NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                               MORNING REPORT

To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Wednesday, July 14, 1999

INCIDENTS

99-343 - Systemwide - Fourth of July Roundup

Two more parks have reported Fourth of July events or incidents:

o     Mount Rushmore NM (SD) - There was a major fireworks show at the park
      on July 3rd.  The 22-minute-long display included approximately 2,200
      shells, making it the largest such display ever held in South Dakota. 
      About 20,000 people attended the event and the preceding musical
      entertainment and appearance by Miss America Nicole Johnson.  Many
      thousands more people watched from outside the park's boundary.  Over
      100 NPS employees from about ten parks and personnel from at least
      eight local, state and other federal agencies assisted with management
      of the event.  Although there were numerous minor incidents and a small
      fire in a pile of lumber after the fireworks (which was quickly
      controlled), there were no serious law enforcement or emergency
      incidents.  The costs of the fireworks and the management of the event
      were paid for by private donations.  

o     Jefferson NEM (MO) - The 19th annual Fair Saint Louis was held on park
      ground over the three-day holiday weekend.  Each day of the fair
      featured air shows and free musical entertainment; each evening was
      highlighted by large fireworks displays.  Among this year's performers
      were Hootie and the Blowfish, Dionne Warwick, the Temptations, the
      Little River Band, Wynonna and Tracy Byrd.  Several hundred thousand
      people attended the event in spite of heat indices as high as 110
      degrees.  Special events teams from Southeast and Midwest Regions and
      additional rangers supplemented park staff during the event.  Seventeen
      arrests - most alcohol-related - were made.  Director Robert Stanton
      and Midwest regional director Bill Schenk attended many of the events. 
      Director Stanton was grand marshal for the opening parade.  

[Mike Pflaum, CR, MORU, 7/12; CRO, JEFF, 7/12]

99-369 - C&O Canal NHP (MD/DC) - Serious Employee Injury

Harpers Ferry Center interpretive planner Katherine "Kate" Hammond was
seriously injured in a biking accident on the canal towpath around 6 p.m. on
Friday, July 9th.  Hammond, who is stationed in Denver, was in town to assist
in an interpretive planning course currently underway at Mather Training
Center.  She apparently hit an obstacle and was thrown head first into a rock
wall, sustaining numerous facial fractures and lacerations.  Hikers found her
unconscious and reported the accident.  Hammond is in Washington County
Hospital in Hagerstown, Maryland.  Her prognosis is good, but she must
undergo further treatment and is expected to be away from work for some time. 
[Garry Cummins, Manager, Harpers Ferry Center, 7/12]

99-370 - Natchez Trace Parkway (MS/TN/AL) - EMS Incident: Birth of Baby

D.S. and her doctor husband were en route to the hospital on July 10th
when they had to make an abrupt stop at the Natchez Trace Parkway Visitor
Center.  They were just able to make it to the restroom and request an
ambulance before she delivered an 8 pound, 11 ounce baby girl.  Rangers Linda
Tynsley, Andy Atkins and Jennifer Flynn assisted Dr. S. with the delivery,
although mom did most of the work.  The ambulance arrived three minutes after
the call and transported mother and daughter to the hospital.  The Shinns and
baby Annette are all doing well. [Tim Francis, ACR, NATR, 7/12]

99-371 - Lassen Volcanic NP (CA) - Assault on Employee

A fee collector at the Manzanita Lake entrance station spotted a discrepancy
on a Golden Eagle pass on July 5th.  When she asked the owner to verify its
validity, he became verbally abusive, grabbed her arm, and pulled her off her
feet.  When she regained her feet, she saw that he'd driven around the
entrance station and was in the outbound lane.  He drove off as she called
for assistance on the radio.  Although nearby patrol rangers and Shasta
County deputies responded quickly, they were unable to locate the vehicle. 
The investigation continues. [Mike LaLone, CR, LAVO, 7/9]

99-372 - Sequoia-Kings Canyon NP's (CA) - Falling Fatality

At approximately 6:00 p.m. on July 7th, a graduate student who was in Kings
Canyon National Park to do geologic research in the Granite Basin area died
from head injuries received when he fell over 30 feet while rock climbing. 
P.M., 26, of Friday Harbor, Washington, was climbing with another
researcher at Shorty's Meadow, about a half mile north of Granite Pass, when
the accident occurred.  Four hikers in the area responded to cries for help
and remained with the unconscious victim while his friend went to get help
from the Granite Lake backcountry ranger, stationed approximately a mile-and-
a-half away.  A helicopter was sent from park headquarters and arrived at the
scene at 7:30 p.m. after picking up a park medic at Cedar Grove.  P.M.
was flown to University Medical Center in Fresno, where he was pronounced
dead shortly before 9:00 p.m. in spite of advanced life support procedures
performed at the scene and during the flight.  Both researchers were students
at Utah State University and had been issued a research permit by the NPS to
gather data on geologic faults.  [Ralph Moore, Acting CR, SEKI, 7/12]

