NPS Morning Report - Friday, August 10, 2001



                        NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Friday, August 10, 2001

INCIDENTS

01-430 - Blue Ridge Parkway (NC/VA) - Death of Employee

Civil engineer technician S.G. died on July 24th as a result 
of a motor vehicle accident on I-40 near Asheville, North Carolina. 
She had been at the park since transferring to the National Park 
Service from NOAA in 1981. Her son, J.R., was with her at the 
time of the accident and sustained serious injuries, but the prognosis 
is for a full recovery. S.G. is survived by her husband, M.G., 
who is an auto mechanic at Blue Ridge and worked in the Smokies as a 
member of the park's trail crew. S.G. was an extraordinary person, 
dedicated to the park and the mission of the NPS. Her sense of service 
extended into her personal life, where she was an active supporter of 
her church, the high school band, and Boy Scouts. S.G.'s vehicle was 
struck by another being driven by a drunk driver. The defendant, a 
habitual DWI offender, has been charged with second-degree murder. 
[John Garrison, Protection Specialist, BLRI, 8/9]

01-431 - Hot Springs NP (AR) - Armed Robbery

A man reportedly robbed an evening clerk at the Libby Physical 
Medicine Center, a park concessioner, around 7 p.m. on August 8th. The 
Libby is located directly across the street from the park's protection 
office and provides physical therapy, thermal baths and whirlpools to 
the public. The 35- to 40-year-old man was holding a towel over the 
lower part of his face. He demanded all the money in the cash register 
and threatened to use a gun if his demands weren't met. Although the 
clerk was alone at the time, she initially balked at the demand. The 
man then made a move to reach under his shirt, at which point she 
complied. The weapon was never actually seen, and she was not injured. 
The man fled on foot. A search by NPS staff and by Hot Springs police 
proved fruitless. The FBI has been advised of the incident and will be 
assisting in the investigation. The amount stolen is not certain, but 
is believed to have been around $1,000. [Steve Rudd, CR, HOSP, 8/9]

01-432 - Big Bend NP (TX) - SAR; Apparent Falling Fatality

An extensive eight day search for a missing hiker ended late Tuesday 
with the discovery of the body of 18-year-old D.K., a 
concessions employee of Forever Resorts, Inc. and a resident of 
Alpine, Texas. D.K. was last seen on Sunday, July 29th, but was 
not reported as missing until two days later when he failed to report 
for work at the Chisos Mountains Lodge. Park rangers immediately 
investigated and began an intensive ground search, with air support 
provided by a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) helicopter and a 
Civil Air Patrol airplane. Searchers were hampered by extremely rugged 
terrain and an almost complete lack of information on where to look, 
or if D.K. was indeed even within Big Bend. The search intensified 
through the week of August 1st. NPS personnel were assisted by 
volunteers from the Terlingua area, seven search dogs from U.S. 
Tactical K-9 out of Abilene, and an AeroWest contract helicopter from 
Albuquerque. On August 4th and 5th, search dogs alerted to a remote 
area of rocky cliffs and talus slopes within the Chisos Basin. The 
unstable and steep nature of this location made it impossible for the 
dogs to continue, however, and ground teams and helicopter observers 
combed the area for two more days. At 3 p.m., August 7th, during the 
last flight of the day, helicopter observers spotted Kicherer's body 
in an almost inaccessible location at the base of a series of rocky 
ledges. Ground searchers reached the body at 5:20 p.m. The body was 
recovered on the morning of August 8th. Kicherer appears to have died 
from injuries sustained in a fall. The body is being transferred to 
the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office in San Antonio for positive 
identification and further investigation.  Ranger Matt Stoffolano was 
IC. [Mark Spier, Acting CR, BIBE, 8/8]

                   [Additional reports pending....]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Situation - Preparedness Level 3

The preparedness level has gone up one step.  Preparedness Level 3 
goes into effect when the following conditions are met: Two or more 
geographic areas experiencing incidents requiring a major  commitment 
of national resources. Additional resources are being ordered and 
mobilized through NICC. Incident management teams are committed in two 
or more areas, or 275 crews are committed nationally.

Sixteen new large fires were reported yesterday - eight in the 
Northwest, four in northern California, and four in the Great Basin. 
Five large fires were contained - two in the Northwest, two in the 
Great Basin, and one in the northern Rockies. Moderate to high initial 
attack was reported in the Northwest, northern California, and the 
Great Basin.  

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in California, Idaho, 
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming 
(Arizona was dropped from yesterday's listing; Montana has been 
added).

NICC has not issued any watches or warnings for today.

