NPS Morning Report - Sunday, July 8, 2001
- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Sunday, July 8, 2001
- Date: Sun, 8 Jul 2001 09:09:38 -0400
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Sunday, July 8, 2001
INCIDENTS
01-340 - Independence NHP (PA) - Special Events
The Fourth of July was a very busy day at Independence. ABC's "Good
Morning America" show was broadcast live from the park from 7 a.m. to
9 a.m. and featured on-camera appearances by interpretive rangers
discussing the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. At 10 a.m., UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan received the Liberty Medal at the annual
ceremony sponsored by the city of Philadelphia on a stage in front of
Independence Hall. At 2 p.m., children descended from signers of the
Declaration of Independence symbolically "tapped" the Liberty Bell to
initiate the nationwide ringing of bells as part of the "Let Freedom
Ring" celebration. At 4 p.m., President George W. Bush arrived at the
park to make an Independence Day address to a live audience and
national media. Several groups exercised their First Amendment rights
during the events under permits issued by the park. From 8 p.m. on
July 4th until 4 a.m. on July 5th, movie stars under the direction of
producer Norman Lear filmed a reading of the Declaration of
Independence inside Independence Hall. The actors included Mel Gibson,
Morgan Freeman, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Douglas, Catherine
Zeta-Jones, Kathy Bates, Benicio Del Toro, Graham Greene, Ming-Na,
Edward Norton, Winona Ryder and Kevin Spacey. The film will become
part of a documentary that will travel around the nation along with
Lear's copy of the Dunlap broadside, one of 25 known copies of the
first printing of the Declaration of Independence. Independence and
Valley Forge LE rangers worked in cooperation with the Secret Service,
State Department security and local law enforcement authorities during
the events. (Phil Sheridan, PAO, INDE, 7/5)
01-341 - Fort Sumter NM (SC) - Special Event
The 225th anniversary of the Battle of Sullivan's Island at Fort
Moultrie occurred on June 28th. On this date in 1776, patriots under
Colonel William Moultrie defeated an attack of nine British warships
using a half-completed palmetto log fort. This was the first decisive
naval victory for America during the Revolutionary War. The special
event commemorating this event featured living history programs by the
2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment and a formal presentation and
wreath laying ceremony. A group of volunteers from Colonial NHP,
supervised by ranger Chris Bryce, fired a reproduction 18-pounder
cannon similar to those used in the historic battle. Dr. Gregory
Massey, author of the book "John Laurens and the American Revolution,"
was the principal speaker. Local police and fire departments assisted.
An estimated 300 visitors attended the evening program. Entrance fees
were suspended for the day, and park hours were extended to 9 p.m.
(Bill Martin, PIO, FOSU, 7/7)
01-342 - Wright Brothers NM (NC) - Airplane Accident
Pilot V.G.V. Vogel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was landing his
1976 single-engine Beechcraft B-24 at First Flight Airstrip just after
noon on July 6th when his nose gear collapsed and sheared off of the
fuselage. The plane came to rest in the center of the runway. There
were no injuries nor was there any fuel leakage. V.G.V. was the plane's
only occupant. Due to the minor nature of the damage and the lack of
injuries, the FAA planned to release the plane for removal later that
day. This was the third aircraft accident in less than one month
involving First Flight Airstrip. DR Jon Anglin was IC. [Paul Stevens,
LES, CAHA, 7/6]
01-343 - Zion NP (UT) - Rescue
Park dispatch received a cell phone report of an unconscious man on
Angels Landing around 2 p.m. on July 4th. The caller said that the man
had fallen about 20 feet and was now lying on the trail. Responding
personnel reached the 18-year-old man at 3 p.m. and found him still
unconscious, with indications that he'd struck his head in the fall.
He was stabilized by park medics. The Grand Canyon NP helicopter
short-hauled him from Angels Landing to the canyon floor just before 5
p.m., thereby averting the need for a thousand-foot vertical lowering
operation and scree evacuation. The man was then taken by ambulance to
another helispot, where he was transferred to a waiting medivac
helicopter and flown to University Medical Center in Las Vegas.
Twenty-five people participated in the rescue, which was carried out
in near 100 degree temperatures. Kevin Killian was ops chief. [Chuck
Passek, ZION, 7/4]
01-344 - Glen Canyon NRA (UT/AZ) - Water-Related Fatality
M.A., 24, of Littleton, Colorado, failed to resurface after
jumping from a cliff into the Escalante arm of Lake Powell on the
evening of July 4th. Park divers recovered his body in 80 feet of
water early on the following morning. Witnesses said that M.A. and
a companion jumped into the lake from a 70-foot-high cliff. The other
jumper had no problems, but M.A. hit the water sideways. This was
the third accident-related fatality in the Bullfrog Subdistrict within
10 days. [Mike Mayer, ACR, GLCA, 7/5]
[Additional reports pending....]
FIRE MANAGEMENT
National Fire Situation - Preparedness Level II
Five new large fires were reported on Friday, two each in Utah and
Wyoming and one in Nevada; thirteen others were contained, nine in
Nevada, and one each in Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah. Initial
attack was moderate to heavy in the Northwest, South, and Southwest,
moderate in northern California, the eastern Great Basin, and the
Rockies, and light elsewhere. Very high to extreme fire indices were
reported in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, New
Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming.
