NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Friday, August 18, 2000

ALMANAC

On this date in 1587, Virginia Dare became the first English child 
born in the New World.  Her birthplace, a settlement on Roanoke Island 
in Sir Walter Raleigh's Virginia colony, is now Fort Raleigh National 
Historic Site.

INCIDENTS

00-499 - Denali NP (AK) - Employee-Bear Confrontation

Seasonal backcountry ranger Carlin Kaufman, 21, had a run-in with a 
black bear on August 8th that had a favorable outcome but led to the 
temporary closure of the McKinley Bar trail near Wonder Lake. The 
following account was extracted from a report by Tim Mowry in the 
Fairbanks Daily News Miner: Kaufman was on a day-hike patrol of the 
area when she thought she heard something behind her. She turned 
around twice, but found nothing in sight; the third time she turned 
around, though, she found herself staring into the eyes of a big black 
bear who was only a couple of feet away. Kaufman threw a rock and hit 
him in the head. The bear backed up a few feet, then started circling 
toward her. She screamed obscenities at the bear and continued 
throwing rocks at him, but he declined to move away. After ten 
minutes, the bear was still only a few feet away. Kaufman then ran for 
the forest, about 30 yards away, with the objective of getting a tree 
between her and the bear. The bear pursued, though, so she broke off 
and returned to the gravel bar. She threw more rocks at him, but the 
bear continued to advance. Kaufman said she knew that the bear was 
stalking her and that he saw her as prey. Said Kaufman: "I was 
thinking, 'This is going to hurt so bad when he eats me.' When my 
voice would falter or get softer he would get closer. When I averted 
my eyes from him he would get closer. The minute you started acting 
weak he picked right up on it. I knew I wanted to be aggressive back 
toward it." Kaufman accordingly took the offensive, reaching out and 
smacking the bear on the head with her hand. The surprised bear backed 
away a few yards. Kaufman then reached into her pack, pulled out a 
radio, cranked up the squelch as high as it would go, and stuck the 
blasting radio in the bear's face. The bear ran off about 30 yards and 
stopped; Kaufman slowly retreated, then bushwacked through the woods 
to the park road, where a tour bus picked her up. Bear management 
technician Ed Vorisek confirms that the bear was probably stalking 
Kaufman, and added this comment: "She handled it in the best way 
possible. You need to be aggressive with a curious black bear." The 
trail was closed while rangers searched unsuccessfully for the bear, 
but has been reopened for day use. Rangers are advising hikers in the 
area to travel in groups. [Fairbanks Daily News Miner, 8/16, via John 
Quinley, Public Affairs, ARO]

00-500 - Bryce Canyon NP (UT) - Visitors Injured by Lightning Strike

On August 16th, two park visitors were injured by a lightning strike 
at the Inspiration Point overlook. N.B. of England was 
standing under a low tree near the overlook when he was injured by an 
indirect strike. He was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, then 
flown to Salt Lake City. He is in critical but stable condition. A 
second, as yet unidentified visitor was taken by private vehicle to a 
local hospital, where he was treated and released for flash burns from 
what is believed to have been the same lightning strike. [Clyde 
Stonaker, BRCA, 8/17]

                  [Additional reports pending....]

FIRE SITUATION

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level V

CURRENT SITUATION

Nineteen new large fires broke out yesterday; nine others were 
contained. Lightning in the northern Rockies, eastern Great Basin, 
northern California and South led to moderate to heavy initial attack. 
Winds gusting to 35 mph are forecast today for parts of Idaho, 
Montana, Oregon, California and Nevada. Twelve more firefighters from 
Australia have arrived in Missoula to join incident management teams.

The following resources were committed nationwide as of yesterday 
(changes from yesterday's numbers in parentheses): 691 crews (+ 132), 
5,528 overhead (+ 5), 1,297 engines (+ 214), and 212 helicopters 
(+ 20).

Very high to extreme fire danger indices were reported in all eleven 
Western states and Texas.

For more national fire news, go to www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html, 
which also provides links to web sites for specific fires.

NPS AND NPS-RELATED FIRES

Yellowstone NP (WY) - The South Entrance Road reopened to the public 
at 8 a.m. yesterday morning, then had to be closed again three hours 
later due to activity on the Glade Fire. The Grassy Lake Road, located 
outside the park near the South Entrance, remains closed. All other 
park facilities are open. Because of extreme fire danger, the park has 
put additional restrictions into effect on the use of fire. No wood or 
charcoal fires will be allowed at any frontcountry campsites, 
effective Saturday morning, including fire grates, charcoal grills, 
fire pans, and any other ember-producing equipment. No smoking is 
allowed in the frontcountry except within buildings where smoking is 
normally permitted.

