NPS Morning Report - Tuesday, September 18, 2001
- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Tuesday, September 18, 2001
- Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 11:12:02 -0400
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Tuesday, September 18, 2001
INCIDENTS
01-509 - Servicewide - Follow-up: Terrorist Attacks
The National Park Service continues to provide support to its parks
and employees, gather information on the status of field areas for
DOI, and deal with security issues throughout the country.
Director Fran Mainella has set the tone for the continuing NPS effort
with her message to "the employees, friends and partners of the
National Park Service":
"I regret very much that my first formal communication as Director
comes at a time of such great sadness. Along with the President and
Secretary Norton, I share your deep sense of sorrow about recent
events. The National Park Service is a family that cares not only
about its own staff and park visitors, but also for the nation as a
whole. I am truly pleased to be a part of this family.
"The role of the Service in the nation's life is crucial. As the
Secretary said in her recent press release, 'We encourage everyone to
draw inspiration from our greatest national treasures, and let them
serve as reminders that this nation will endure and prosper.' We will
continue to provide the services and inspiration of the national parks
to the American people.
"I will be working hard with all of you to protect our employees,
visitors, and resources in the times ahead. My commitment to that will
be addressed in a message I will be sharing with you shortly, and
which I had intended to send you this past Tuesday morning.
"All of us need to be sensitive to the stress these tragic incidents
have placed on us. My instructions for dealing with continuity of NPS
operations were reported in the September 14th Morning Report. But,
beyond our professional responsibilities, we must also deal with the
personal impacts that NPS employees have suffer ed. We must each take
the time to offer solace wherever and however we can. Those who suffer
losses and anxiety during this time are also encouraged to contact the
Employee Assistance Program (800-222-0354). All counseling is always
totally confidential for our employees."
Director Mainella will be traveling to New York on Thursday to meet
with employees from parks throughout the area. A primary focus of
current NPS operations in New York is the provision of assistance to
the these employees, including staff in all divisions, US Park Police
officers, and concessions personnel. The NPS dispatched a team of five
CISD counselors to the area to conduct an initial assessment over this
past weekend and now has nine peer supporters, representing all
divisions, on site at Ellis Island. They will be providing individual
and group debriefings to all employees in the metro area. Quite a few
saw the first airplane hit the World Trade Center, even more saw the
second (it passed low over Liberty and Ellis Islands), and many others
have been directly involved in on-scene search and recovery
operations. Heading the CISD team is Pat Buccello. If you have
concerns about support needs for any employee, please contact her at
212-883-1986 ext 317 or page her at 877-749-8702. Pat says that the
employees she's talked with have invariably told her about how much
they've appreciated emails from friends and colleagues from around the
Service. If you know someone working in the New York or Washington
metropolitan areas or someone involved in support or other related
operations, take a minute to send him or her a note.
The Service's national Type 1 incident management team (Skip Brooks,
IC) is operating from the South Interior Building in Washington. They
have been charged with:
o Protecting employees and assuring safe operations
o Analyzing situation/intelligence information and determining
the best course of action for the agency to safely maintain
essential operations
o Providing information regarding agency operations to WASO
employees, including the directorate, as needed
o Providing interagency support to the staff at the Department
of Interior's command post
In order to help the Type 1 team meet this mandate and to facilitate
communications with the field, the Morning Report is currently being
prepared and disseminated from Washington. Incident and other reports
should still be sent to the same email address.
The director has mandated that the team collect information from all
NPS areas and provide it to her twice daily. Please see the
informational copy of her memorandum to the regional directors below,
which provides details on what is needed and when.
