NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                               MORNING REPORT

To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Thursday, August 5, 1999

INCIDENTS

99-418 - Everglades NP (FL) - Search in Progress

On August 2nd, ranger Kent Looney noted that a vehicle parked near the
Coastal Prairie trail had been there for a few days.  A check of the
registration led to the discovery that the owner, K.E., was suicidal
and had been reported missing on July 28th.  K.E. has a condition that
requires daily medication.  An air and water search was begun.  K.E.'s
shirt was found on the trail.  The search was expanded on August 3rd and dogs
were brought in.  No further clues have yet been found.  The IC is Bob Panko. 
[Maureen McGee-Ballinger, Incident IO, EVER, 8/4]

99-419 - Blue Ridge Parkway (NC/VA) - Rescue

A climber fell at Ship Rock, a popular climbing area in the Highlands
District, around 6 p.m. on July 18th, suffering a pneumothorax and a broken
arm.  Primary care was provided by ranger Dusty Warren.  A technical lowering
was conducted by rangers from the Highlands and Pisgah Districts together
with personnel from Avery County Rescue.  The patient was flown to Johnson
City, Tennessee, for additional care.  The IC for the incident was Don Reed. 
[John Garrison, Protection Specialist, BLRI, 7/20]

99-420 - National Capital Parks Central (DC) - Demonstration

On July 23rd, members of a group called the Interfaith Prisoners of
Conscience Project demonstrated in Lafayette Park and on the north sidewalk
of the White House.  The demonstration was originally scheduled to be a four-
day event attracting about 3,000 participants, but the group modified this
plan to include a one-day event and civil disobedience involving 25 to 50
arrests.  The group protested against the continued incarceration of numerous
Puerto Ricans by the United States government.  Seventeen members of the
group who failed to comply with federal demonstration requirements were
arrested by Park Police officers.  [Sgt. Robert MacLean, USPP, NCR, 7/26]

99-421 - Yosemite NP (CA) - Drowning

S.M., a resident of Mexico, drowned while swimming in the Merced
River at the west end of Yosemite Valley during the early afternoon hours of
August 4th.  S.M. was swept under a large boulder in a series of short
rapids; searchers found his body in a hole approximately ten feet deep. 
Because of the family's religion and the need to tend to the body within a
very short period of time, rangers made a concerted and exceptional effort to
recover the body from the swift and dangerous current.  Rangers, fire crew
members and SAR volunteers diverted a portion of the main river channel by
using 16-foot-long four-by-four posts, plywood and ingenuity, thereby
lowering the water level enough to enable a safe body recovery. [Bob Andrew,
CR, YOSE, 8/4]

99-422 - Blue Ridge Parkway (NC/TN) - Assist; Pursuit of Armed Suspect

Blowing Rock police asked rangers for assistance in the pursuit of an armed
robbery suspect in a stolen vehicle just before 1 p.m. on July 18th.  Rangers
from the Highlands and Pisgah Districts responded.  The suspect abandoned the
vehicle on park lands near Cone Manor, a high visitor use area and site
location for filming of a motion picture.  A small section of the parkway and
several county roads were closed for the remainder of the daylight hours
while a joint manhunt was conducted.  Articles of clothing were located along
the suspect's route, but he was not apprehended.  [John Garrison, Protection
Specialist, BLRI, 7/20]

99-423 - Katmai NP&P (AK) - Aircraft Accident

Pilot Rocky Underwood from Royal Wolf Lodge attempted a float plane takeoff
from Kukaklek Lake on July 20th, but the Helio Courier's right wing tip
struck the water when the left float lifted too high.  The aircraft
cartwheeled to the right and came to rest upside down on the lake's surface. 
Underwood, who was the only person on board, exited the aircraft through the
cargo door.  He was uninjured and was picked up by a fishing guide.  There
was substantial damage to the plane's left float.  Ranger/pilots Alan Frazier
and Tom O'Hara conducted the on-scene investigation.  The FAA and NTSB
investigations continue.  [Michael McGinnis, Acting CR, KATM, 7/23]

99-424 - Grand Canyon NP (AZ) - Assist; Aircraft Crash with Two Fatalities

A Cessna 177B took off from Grand Canyon Airport with three people on board
just after 2 p.m. on August 3rd.  The plane went down for unknown reasons a
mile north of the airport, killing two of the occupants.  The third person
was flown to the hospital in Flagstaff by the park helicopter and is in
satisfactory condition.  [Sandy Perl, IO, GRCA, 8/3]

