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Subject: NPS Morning Report - Tuesday, September 7, 1999
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Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 11:38:15 -0400
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Tuesday, September 7, 1999
INCIDENTS
99-459 - Redwood N&SP (CA) - Follow-up: Homicide
R.H., 33, and E.R., 29, of Louisville, Kentucky, have been
arrested for the alleged murder of park visitor David Schauer, 43, of Euclid,
Ohio. The two were arrested by state officers in Yavapai County, Arizona, on
unrelated charges on August 29th. They were located through information on
Schauer's stolen Isuzu transmitted in a "be on the lookout" message by the
Humboldt County sheriff's office. R.H. and E.R. will be extradited to
Eureka, California, where the county DA will consider filing homicide
charges. On or about August 13th, Schauer was visiting the Lost Man Creek
area of the park when he was allegedly murdered by R.H. and E.R., who had
recently arrived in the area and did not know him. They subsequently stole
Schauer's rented vehicle and headed to Arizona, where they were caught. [Bob
Martin, CR, REDW, 9/3]
99-520 - Cape Hatteras Group/Cape Lookout NS (NC) - Follow-up: TS Dennis
North Carolina coastal parks again bore the brunt of Tropical Storm Dennis as
it turned inland early on the Labor Day weekend:
o Cape Hatteras Group - The storm made landfall just south of Ocracoke
Island on Saturday night after pounding the coastline from just
offshore for the better part of a week. A half mile of NC Highway 12,
the only highway access for the park, was destroyed above Buxton and
buried in sand at numerous other locations. The villages of Ocracoke
and Buxton have been flooded and have been without electricity for
extended periods of time. The Red Cross and Salvation Army have
provided food and other services for residents of Ocracoke. Flood
waters are receding from that town, but not from Buxton. The North
Carolina National Guard is providing recovery assistance. Rangers
escorted governor Jim Hunt to storm-damaged areas of Hatteras Island
yesterday. The focus of the visit was the destroyed highway.
Contractors are currently working to rebuild it. Evacuated employees
have returned to the three parks in the group, and a damage assessment
has begun. Fort Raleigh NHS, Wright Brothers NM and the Bodie Island
District of Cape Hatteras NS have returned to normal operations while
cleanup and repairs continue. Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands are
inaccessible to the public and remain under incident command. There
have been no reported employee accidents or injuries and all employees
are accounted for. The Cape Hatteras lighthouse, which has not yet
been placed on its new foundation, was not harmed by the storm.
o Cape Lookout NS - The park was again shut down and the headquarters
area was evacuated on the morning of September 4th. The hurricane
struck the park on South Core Banks and hit the mainland at about 4:30
p.m. that day. Winds reached about 55 mph. More shallow inlets opened
on North Core Banks, and Portsmouth Village is still underwater. The
park has a vehicle ban in place. Dock repairs are underway.
Additional reports on damage will appear in future editions of the Morning
Report. [Jeff Cobb, IC, CAHA, 9/6; Jim Zahradka, IC, CALO, 9/6]
99-536 - Grand Canyon NP (AZ) - EMS Incident; Concessioner Fatality
On August 29th, park dispatch received a report of a 54-year-old concession
employee who had become unconscious after choking on food in his cabin.
Ranger/EMT's and paramedics were dispatched to the cabin. The first rangers
on scene found that the victim was not breathing and had no pulse. They
applied the Heimlich maneuver and attempted revival with an automatic
electronic defibrillator (AED). Neither was effective. They then employed a
forceps and laryngoscope to remove over six inches of red meat and chicken
from his throat, performed a needle cricothyrotomy (an incision to allow air
into his throat), then intubated him. Despite all these efforts, the man
later died at the park clinic. [Kent Delbon, Lead Park Ranger, South Rim
District, GRCA, 9/3]
FIRE ACTIVITY
NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level III
The national preparedness level has dropped one step. Preparedness Level III
goes into effect when the following conditions are met: Two or more
geographic areas experiencing incidents requiring a major commitment of
national resources. High number of fires becoming Class D and larger.
Additional resources are being ordered and mobilized through NICC. Type 1
teams are committed in two or more areas, or 300 crews are committed
nationally.
LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY
Thu Sun % Est
State Unit Fire/Incident IMT 9/2 9/5 Con Con
CA Angeles NF Bridge T1 7,000 7,234 100 CND
San Bernadino NF Willow T1 61,770 63,486 100 CND
Plumas NF MHRD Cx T1 17,445 24,321 35 UNK
Shasta-Trinity NF High Cx T1 27,100 38,080 96 9/7
Big Bar Cx T2 6,322 15,925 45 9/10
Klamath NF * Stein T1 - 400 UNK UNK
NV Carson City FO * Cemetery T2 - 3,000 40 9/7
Humboldt-Toiyabe NF * China Gulch -- - 300 0 UNK
OR Warm Springs Agency * Rainbow Quarry T2 - 2,586 65 9/7
WA State * Stonehenge ST - 2,500 100 CND
ID Upper Snake District * Lemhi -- - 512 100 CND
TX State * 969 Complex -- - 120 100 CND
* Post Oak Cx -- - 220 100 CND
* Whon -- - 125 100 CND
* Oak Creek -- - 1,000 25 UNK
AL State * Bankhead Cx -- - 271 UNK 9/11
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
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; UNK = unknown; NR = no
report; RBF = resource benefit fire, no containment action being
taken; LR = last report unless significant activity occurs
FIRE NARRATIVES (as of 9/6)
Great Smoky Mountains NP - The Blacksmith fire is still burning, mostly at
its southern end. The fire danger remains high, but no problems are expected
with the fire.
Grand Canyon NP - The park had three new starts on Sunday. Two were caused
by people and were suppressed; the third was started by lightning on the
North Rim and has burned an acre or so. It is within the boundaries of a
prescribed burn.
NUMBER OF NEW FIRES (FOUR DAY TREND)
NPS BIA BLM FWS States USFS Total
Friday, 9/3 1 4 1 1 115 20 142
Saturday, 9/4 1 2 0 0 96 20 119
Sunday, 9/5 0 4 6 0 89 34 133
Monday, 9/6 0 1 5 0 59 33 98
TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FOUR DAY TREND)
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Friday, 9/3 447 528 135 11 1,301
Saturday, 9/4 390 511 75 10 1,435
Sunday, 9/5 344 519 85 2 1,408
Monday, 9/6 321 574 73 4 1,560
CURRENT SITUATION
Initial attack activity was minimal in most areas on Labor Day. New large
fires were reported in the West and South.
Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Oregon, Washington,
California, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, South Dakota, Wyoming, Alabama,
Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.
NICC has posted a FIRE WEATHER WATCH for east winds and low relative humidity
in southwest Oregon.
[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 9/4-7; Mike Warren, NPS FMPC,
9/6]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, PROTECTION AND EDUCATION
No entries.
OPERATIONAL NOTES
No entries.
MEMORANDA
No entries.
INTERCHANGE
No entries.
PARKS AND PEOPLE
No entries.
* * * * *
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
pertaining to receipt of 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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