NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Tuesday, April 17, 2001

INCIDENTS

01-053 - Grand Teton NP (WY) - Bicyclist Fatality

A bicycle accident in the park resulted in the death of former park 
employee J.P. on the afternoon of Sunday, April 15th. J.P. was 
bicycling alone north on Highway 89 when he was struck by a pick-up 
truck near Airport Junction. The truck, also northbound, was allegedly 
traveling at an excessive speed and did not stop at the scene of the 
accident. Witnesses called the Teton County Sheriff's Office to report 
the accident and identify the truck; the sheriff's office then 
notified the park's dispatch center. Rangers immediately responded in 
a park ambulance, but J.P. was pronounced dead at the scene. While 
several rangers were on scene at the accident, another ranger 
identified the suspect truck fleeing north towards Moran Junction. It 
was stopped at Elk Ranch Flats, just south of the junction. The 
driver, C.D.H., 22, and passenger W.B.D., 
20, were arrested. C.D.H. was charged with suspicion of 
driving under the influence; W.B.D. was charged with suspicion of 
public intoxication. The two were transported to the Teton County Jail 
and an investigation is now underway. Additional charges are pending. 
J.P., a Jackson resident, worked for the park as a seasonal fee 
collection ranger at the Moose entrance station in 1996. He is 
survived by his wife, L.K., who also worked seasonally for the 
park as a dispatcher in 1995, 1996, and 1997. The park community has 
been especially hard hit by this tragic fatality. [Colin Campbell, CR, 
GRTE, 4/16]

01-054 - Zion NP (UT) - Rescue

A 15-year-old boy fell approximately 30 feet while attempting to 
descend Zion Canyon on the afternoon of April 11th. Rangers found that 
he'd suffered a compound ankle fracture, a separated shoulder, and 
other injuries. Park medics Cindy Purcell and Rick DeLappe reduced the 
separation while the SAR team rigged for a 600-foot technical scree 
evacuation to a landing zone prepared by the park helitack crew. The 
boy was flown to a regional medical center, where he is currently in 
stable condition. Twenty people were involved in the rescue. [Brent 
McGinn, ZION, 4/12]
 
01-055 - Wupatki NM (AZ) - Airplane Accident

On April 14th, a Piper 235 crashed in the monument while attempting an 
emergency landing on the entrance road near the park's visitor center. 
The plane apparently lost power while en route from Page to Phoenix. 
The pilot tried to keep the plane in the air until traffic cleared 
from the park road, but was forced to crash land adjacent to the road 
instead. Although the plane was destroyed, the pilot - who was the 
aircraft's sole occupant - was uninjured. [CRO, FLAG, 4/16]

                   [Additional reports pending....]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Plan

No new information. Please check the NPS Fire Management Program 
Center web page (www.fire.nps.gov) for further information on fire 
plan projects.

Fire Programs

NWCG's Safety and Health Working Team has developed a new, 
web-based/email safety alert system to disseminate safety alerts, 
advisories and bulletins simultaneously to all  levels of federal and 
state wildland fire organizations. All employees involved in fire 
management should check the site on a regular basis. At present, there 
are four people in the NPS who are authorized to enter information 
into the system - Sue Vap and Paul Broyles (FMPC), John Kraushaar 
(PWR), and Daryl Rhodes (SER). More may be added at a later time. Here 
are particulars on the system, as announced by NWCG:

"The Safety Alert system is intended as another mechanism to provide 
safety related information to the field.  It is a web-based system 
that sends the alerts as an email message to a list of recipients 
within the states and federal agencies represented by NWCG.  Those 
recipients are in turn expected to forward the message to coworkers 
and interested parties within their organization.  The expectation is 
that the messages will continue to be forwarded within the fire 
community, and that they will receive a wide distribution in a 
relatively short period of time.

"There are three levels of Safety Alert:

1.      Safety Warning - A warning of a safety hazard that poses an 
        imminent threat to life or property.
2.      Safety Advisory - An advisory on safety information that isn't 
        related to imminent or potential threats of injury.
3.      Safety Bulletin - A factual confirmation of a serious 
        accident, incident or fatality within the fire community.

"A database of all the bulletins will be kept on the NWCG SHWT home 
page at http://nwcg.gov.

"All NWCG member organizations have key management and safety 
supervisors with the ability to send Safety Alerts.  Contact your NWCG 
representative for their names.

"If you have any questions about the system, call your NWCG Safety and 
Health Working team representative."

Park Fires

Big Cypress NP (FL) - The park reports a single 82-acre fire, which 
started on April 13th. It has been contained, but is still smoking in 
its interior.

Park Fire Danger

Very High       Hawaii Volcanoes NP
High            Everglades NP

[Paul Broyles, NPS FMPC, 4/16; NPS Situation Summary Report, 4/17]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

D0-52D - Director's Order 52D is now out for a 60-day review period. 
This order is one in a series of four associated with the "Message 
Project."  It updates the policies, procedures, and requirements that 
govern the use of the arrowhead symbol.  Because of the importance of 
the arrowhead symbol to the Service and to all our employees, please 
take a moment to review and comment on this document.  Some aspects of 
these policies have important implications for our partner 
organizations, so please share it with them as well. Comments should 
be sent to Chick Fagan in the Office of Policy by no later than June 
5th. [Chick Fagan, WASO]

ADDITIONAL SECTIONS

Regular sections not appearing today but available at all times for 
submissions:

o       Natural/Cultural Resource Management - Significant 
        developments in these fields.
o       Interpretation/Visitor Services - Significant developments in 
        these fields.
o       Memoranda - Memoranda from WASO to the field on all 
        operational matters.
o       Interchange - Requests or offers from any park or office for 
        materials, information or any other operational needs.
o       Parks and People - Reports on people (job openings, 
        retirements, etc.) and parks (significant happenings of any    
        kind).
o       Hot Links - Web addresses for NPS-related sites.
o       Film at 11 - Reports on current or upcoming print or 
        electronic media stories on the NPS.

                            *  *  *  *  *

Distribution of the Morning Report is through a mailing list managed 
by park, office and/or regional cc:Mail hub coordinators.  Please 
address requests pertaining to receipt of the Morning Report to your 
servicing hub coordinator.  The Morning Report is also available on 
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.

                             --- ### ---