99-425 - National Capital Parks East (DC) - Arson

Park Police officers and rangers responded to a suspicious fire in Fort
Chaplin Park on August 3rd.  Fire officials determined that the fire had been
purposely set, and noted that several fires had been extinguished in the area
over the past week.  USPP criminal investigators are investigating.  [Sgt.
Robert McLean, USPP, NCR, 8/4]

99-426 - Blue Ridge Parkway (NC/VA) - MVA with Fatality

State officers conducing a drug eradication overflight spotted a vehicle off
the parkway in heavy cover over a steep embankment at milepost 264.4 on the
afternoon of July 20th.  Investigation revealed that S.M. of
Montgomery County, Virginia, had died from injuries suffered in the accident. 
S.M. had been listed as a missing person on June 27th.  He had a history
of becoming confused and disoriented.  Rangers Jeff Matheson and Brent
Pennington investigated.  [John Garrison, Protection Specialist, BLRI, 7/20]

FIRE ACTIVITY

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II

LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY 

                                                     Mon      Tue    %   Est
State      Unit              Fire/Incident   IMT     8/2      8/3   Con  Con

MT    Gallatin NF            Six Mile         T2    1,134    1,134   95  8/4
      Beaverhead/
       Deerlodge NF        * Balsam           T2        -       99   10  8/4

ID    Salmon/Challis NF      Soldier         FUM    2,029    2,029    0  UNK
      S. Cent. Idaho Area    Lone Cedar 1     --      300      300  100  CND
      Lower Snake District * Buck 'N Doe      --        -    4,500   10  8/4
      Upper Snake District * Mule Butte       --        -    5,000    0  UNK

OR    Deschutes NF           Cache Creek      T2      100      200   50  8/7
      Prineville District  * North Pole       --        -      350   50  8/4

CA    Los Padres NF          Canyon           --      180      200  100  CND

FL    Florida NF's           Bill Branch      --      227      227   93  UNK

                                  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

Saturday, 7/31       1      5         6       0       58     31       101
Sunday, 8/1          3      1        19       0       51     42       116
Monday, 8/2          1     23        12       4      333    151       524
Tuesday, 8/3         5      9        43       0      227    175       459

TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FOUR DAY TREND) 

                  Crews     Engines    Helicopters    Airtankers   Overhead

Saturday, 7/31     128        161          47             6           819
Sunday, 8/1        132        162          56             4           790
Monday, 8/2        111        214          67             7           626
Tuesday, 8/3       170        365          85             5           801

CURRENT SITUATION

Initial attack increased on Tuesday in the northern Rockies, Great Basin and
the Northwest; new large fires were also reported in those areas.  Heavy
demands for smokejumpers and smokechasers continued in the Northwest and
northern Rockies.  

High to extreme fire indices were reported in Oregon, Washington, California,
Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, Utah, Nevada, South Dakota, Wyoming, Delaware,
New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New
Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 8/4]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION

Bering Land Bridge NP (AK) - Abandoned Hazmat Material Survey

The National Park Service has completed an inventory of abandoned 55-gallon
drums washed up along the coast of the Bering Sea between Cape Prince of
Wales and Cape Espenberg.  This stretch of coastline comprises the park's
northern boundary and includes property owned by the Bering Straits Native
Corporation, the village of Shishmaref and various Native allotments.  During
two eight-day field trips in June and July, 875 drums were recorded along
the coast.  A two-person crew located the drums, documented their locations
with a GPS device, and estimated the volume of liquids remaining in them.
Each barrel was assigned a unique number to help track it for a cleanup
effort planned for the summer of 2000.  Drum sampling revealed the presence
of regular gas, diesel fuel, motor oil, used lubricating oil, cleaning
solvent and tar in many of the drums.  No radioactive materials were
encountered.  An estimated 3,400 gallons of hazardous liquids remain in the
drums.  The crew conducted the inventory with two all-terrain vehicles (ATVs)
and trailers driven below mean high tide (the park boundary) and ferried the
ATVs across rivers and lagoon openings with a 16-foot inflatable Zodiac
equipped with a 15 hp outboard motor.  Over the winter, the National Park
Service will evaluate the results of the inventory and plan a cleanup effort
to remove the drums.  Meetings will be held with local residents to ensure
that drums used as trail markers or associated with remote camps are not
removed.  [Greg Dudgeon, BELA, 8/3]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Reports pending...

MEMORANDA

Reports pending...

INTERCHANGE

No entries.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Reports 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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