NPS Morning Report - Friday, July 27, 2001



                        NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Friday, July 27, 2001

                            *** NOTICE ***

All flags are to be lowered to half-staff today in commemoration of 
Korean War Veterans Day. Regular flags will be returned to full staff 
tomorrow morning; 24-hour flags will be returned to full staff at 
midnight tonight.

INCIDENTS

01-348 - New River Gorge NR (WV) - Follow-up: Flash Flooding

On July 8th, severe rains caused flash flooding throughout southern 
West Virginia. Due to the impacts on the park, the Eastern IMT headed 
by Bob Panko (Everglades NP) was assigned to assist with recovery 
operations, but has now concluded its work. The transition plan has 
been approved by superintendent Cal Hite and the team ended its 
control of operations at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. The park plans to 
continue recovery operations under ICS, with Rick Brown as incident 
commander. The resource assessment team has finished is field work but 
will stay on to prepare a final report, which is to be completed by 
Tuesday. The contract for the repair of Cunard Road has been prepared 
and a contractor has been selected. Equipment will be moved in this 
weekend and work will start on Monday. Even though crews will be 
working six days a week, ten hours a day, the contractor expects the 
job to take up to four weeks. Workable solutions to shore up the 
undermined abutment at Wolf Creek Bridge have been identified and work 
is progressing. NERI crews made progress yesterday in cleaning up 
trash and removing hazardous trees in the Thayer area. [Kent Cave, IO, 
New River Gorge Flood Incident, 7/25]

01-381 - Navajo NM (AZ) - Employee Arrested

On March 7th, an internal investigation was begun into the on-going 
theft of government property from the park. The five-month-long 
investigation culminated in the felony arrest of a long-term park 
employee. He was taken into custody on July 23rd and transported to 
magistrate's court in Flagstaff, where he was charged with two felony 
counts under 18 USC - falsifying government documents and embezzlement 
and theft. The U.S. Attorney's Office (District of Arizona) is 
prosecuting the case. [David Sandbakken, SA, GLCA, 7/25]

01-382 - Shenandoah NP (VA) - Fire; EMS Incident

Amerigas Propane deliveryman T.H., 32, was filling a propane 
tank at the Loft Mountain camp store early on the morning of July 26th 
when an unknown source of ignition caused a flashback fire that burned 
his face, arms, and hands. Campground hosts John and Erma O'Brien 
called the park communications center and a rescue squad was 
dispatched to the campground. Shortly thereafter, it was determined 
that a medical air ambulance was needed. Ranger Scot Bowen arrived and 
assumed command of the incident prior to the helicopter's arrival; the 
O'Brien's performed as landing zone coordinators. T.H. was loaded 
onto the helicopter and flown to the University of Virginia Medical 
Center Burn Unit. His condition was not known at the time of the 
report. Bowen, SA Tim Alley and ranger Steve Barto are investigating 
the accident. [Rick Childs, DR, South District, SHEN, 7/26]

                   [Additional reports pending....]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Situation - Preparedness Level 2

Nearly 300 new fires were reported on Tuesday, five of which are now 
large fires in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho and Nevada. The 
Green Knoll Fire near Jackson, Wyoming, forced area residents to 
evacuate late on Tuesday afternoon. A fire near Mariposa, California, 
threatened structures, but no evacuations were necessary. The Sage 
Fire near Ketchum, Idaho, also threatened about 150 structures, but 
did not force residents to evacuate. Two new large fires were reported 
on Wednesday - one in northern California and the other in Nevada. 
Initial attack was light nationwide. 

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Arizona, 
California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and 
Wyoming. 

NICC has issued a FIRE WEATHER WATCH for dry fuels, winds warm 
temperatures and low relative humidity for portions of western and 
southwestern Wyoming.

The full NICC situation report can be found at 
http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf.

National Resource Status (Five Day Trend)

                        Mon     Tue     Wed     Thu     Fri
Date                    7/23    7/24    7/25    7/26    7/27
                        
Crews                   86      76      83      123     171
Engines                 142     82      78      141     178
Helicopters             51      46      37      63      81
Air Tankers             0       0       0       9       8
Overhead                496     498     542     674     859

Park Fire Situation

Lake Mead NRA (NV/AZ) - The Overton Fire was contained at 100 acres on 
July 25th. A total of 48 firefighters and overhead personnel were 
committed to suppression operations.

Grand Canyon NP (AZ) - The Vista Fire has burned 688 acres. The 
Whiskeytown and Black Hills fire use modules have been assigned to the 
fire. 

Park Fire Danger

Extreme         Hawaii Volcanoes NP
Very High       Lake Mead NRA, Zion NP
High            Mojave NP, Dinosaur NM, Lake Meredith NRA

[NICC National Fire News, 7/26; NPS Situation Summary Report, 7/26; 
NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 7/27]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Delaware Water Gap NRA (PA/NJ) - The park is advertising for a 
GS-13/14 assistant superintendent. The announcement number is MARO 
01-39 and it closes on August 17th. The assistant superintendent is 
responsible for assisting with the planning, directing, organizing, 
development and program control for the entire park and for assisting 
in addressing critical management problems and issues. For more 
information, contact Marlene McPhatter at 215-597-4971. [Diane Kimsey, 
DEWA]

                            *  *  *  *  *

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.

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