The full NICC situation report can be found at
http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf.
National Resource Status (Five Day Trend)
Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
Date 7/3 7/4 7/5 7/6 7/7
Crews 68 108 129 158 151
Engines 145 238 267 371 289
Helicopters 36 63 67 76 69
Air Tankers 6 6 5 5 4
Overhead 445 495 614 595 528
Park Fire Situation
Zion NP (UT) - A lightning storm on the evening of July 4th ignited
five wildfires in the park. The fires were discovered on July 5th and
their locations were pinpointed by a reconnaissance flight over the
park. At the time of the report on Friday, three of the fires were
burning on mesa tops and one was burning in the Goose Creek drainage.
These four fires are located in isolated areas in the northern and
eastern portion of the park. The fires have been assessed for their
potential to spread, considering their isolated locations, terrain,
and the amount and type of fuels present. Based on this assessment,
the fires will be confined and contained with no direct suppression
actions undertaken unless they spread outside a predetermined maximum
allowable area. A fire at Crater Hill in the southwest portion of the
park was suppressed at one tenth of an acre. As of Friday morning, the
size of the fires ranged from two tenths of an acre to 140 acres. The
largest was on Wynopits Mountain, north of Orderville Canyon. The
fires will be closely monitored until they burn themselves out.
Great Basin NP (NV) - Two more lightning-caused fires were reported on
Friday. Neither was a threat to structures. Suppression action was to
be taken on the Baker Fire on Friday.
Everglades NP (FL) - Park and Great Smokies fire crews continued with
an Rx fire in the Pine Island area on Friday. A total of 384 acres
have been burned in this unit to date.
Rocky Mountain NP (CO) - A dozen firefighters were committed on Friday
to a half-acre fire on the west side of the park. The park also
provided support to local agencies in attack and suppression of
numerous area fires.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs (CA) - Between July 2nd and July 6th,
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks received approximately 1,500
lightning strikes, leading to 17 fires - ten in Kings Canyon and seven
in Sequoia. The parks suppressed five of these fires and will monitor
the others.
On June 29th, fire crews completed ignitions on a prescribed fire in
Sequoia National Park. The Bear Hill Fire covered 160 acres inside the
Giant Forest southwest of the Generals Highway and the Giant Forest
Museum. This was the first prescribed fire in the parks since
November, 1999, and it was one of the first prescribed fires in the
Pacific West region since the National Park Service lifted the ban for
parks west of the 100th meridian on May 31st. Ignitions occurred from
June 25th to the 29th, averaging 30 to 40 acres per day. Low
temperatures and high humidities provided ideal conditions for crews
to manage fire intensity and smoke dispersal. Approximately 25 to 40
firefighters were assigned to the burn each day. Some firefighters
worked night shifts to patrol the burn overnight. Fire managers were
very pleased with the initial results. The fire consumed large
accumulations of dead and down fuel and created bare, open, sunny
spaces for giant sequoia reproduction. Research and monitoring crews
will continue to study the area over time for the presence of sequoia
seedlings. From past experience, the parks expect to see eight- to
twelve-foot giant sequoias scattered throughout the burn area within
five to ten years. During these ignitions, park interpreters and fire
information officers contacted over 1,650 visitors on trails and had
the opportunity to communicate messages about park fire objectives and
giant sequoia ecology.
Park Fire Danger
Extreme Hawaii Volcanoes NP
Very High N/A
High Everglades NP, Zion NP, Guadalupe Mountains NP,
Dinosaur NM, Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs
[Jody Lyle, SEKI, 7/6; Ron Terry, ZION, 7/6; NPS Situation Summary
Report, 7/7; NICC Situation Summary Report, 7/6]
CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Padre Island NS (TX) - Release of Sea Turtles
Infant hatchlings of the world's most endangered sea turtles will be
released into park waters on or around July 10th. Funded in part from
Unilever, H.E. Butt Grocery Company (H-E-B) and the National Park
Foundation, this release is part of a research and monitoring program
to save Kemp's ridley sea turtles from extinction - a program that has
been underway and successful for over two decades. Unilever, H-E-B,
and the National Park Foundation are contributing $10,000 to the
project, and this year's grant marks the second consecutive year that
the partnership has joined forces for a total grant of $40,000. In the
2001 nesting season, eight Kemp's ridley nests were located along the
south Texas coast, the only confirmed nests in the United States this
year. The successful release of hatchlings from these incubated eggs
adds substantially to chances for long-term survival of the Kemp's
ridley. Once the Kemp's ridley eggs hatch and develop, the exact date
and timing of the release will be announced. [Intermountain Morning
Line, 7/6]
PARKS AND PEOPLE
Capitol Reef NP (UT) - Thea Nordling has announced she plans to retire
from Capitol Reef National Park and the National Park Service
following over 31 years of service. She and husband John Covey then
plan to move to Moab, Utah. A retirement party is planned for the
evening of August 25th at the Rim Rock Restaurant in Torrey, Utah.
For additional information and to RSVP, contact Cindy Micheli or Riley
Mitchell at 435-425-3791 ext. 112 or 116. Loaned slides, photos,
and/or testimonials can be mailed to Dave Worthington c/o Capitol Reef
NP, HC 70 Box 15, Torrey, UT 84775. [Riley Mitchell, CARE]
* * * * *
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