For the full NICC report, see http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf.

National Resource Status (Five Day Trend)

                        Mon     Tue     Wed     Thu     Fri
Date                    8/6     8/7     8/8     8/9     8/10
        
Crews                   134     181     201     243     280
Engines                 319     341     369     405     643
Helicopters             75      85      80      95      81
Air Tankers             6       7       4       8       3
Overhead                1,078   1,388   1,324   1,535   1,458

Park Fire Situation

Yellowstone NP (WY) - Light rain fell on the Arthur Fire (2,800 acres, 
75% contained, 814 FF/OH currently committed) yesterday. That and the 
heavy cloud cover helped crews engaged in fireline construction and 
mop-up. The Shoshone NF has lifted its closure order on four trails 
and the surrounding backcountry north of the fire. Although the Arthur 
Fire is nearing full containment, the fire danger across Wyoming and 
other western states has intensified. Effective today, the park and 
Shoshone NF have put fire use restrictions into effect. The 
restrictions permit fires in fire grates, gas grills, or stoves in 
developed campsites only. Campfires in backcountry areas are 
prohibited. Smoking has been banned unless in a developed site, 
enclosed vehicle or building, or in an area at least three feet in 
diameter that has been cleared of all flammable material. Similar 
restrictions have been put into effect on the Bridger-Teton NF and 
lands administered by BLM and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. 
 
Park Fire Danger

Extreme         Hawaii Volcanoes NP
Very High       Joshua Tree NP
High            Mojave NP, Redwood NP, Rocky Mountain NP, Big Bend NP

[Public Affairs, YELL, 8/9; NPS Situation Summary Report, 8/9; NICC 
Incident Management Situation Report, 8/10]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Special Park Uses Coordinator - Ranger Activities recently filled the 
position of Servicewide special park uses coordinator (vice Dick 
Young). The new coordinator is Lee Dickinson, who will be transferring 
to WASO from Independence NHP, where she has worked her entire 25-year 
career, primarily in interpretation and visitor services. For the past 
eight years, however, she has worked in the permit office. During this 
time, she was the park's special events coordinator and handled 
hundreds of events, including some very large incidents, such as the 
President's Summit on Volunteerism, which featured President Clinton 
and every living president except former President Reagan. While at 
Independence, Lee developed a real appreciation for how the park's 
story of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the 
Bill of Rights affects every American today. During this time, she 
became interested in First Amendment activities, and through these 
activities, got involved in special events. Lee has assisted numerous 
parks with special events and was on the Northeast Region incident 
management team for two years.  She worked with Dick Young on 
Servicewide issues over the years and helped teach special park uses 
training with him on many occasions. Lee will EOD in RAD on September 
23rd.  Since this will be after the move to our new office building, 
contact information is not available at this time. [Dennis Burnett, 
RAD/WASO]

Code Red Worm Incident - On August 8th, the Denver Network Management 
Office determined that a computer at Harpers Ferry Center had been 
infected by the Code Red worm and was attacking Department of Defense 
systems. The machine was identified and isolated, but with some 
difficulty due to the absence of a key network overseer. During the 
subsequent analysis of the sequence of events, system managers 
developed six important tips to system operators to assure that they 
can quickly deal with such problems:

o       Ensure that virus protection is installed, active and updated 
        with the most current virus data definitions on all machines.
o       Ensure that all current Microsoft security patches have been 
        installed on servers.
o       Remove Internet Information Server (IIS) versions 4 and 5 from 
        all machines not requiring them.
o       Designate  network administrator backups with emergency access 
        to an administrative account and password.
o       Document and share the network structure, design and IP 
        assignments and provide them to the backup administrator.
o       Clearly label connections, cables and devices.

All Harpers Ferry systems are up and running normally again. [Gary 
Cummins, Mike Wiltshire, HFC]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Padre Island NS (TX) the park has extended the vacancy announcement 
for chief ranger (PAIS-B-12) until August 22nd. Padre Island NS is one 
of the longest undeveloped barrier islands (72 miles) in the United 
States. There are significant resource issues, endangered species, 
wildland fire, commercial fishing guides. Law enforcement activities 
include poaching,  illegal immigrant smuggling, narcotics smuggling. 
The chief ranger works closely with Customs, the Coast Guard, DEA, the 
FBI, FWS and local jurisdictions in dealing with these issues. The 
city of Corpus Christi offers all amenities and affordable housing. 
Schools are excellent, recreational activities range from fishing, 
windsurfing, aquarium and museums to visit. [PAIS]

                            *  *  *  *  *

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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