FIRE ACTIVITY

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II

LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY 

                                                     Sun      Mon    %   Est
State      Unit              Fire/Incident   IMT     7/11     7/12  Con  Con

ID    So/Cent Idaho Area   * Wedge Butte      --   10,000   16,244  100  CND
      Payette NF           * Sheep Creek      T2    3,000    4,500  100  CND

UT    State                * Highway 36       --    1,000    1,000  100  CND

NV    Elko FO              * Clover           T2   72,500   72,500  100  CND
      Winnemucca District  * Lang Syne        T2      600    8,000   10  UNK
      State                * Soap             --        -      715  100  CND

CA    Nev.-Yuba-Placer RU  * Floriston        T2      325      282  100  CND
      Lassen-Modoc RU      * Haswell          --      100      100  100  CND
      Tehama-Glen RU       * Pellows         ST1        -      800   50  UNK
      Cleveland NF         * Conejos          --        -      350   20  UNK

VA    Wash./Jeff. NF       * Route 42         --      101      141   60  7/14

                                  Heading Notes

Unit        Agency or Area Office = BIA area; NF = national forest; RU = CA
            state resource or ranger unit; RD = state ranger district; FO =
            BLM field office; 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 I Team; T2 = Type II Team; T3 = Type III Team; ST =
            State Team; FUM = Fire Use Management Team
% Con       Percent of fire contained; UNK = unknown; NR = no report
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

Friday, 7/9          2     15        17       2       48     30       114
Saturday, 7/10       3     10         6       0       34     42        95
Sunday, 7/11         5     12        21       1       49     54       142
Monday, 7/12         5     10        18       3      200     71       307

TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FOUR DAY TREND) 

                  Crews     Engines    Helicopters    Airtankers   Overhead

Friday, 7/9        107        240          48             5           519
Saturday, 7/10     139        208          47             5           806
Sunday, 7/11       159        320          49             7           920
Monday, 7/12       177        312          45             9           938

CURRENT SITUATION

Initial attack increased in California on Monday and was moderate in most
other areas.

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Alaska, Oregon,
California, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming and Arizona.b

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 7/9-13] 

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION

Mesa Verde NP (CO) - Post-Fire Assessment
     
During the week of June 14th, an interagency team of fire specialists
returned to the park to take a look at the assessment and treatment work
undertaken as a result of the Chapin #5 wildfire, which burned 4,781 acres on
Chapin Mesa in 1996.  The Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER) team, a
multi-disciplinary group from the Department of the Interior, was asked to
assist the park with fire damage assessments after that fire was suppressed.
The BAER team developed a plan to address short- and long-term rehabilitation
needs. The BAER plan served as a guideline for rehabilitation work by park
staff.  Implementation of the plan's recommendations began in September of
1996.  The Mesa Verde BAER Team consists of a project manager, a field
archeologist director, teams of field archeologists, a hydrologist,
vegetation specialists, and computer experts.  To date, the team has assessed
661 archeological sites in the area of the wildfire, 345 of which have been
treated.  Before 1996, there were only 296 documented archeological sites in
the burn area; during the assessments, the BAER archeologists found the other
365 sites.  Work continues on the assessment of previously unrecorded sites. 
In mid-June of this year, park staff hosted a meeting of the members of the
original BAER team to review the effectiveness of the treatments, compare the
work accomplished with the original assessments, and document successes and
failures for the benefit of future BAER projects throughout the nation.  The
NPS BAER team concluded that the cultural sites within the burned area had
been protected from further damage and that there has been no significant
loss of cultural artifacts.  They found that the combination of watershed and
vegetation treatments employed by the park team had been successful in
protecting the cultural sites and promoting vegetative recovery to stabilize
the watershed.  Monitoring of treatments installed last summer and monitoring
of vegetative recovery will continue through September.  Control of noxious
weeds through integrated pest management will also continue this summer.  The
Mesa Verde BAER team will complete a final accomplishment report by January
1st.  [Jane Anderson, MEVE BAER Team Project Manager, MEVE, 7/7]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Entries pending...

MEMORANDA

No entries.

INTERCHANGE

No entries.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Entries pending...

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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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