NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Sunday, June 10, 2001

INCIDENTS

01-260 - Gulf Islands NS (FL/MS) - Two Drownings; Multiple Rescues

On June 6th, surf conditions were very rough along the Gulf Coast due 
to a large tropical storm that had moved ashore over Louisiana the 
night before. Red surf condition flags were raised along the beaches 
and signs warning of dangerous surf were posted. Around 1 p.m., J.T. 
of Monigue, Tennessee, went swimming in the ocean from an 
unguarded beach in the Santa Rosa Unit. J.T. was caught by the strong 
rip current and immediately began yelling for help. A friend - W.T. 
of the United Kingdom - entered the water in an effort to save 
him. Both soon became very tired and had trouble staying afloat. A 911 
call was made; rangers, sheriff's department officers and firefighters 
responded and a Life Flight helicopter was dispatched. Upon arrival, 
rescuers found J.T. at the high tide line. He was unconscious and 
unresponsive. Firefighters employed a Zodiac in an effort to rescue 
W.T., who was still in the water, but the Zodiac flipped in the 
rough surf and the two firefighters on board had to be rescued. J.T. 
was pronounced dead at the scene; W.T. was flown to Gulf Breeze 
Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. The 
firefighters were taken to the hospital and released later that day. 
Within a five-hour period, local emergency medical, fire and NPS  
personnel responded to ten rescue calls along Pensacola Beach with a 
total of 27 victims and three drownings. Even though all off-duty law 
enforcement rangers were called in, mutual aid had to be requested 
from the adjoining community of Gulf Breeze to respond to other calls 
within the park and county. Media attention was extensive. (CRO, GUIS, 
6/7)

01-261 - Dayton Aviation NHP (OH) - Special Event

On May 16th, the park held a ground-breaking ceremony for the 
Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center and Aviation Trail Visitor Center. 
The ceremony was hosted by superintendent Lawrence Blake and consisted 
of remarks by park partners and Midwest Region deputy regional 
director Dave Given. Staff from Hopewell Culture NHP and William 
Howard Taft NHS provided assistance. Approximately 150 people 
attended. [Ann Deines, Chief, Education and Resources Management, 
DAAV, 5/27]

01-262 - Death Valley NP (CA) - Body Found

The body of C.M. was discovered in the sand dunes at 
Stovepipe Wells on the afternoon of June 3rd. The county coroner 
estimated that he'd been dead about six hours at the time of 
discovery. The park SAR team recovered the body. The cause of death is 
not yet known, but environmental conditions are suspected. [CRO, DEVA, 
6/3]

                   [Additional reports pending....]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Situation - Preparedness Level II

Four new large fires were reported on Friday, one each in Arizona, New 
Mexico, Florida, and Utah. Two large fires were contained in Florida. 
Initial attack increased in the Southwest and the Great Basin as dry 
lightning moved through the Four Corners states.  Fire activity was 
light throughout the rest of the United States. Very high to extreme 
fire indices were reported in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, 
Utah, Nevada, and Colorado.   

National Resource Status (Five Day Trend)

Date                    6/5     6/6     6/7     6/8     6/9

Crews                   123     93      74      26      36
Engines                 298     219     183     143     174
Helicopters             28      23      17      16      22
Air Tankers             1       1       1       1       3
Overhead                624     548     477     282     269

Park Fire Situation

Olympic NP (WA) -The light snow pack from this past winter is rapidly 
melting off. The snow melt is reported to be four to six weeks ahead 
of normal. The fire danger is still low, however, due to spring rains.

Big Cypress NP (FL) - The park reported on new lightning-caused fire 
on June 8th. It burned 20 to 50 acres before being contained. The park 
is still behind on precipitation, but water levels are beginning to 
rise.

Everglades NP (FL) - The prescribed burn in the Pinelands continued on 
Friday. An additional 2,158 acres were burned, giving a two-day total 
of 3,213 acres. Burning was to continue this weekend, weather 
permitting.

Park Fire Danger

Extreme         N/A
Very High       Crater Lake NP, Mojave NP, Zion NP, Carlsbad Cavern 
                NP, Guadalupe Mountains NP
High            Hawaii Volcanoes NP

[NPS Situation Summary Report, 6/9; NICC Incident Management Situation 
Report, 6/9 - the full report can be found at 
http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Correction - Yesterday's report on the landmark court case regarding 
Isle Royale NP's GMP and EIS had two date errors in it. The record of 
decision was issued in May, 1999 - not in 1998. The IRBA lawsuit was 
filed in 1999, not 1998. [Pete Armington, ISRO]

Policy Office Update - The status of several DO's (director's orders) 
currently in the works is as follows:

DO-10A, Design and Construction Drawings - Released on May 25th for a 
14-day review. The comment period closes on June 12th.
DO-22, Fee Collection - Released on May 3rd for a 60-day review. The 
comment period closes on July 2nd. 
DO-33, Archeology - The 60-day comment period closes on June 25th. 
DO-50C, Public Risk Management - The 60-day comment period closes on 
June 20th.
DO-52D, Use of the Arrowhead Symbol - The 60-day comment period closed 
on June 5th.
DO-26, Youth Programs - The 60-day comment period closed on June 
closed on June 5th.
DO-93, Conflict Resolution (CORE) - Released for a 14-day review on 
May 10th. The comment period closed on May 25th.
DO-13, Environmental Leadership - The 60-day comment period closed on 
May 29th.
DO-7, Volunteers in Parks - The 60-day comment period closed on May 
22nd.
DO-6, Interpretation and Education - The 60-day comment period closed 
on May 7th.

(Marcia Keener, Office of Policy)

                            *  *  *  *  *

The Morning Report solicits entries from the field and central offices 
for its daily and weekly sections (below). The general rule is that 
submissions, whatever the category, should pertain to operations, be 
useful to the field, and have broad significance across the agency. 
Additional details on submission criteria are available from the 
editor at any time (Bill Halainen at NP-DEWA, or 
Bill_Halainen@nps.gov). Ask for either incident reporting criteria 
(issued by WASO, June 18, 2000) or general criteria. 

Daily and weekly sections are available for news or significant 
developments pertaining to:

Field incidents                 Interpretation and visitor services
Natural resource management     Cultural resource management
Operations (WASO only)          Memoranda (WASO only)
Requests/offers of assistance   Park-related web sites
Parks and employees             Media stories on parks
Training, meetings, and events  Queries on operational matters  
Reports on "lessons learned" 

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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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