NPS Morning Report - Thursday, June 14, 2001
- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Thursday, June 14, 2001
- Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 06:50:39 -0400
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Thursday, June 14, 2001
INCIDENTS
01-276 - Glen Canyon NRA (UT/AZ) - Multiple Drug Arrests
On June 3rd, a multi-agency drug task force consisting of county,
state and federal law enforcement personnel concluded a major
undercover operation within the Bullfrog Sub-District at Lake Powell.
Rangers participated in both undercover capacities and uniformed
support of the operation. Technical surveillance was provided by a
special agent from the Ranger Activity Division's Technical
Investigations Unit. The task force effort resulted in 18 arrests on
20 felony counts, including distribution of controlled substances and
cultivation of marijuana. Of the 18 arrested, six were concession
employees. [David Sandbakken, SA, GLCA, 6/12]
01-277 - Grand Canyon NP (AZ) - Falling Fatality
Thirteen-year-old A.D. of Canyon Lake, Texas, a member of a
group on a commercial river trip on the Colorado River, was hiking in
North Canyon on June 12th when he slipped while scrambling up some
rocks and fell about 40 feet. River guides were on-scene immediately
and began first aid. A.D. was breathing and had a pulse at the
outset, but both stopped within three minutes. CPR was accordingly
begun. The park was contacted by satellite phone, and
ranger/paramedics Ken Phillips and Bill Reynolds flew to the location
in the park helicopter. Advanced cardiac life support measures were
employed, but without success. While this operation was underway, a
second helicopter responded to a medevac at Phantom Ranch and another
fatality was discovered on the South Rim. Those reports are pending.
[Michael McGinnis, IC, GRCA, 6/12]
[Additional reports pending....]
FIRE MANAGEMENT
Cerro Grande Board of Inquiry Findings
The text of the board of inquiry report can be found at
www.nps.gov/fire/fireinfo/cerrogrande/index.htm. Click on "Reports."
National Fire Situation - Preparedness Level II
One new large fire was reported in Florida. Initial attack activity
was moderate in northern California and the South and light elsewhere.
Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Arizona,
California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Utah.
National Resource Status (Five Day Trend)
Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed
Date 6/9 6/10 6/11 6/12 6/13
Crews 36 31 96 73 99
Engines 174 199 279 215 142
Helicopters 22 22 35 24 21
Air Tankers 3 4 3 4 6
Overhead 269 241 390 367 372
Park Fire Situation
Dinosaur NM (CO) - Mapping of the Split Fire continued yesterday. The
Ruple Fire, Boundary Fire and Jeep Fire were to be flown yesterday to
see if activity increased as a result of high winds on Tuesday.
Park Fire Danger
Extreme Crater Lake NP, Hawaii Volcanoes NP, Dinosaur NM,
Guadalupe Mountains NP
Very High Zion NP, Carlsbad Caverns NP
High Rocky Mountain NP, Everglades NP, Joshua Tree NP,
Mojave NP
[NPS Situation Summary Report, 6/13; NICC Incident Management
Situation Report, 6/13 - the full report can be found at
http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf]
OPERATIONAL NOTES
Uniform Item Recall - All employees who have experienced problems with
the new field hat falling apart after washing should return it to the
uniform contractor, VF Solutions, for replacement. Please provide a
brief statement with the returned hat explaining what the
circumstances were that caused it to fail. [Randy Coffman, RAD/WASO]
Supreme Court Decision - On June 11th, the Supreme Court held that
using a thermal detection device to conduct surveillance of a private
residence is a search under the Fourth Amendment and requires a search
warrant. The court was concerned that the government employed a device
not in general public use (a hand-held thermal imaging device, or
ITD), and was able to explore details of a private home that
ordinarily would not have been detectable without a physical
intrusion. The court likened the circumstances of detecting the
emanation of heat to the use of an eavesdropping device located
outside of a structure that could pick up conversations occurring
inside that structure, and noted that in both circumstances the
information obtained was an "intimate detail" involving the sanctity
of the home. Here, as in other cases, the court was concerned that
law enforcement technology was becoming too intrusive and that the
privacy expectations of home owners would suffer as a result. The
court did not preclude the use of ITD's, requiring instead that a
search warrant be obtained prior to its use on a private residence to
detect the thermal image of the home. This case reverses an en banc
Ninth Circuit decision that had upheld the use of ITD's and declared
such use without a warrant to be lawful. Kyllo v. United States, No.
99-8508 (U.S. S.Ct. 6/11/01). Information on the case is available at
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/99-8508.ZS.html. For more
information on this decision and other legal issues, contact Don Usher
of the FLETC-NPS staff via cc:Mail or at 912-267-3190. [Don Usher,
FLETC]
LESSONS LEARNED
A Thursday supplement to the Morning Report for new ideas,
innovations, and lessons learned that shouldn't have to be relearned.
National Capital Region has developed a full service, 24-hour-a-day
dispatch center to provide service to all law enforcement staff within
the region. This has been made possible by the establishment of the
NCR Communications Center, which services the western portion of the
region. The center also coordinates all risk emergency and special
events resource ordering and park emergency services. The following
services are provided by the center:
o A toll-free number for the public to report emergencies
o Around the clock staffing, seven days a week
o Dictaphone recording of all phone and radio transmissions
o Tracking of all law enforcement personnel while on duty
o Radio patching between rangers from different parks
o Access to federal and state criminal information databases
o Maintenance of a local violator and warrant database
o A weekly activity report for all parks
o A toll-free number for reporting national park resource crimes
For information on planning and financial aspects of the center,
contact regional chief ranger Einar Olsen at 202-619-7068. For
information on operational issues, contact NCRCC manager Bill Orlando
at 301-714-2235. (Terry Carlstrom, RD, NCR)
* * * * *
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"
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.
--- ### ---