NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                               MORNING REPORT

To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Monday, September 21, 1998

INCIDENTS

98-575 - Suitland Parkway (MD) - Follow-up: Assault on Officer

The Park Police officers involved in the shooting with the escaped felon from
North Carolina on September 9th have been identified as officers Robert
Freeman and Kevin Nieves.  Freeman was struck once in the torso with a
bullet, which was stopped by his body armor.  Nieves injured his shoulder
while moving to cover.  Both officers remain on administrative leave pending
completion of the investigation and recovery from their injuries.  [Henry
Berberich, RLES, NCSO, 9/17]

98-612 - Caribbean Areas - Hurricane Georges

Staff in national parks in the Caribbean spent the weekend preparing for
Hurricane Georges.  As of early this morning, the Category II hurricane's
highest sustained winds were around 110 mph and it was 60 miles south-
southeast of St. Croix.  Landfall in the Virgin Islands was forecast for this
morning, and it was expected to strike Puerto Rico this afternoon:

o     Virgin Islands NP (VI) - A state of emergency has been declared for the
      Virgin Islands.  Preparations at the park have been completed: areas
      are secured and shuttered; boats are trailered; files are covered;
      shelters are stocked and activated.  The strength and track of the
      storm indicate that an incident management team will likely be needed. 
      Southeast Region has accordingly placed a Type 2 team (Gordon
      Wissinger, IC) on standby.

o     San Juan NHS (PR) - The park has concluded all storm preparations.  It
      was closed at noon yesterday to permit employees time to prepare for
      the hurricane's arrival.  All employees have since been contacted ar
      their residences and report that they are prepared.  Fort San Cristobal
      is available to employees as a shelter if needed.  Arrangements are
      being made for possible deployment of a second regional ICS Type 2 team
      to the park after the storm's passage.  

The National Weather Service predicts that Georges will become a Category III
storm shortly and that its probable track over the next 72 hours will take it
anywhere from south of Cuba to southern Florida.  [Ken Garvin, SERO, 9/19-21;
Mark Hardgrove, SAJU, 9/19-20; Mary Collier, VIIS, 9/20]

98-613 - Wind Cave NP (SD) - Credit Card Fraud

A ranger at Wind Cave who was reconciling a federal IMPAC credit card
statement last June came upon two unknown charges.  He contacted the vendor
and found that the IMPAC number had been used to access an adult
entertainment site on the web.  The case was handed over to another ranger
for investigation.  The webmaster for the adult entertainment site helped
trace the origin of the user, but was stopped by a "firewall" at the local
provider's site.  A firewall is a device which shields the identity of a user
from vendors outside the local net.  Further investigation revealed that the
local provider's access logs could only indicate which local users were on
the Internet at the moment the IMPAC transaction was made and did not show
which user made the transaction.  Interviews led the investigation to focus
on a male juvenile who had worked at a local electronics supply shop.  An
interview with the manager revealed that the juvenile had been caught
stealing account numbers from credit card slips at the cash register.  When
confronted during an interview with the investigating ranger, the juvenile
admitted having used at least five different stolen credit card numbers to
access adult sites on the web.  Since the site in question was in a different
state, several interstate commerce laws also applied to the illegal activity. 
Other violations included false personation of a government employee, theft
of government funds, wire fraud and bank fraud.  Since the suspect is a
juvenile, the case has been handed over to local authorities for
consideration.  The local U.S. attorney's office declined to investigate. 
Brad Merrill was the investigating ranger.  [Glenn Yanagi, WICA, 9/8]

                       [Additional reports pending...]

FIRE ACTIVITY

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II

LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY 

                                                     Thu      Sun    %  Est
State      Unit             Fire/Incident     IMT    9/76     9/20  Con Con
-----      ----             -------------     ---    ----     ----  --- ---

CA   Six Rivers NF          Buck              T2      725      725  100 CND 

UT   Uinta NF             * West Mountain 2   --        -    1,000  100 CND

--   --                   * Hurricane Georges T1        -        -    -   -

                                  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; FUT = Interagency
            Fire Use Management 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
                    ---    ---      ---     ---    ------   ----     ----
Thursday, 9/17       0      3         1       0       74      9        87
Friday, 9/18         2     13         1       0       63     93       172
Saturday, 9/19       1      0         2       0       53     39        95
Sunday, 9/20         0      4         3       0       42     17        56

TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FOUR DAY TREND) 

                  Crews     Engines    Helicopters    Airtankers   Overhead
                  ----      -------    -----------    ----------   --------
Thursday, 9/17      55        138          28             2           149
Friday, 9/18        36        108          23             2            94
Saturday, 9/19      26        108          21             5            33
Sunday, 9/20        15         93          18             2            18

CURRENT SITUATION

Fire activity remains minimal.  FEMA has tasked the Southern Area with
provision of personnel for emergency operations associated with Hurricane
Georges.  A Type 1 team has been assigned; two national Type 1 teams, two
Type 1 crews, supplies and overhead are on order.

Very high and extreme fire indices were reported yesterday in Wisconsin,
California, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Nevada, Idaho,
Montana, Washington and Oregon.

NICC has posted a FIRE WEATHER WATCH for northern Arizona for breezy
southwest winds of 25 to 35 mph.

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 9/19-21]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION

Reports pending.

PARK DISPATCHES

No entries.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No entries.

MEMORANDA

No entries.

INTERCHANGE

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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