There were no new starts in the park yesterday and three fires were 
declared controlled. Action on other fires is based on considerations 
that include weather conditions, safety considerations, terrain and 
available resources. A key consideration is the limited resources 
available to the park, as most fire crews are assisting with fires in 
Montana and areas surrounding the park that have the potential to 
affect human safety or damage structures. The following fires are 
reported in or near the park:

o       Glade Fire - See Grand Teton NP below. The fire has moved into 
        Yellowstone and is threatening the south entrance station.
o       Spruce Complex (2,233 acres, 0% containment, 87 FF/OH) - This 
        complex consists of eleven fires, including the Thumb, Star, 
        Fred and Boundary Fires. One new fire was added to the complex 
        yesterday. Four remain unstaffed.
o       Beaver Creek Fire (3,500 acres, 0% containment, Type II team, 
        227 FF/OH) - The fire is still entirely in the Gallatin NF but 
        continues to spot to the east. Crews attempting to anchor the 
        south end of the fire to Boat Mountain had to be removed from 
        the fire line yesterday to increased fire activity.

Grand Teton NP (WY) - The following fires are burning in the park:

o       Glade Fire (3,200 acres, 0% containment, 121 FF/OH) - The fire 
        grew by 2,500 acres yesterday. Evacuation of the Flagg Ranch 
        Lodge, campground and residences has been completed. Spotting 
        has occurred from a quarter mile to a half mile ahead of the 
        main fire. Highway 89 has been closed from Lizard Creek 
        campground to Grant Village in Yellowstone in anticipation of 
        the fire crossing the highway. 
o       Moran Fire (2,100 acres, 0% containment, 12 FF) - The fire, 
        which is burning in the Teton Ranger west of Jackson Lake, 
        grew from 500 to 2,100 acres yesterday. The fire continues to 
        burn with great intensity in extremely heavy fuels, with 
        spotting occurring up to a quarter mile from the main fire.
o       Wilcox Fire (475 acres, 0% containment, two FF) - The fire is 
        five miles north of Colter Bay. It more than doubled in size 
        on Thursday. Extreme fire behavior was reported yesterday, 
        including runs, torching and spotting. The fire is being 
        monitored by aircraft. 

Grand Canyon NP (AZ) - The Dragon Fire (200 acres, 0% containment, 26 
FF/OH) is six miles west of the developed area on the North Rim. The 
fire has made significant runs below the rim, pushed by winds up to 25 
mph. Short range spotting and multi-tree torching fire behavior have 
been noted. Point Sublime Road is closed.

For a listing of all fires, see www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.html. 

OUTLOOK

NICC has issued six FIRE WEATHER WATCHES:

o       For dry lightning in eastern Montana.
o       For strong winds and low RH in southwest Idaho and southeast 
        Oregon.
o       For strong winds and high Haines indices in southeast Idaho.
o       For gusty west winds in central Montana. 
o       For strong ridge top winds and low RH in east central 
        California and western Nevada.
o       For gusty winds and low RH in northeast California, northern 
        Nevada and west central Nevada.

A dry southwest flow aloft will prevail over the Pacific Northwest and 
western Great Basin.  An approaching trough will increase the winds in 
this area, which is why a number of fire weather watches have been 
issued.  Wind gusts to 35 mph will be possible, primarily on ridge 
tops.  Dry lightning is forecast in eastern Montana.  Further south, 
monsoon moisture will continue to bring a chance of wet thunderstorms 
to Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming.  Winds in the 
southwestern United States will be lighter.

High temperatures will range from the mid 70's to the mid 90's in most 
areas and up to 110 in the deserts of western Utah, northern Arizona 
and southern Nevada.  Up to 115 degree temperatures will occur across 
the deserts of southern California and southwest Arizona.  Afternoon 
relative humidities will be in the single digits and teens in most 
areas, except in the 20's in the southwest states.

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 8/18; Public Affairs, 
YELL, 8/17]

CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Report pending.

INTERPRETATION AND VISITOR SERVICES

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Uniform Program Annual Closeout - By now, all uniformed employees 
should have received copies of the annual closeout memorandum and 
letters containing the balance in their uniform accounts. It's very 
important that orders be received at Uniform Solutions (formerly R&R 
Uniforms) before September 1st this year. Efforts are made each year 
to accommodate employees who must deal with hurricanes, fire 
assignments or circumstances that delay submission of their final 
fiscal year orders. Such courtesies can't be extended this year, 
though, because it's the final year of the current contract. A new 
contract goes into effect on October 1st. In order for the contractor 
and contracting offices to completely close the books on this contract 
and prepare inventory and systems for the new contract, this date will 
remain firm. This will undoubtedly create hardships, particularly for 
employees out fighting fires, but can't be avoided. Please make every 
effort to contact your employees and help them place orders if 
necessary. [Ken Mabery, RAD/WASO]

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

INTERCHANGE

No submissions.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

No submissions.

                            *  *  *  *  *

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the web at http://www.nps.gov/morningreport

Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the 
cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.

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