which has fallen on several of the complexes.  Demobilization from fires 
in Florida is continuing.  There was little resource mobilization through 
NICC yesterday.  
     
Very high and extreme fire indices were reported in Florida, Georgia, Texas, 
New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, and Washington.
     
NICC has not posted any fire watches or warnings for today.
     
[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 7/16]
     
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
     
No entries.
     
OPERATIONAL NOTES
     
No entries.
     
MEMORANDA
     
No entries.
     
EXCHANGE
     
No entries.
     
                                *  *  *  *  *
     
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Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation and 
support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.
     
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