A few park status reports have also been received:
o Manhattan Sites (NY) - Asbestos testing is being done
throughout lower Manhattan. Federal Hall will remain closed
until the testing is concluded. All utilities at the site are
in working order and cleanup is continuing. Lower East Side
Tenement Museum was used as a temporary shelter last Tuesday,
the day of the attack. It was closed on Wednesday and reopened
on Friday the 16th. No one on the museum staff was injured and
the building did not sustain any damage.
o Statue of Liberty NM/Ellis Island NM (NY) - Site division
chiefs met at Ft. Wadsworth yesterday; all employees are
meeting at Ellis Island today to go over employee assistance,
park operations, and security issues.
o Gateway NRA (NY/NJ) - The park is open, but Miller Field,
Floyd Bennett Field and Ft. Wadsworth remain closed.
o Independence NHP (PA) - The park is open, including
Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Special activities
scheduled for today will proceed. The Liberty Bell and
Independence Hall are now escorted tours only.
01-510 - Castillo de San Marcos/Fort Matanzas NM (FL) - Follow-up:
Tropical Storm Gabrielle
Tropical Storm Gabrielle pounded the northeast Florida coast from
mid-day Friday through late Saturday evening, with sustained winds
over 40 miles per hour and gusts in the mid-50s. The park has trees
and limbs down, a severely damaged boardwalk at Fort Matanzas, and
significant clean-up still to do. Both parks were closed Friday
afternoon. Casa Grande re-opened Sunday and Fort Matanzas reopened
yesterday. Park staff are in the process of calculating total storm
damage costs. There were significant impacts on the $3.6 million
Castillo stabilization project currently underway; the contractor is
still conducting an assessment. The park received between eight and
ten inches of rain during the course of the storm, which fell on
ground already saturated from heavy rains last week. [Gordie Wilson,
Superintendent, CASA/FOMA, 9/16]
[Additional reports pending....]
FIRE MANAGEMENT
Three national Type 1 teams are supporting FEMA operations in
Washington and New York. Bateman's team is supporting urban rescue
efforts in New York City and is based at the incident command post at
the Jacob Javits Convention Center in lower Manhattan; Stutler's team
is managing mobilization centers in Edison and at McGuire AFB in New
Jersey; Gage's team is supporting Pentagon rescue operations and is
based at the Anacostia Naval Station in Arlington, Virginia.
One new large fire was reported in the Northwest yesterday. Initial
attack was moderate in northern California and the Northwest.
Very high to extreme indices were reported in Arizona, California,
Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
MEMORANDA
"Status and Resource Reports," sent electronically on September 17th
from the Type 1 incident management team in WASO to all regional
directors, per Director Mainella. A reply is due by September 20th. An
informational copy follows:
"The national park system has been affected by the national crisis. A
national incident management team has been activated to support
incidents in national park units throughout the system. The national
incident management team, currently based in Washington, DC, has been
tasked with collecting and disseminating information on the status of
parks and the availability of resources servicewide. Each park will
report through the point of contact (POC) for the region. The POCs
will be responsible for reporting park status twice a day and
compiling a national resource availability list.
"Park Status Report - Each identified POC needs to provide Shenandoah
National Park dispatch (EICC) with updates twice daily. The National
Park Service Status report is compiled at 11:00 am and at 4:00 p.m.
EDT. Each POC needs to report to Shenandoah EICC at those times.
Negative responses (unable to contact the park) or no changes of
status responses are also required. Each POC will submit both
electronic and fax messages to Shenandoah dispatch (EICC). The EICC
can be contacted at 540-999-3411 or 888-246-4335. The EICC fax number
is 540-999-2204 and the cc:Mail address is SHEN EICC.
"National resource availability list - The national resource
availability list is a compilation of resource information from
National Park Service units, which may be utilized to provide
assistance nationwide. This information also needs to be provided to
the EICC via both fax and email by COB, Thursday, September 20, 2001.
"Because the incident management team is working to manage all
National Park Service resources, units of the national park system
should process all resource requests (as identified on the attached
form) through Shenandoah dispatch to the incident management team for
approval. Please use the attached national resource availability list
to report the resources for each region. We truly appreciate your
efforts in this time of national need. Please review the attachments
for the required information and sample park status report."
* * * * *
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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