NPS Morning Report - Monday, May 13, 2002


                           NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                              MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Monday, May 13, 2002

INCIDENTS

02-166 - Bandelier NM (NM) - Serious Employee Illness

Visitor use assistant John Freed suffered a mild heart attack while on duty
on May 8th. He was stabilized by park EMT Brian Dominy and Los Alamos
paramedics and transported to Los Alamos Medical Center. Later that day, he
was transferred to a hospital in Albuquerque for possible surgery, but was
released the following day when it was determined that an operation would
not be required. He will be off the job for a week or so. Although John has
only been at Bandelier for a couple of weeks, he has worked as a seasonal,
term and permanent employee at a number of parks nationwide. Cards can be
sent to John and his spouse P. in care of the park at HCR 1, Box 1,
Suite 15, Los Alamos, NM 87544. [Carl Newman, BAND, 5/10]

02-167 - Ozark NSR (MO) - Flooding

The park received over seven inches of rain in a two-day period last week,
resulting in drastic increases in the levels of the Current and Jacks Fork
Rivers on May 8th. The Jacks Fork rose to 28 feet at Buck Hollow and
submerged one visitor-owned vehicle before it could be driven away. Alley
Spring Ranger Station was under two feet of water. The Current River rose
to 12 feet at Akers, flooding the Pulltite Ranger Station. The Current
crested at 23.5 feet at Van Buren and flooded the Big Spring developed
area. Numerous park facilities were damaged, including picnic shelters,
restrooms, campgrounds, and roads. Trees were damaged and uprooted and
dangerous strainers (fallen trees whose branches extend into the water)
were created in the rivers. There were no injuries. The park was closed for
a day to allow the water to recede, and damage assessment and cleanup has
begun.  This is the first major flood the park has experienced since 1993,
and the short term forecast calls for more rain.  [Larry Johnson, CR, OZAR,
5/10]

02-168 - Gulf Islands NS (MS/FL) - Car Clout Arrests

During late March and April, the park experienced a rash of car clouts - 14
all told - in the fort Pickens area. All the vehicles were entered by
breaking a window or by opening an unsecured door or trunk. Items taken
included camera equipment, wallets, purses, CD's and backpacks. On April
27th, ranger Larry Bova was manning a lookout post in one of the parking
lots when he saw a maroon Honda pass through the lot several times. A man
got out of the Honda, entered a car, and took a purse from it. Bova
notified rangers Hughes and Dyer, who located the Honda and made a felony
stop. The two people in the Honda were identified as D. and T.J.
A search of the vehicle led to the discovery of numerous purses,
wallets and credit cards. Rangers read the J.s their rights, after
which T.J. agreed to talk. She said that she and her husband - both
convicted felons - had been coming to the park and breaking into cars for
about three weeks. She also said that they had several weapons in their
house that they'd stolen from a pickup truck outside the park the day
before. The J.s were linked by physical evidence to eight separate car
break-ins in the park and many others outside NPS jurisdiction. A probable
cause hearing was held on May 7th, and the J.s were charged with eight
counts of felony theft of property, one count of conspiracy, and one count
of being felons in possession of a firearm. [CRO, GUIS, 5/10]

02-169 - Natchez Trace Parkway (MS/AL/TN) - Drug Lab

Shortly before midnight on April 26th, ranger David Linville picked up
radio traffic from the county sheriff's office regarding the discovery of a
methamphetamine lab at the park's horse trail parking lot at Highway 43 off
Yandell Road. Linville responded along with a state drug lab cleanup team.
Subsequent investigation revealed that the people operating the lab had
come down the parkway from central Mississippi to manufacture the drugs
there. The county sheriff's office is leading the investigation. [Jackie
Henman, ACR, NATR, 5/2]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Situation

Preparedness Level 2

Initial attack was light again on Saturday. Major fires currently reported
include:

•     Bouquet Fire, Angeles NF (2,800 acres, 25% contained, 529 FF/OH) - A
Type 2 team (Walker) is managing the fire, which is burning in heavy brush
about five miles north of Saugus, California. Extreme fire behavior and
long-range spotting are hampering containment efforts. Two outbuildings
have been lost, and numerous cabins in Bouquet Canyon have been evacuated.

•     Blackjack Bay Complex, Okefenokee NWR (58,300 acres, 0% contained,
178 FF/OH) - Zimmerman's fire use management team is operating under a
unified command with Georgia and Florida forestry. A confinement strategy
is being employed.

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Arizona, Colorado,
Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

National Resource Commitments

                  Sat   Sun   Mon   Tue   Wed   Thu   Fri   Sat
Date              5/4   5/5   5/6   5/7   5/8   5/9   5/10  5/11

Crews             58    58    68    40    93    51    26    43
Engines           93    83    140   105   125   115   50    124
Helicopters       19    17    21    21    25    15    9     32
Air Tankers       0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0
Overhead          366   399   484   391   727   503   314   418
Type 1 IMT        1     1     2     2     2     2     1     --
Type 2 IMT        0     1     1     1     --    --    --    1
Fire Use IMT            --    1     2     1     1     1     1     1

Park Fire Situation

Lake Meredith NRA (TX) - Between April 17th and April 24th, three separate
units of Lake Meredith NRA and Alibates Flint Quarries NM were successfully
burned. The prescribed fire included 1,936 acres on park land and 183 acres
on private land (with written permission from owners) for a total of 2,119
acres. Preparations for the burns began last October 2001, but the fires
had to be delayed due to Texas Panhandle weather conditions. One of the
burns involved a community on the urban interface, with more than 200 homes
in close proximity to the burn. The Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission required 92 homeowners to sign an approval form to permit the
park to burn within 300 feet of their properties; of them, 91 signed the
waiver, offering strong support for the burns. One 60-acre block was not
burned because the landowner had not signed the waiver. Ranch owners played
a major role in a second burn unit, having signed an MOU to permit the park
to burn their ranch lands and to allow firefighters to employ ranch roads
that provided suitable fire breaks - in turn affording greater safety for
firefighters. Open houses and community meetings were held with the public,
ranch owners, and oil and gas operators prior to burning. Control lines
were established around the perimeter and around oil and gas structures.
Assistance was provided to the homeowners with wildland fire prevention and
brush removal around their property prior to burning. The burn was executed
through an interagency team effort involving 65 people from Lake Meredith
NRA, US Fish and Wildlife's Wichita Mountains NWR (OK), the Forest
Service's Black Kettle National Grasslands (OK), BLM (NM), BIA (OK), four
local volunteer fire departments, a contractor, the Texas Forest Service,
the National Weather Service, Bandelier NM, Saguaro NP, and Capulin Volcano
NM. [Rhonda Terry, PIO, LAMR]

Park Fire Danger

Extreme - Lake Mead NRA, Everglades NP
Very High - N/A
High - Hawaii Volcanoes NP

[NPS Situation Summary Report, 5/12; NICC Incident Management Situation
Report, 5/10-12]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Crater Lake NP (OR) - The park has announced a GS-9/11 fire management
officer vacancy.  It is on NPS Firejobs (02-085) and closes on May 30th.
The person in this position plans and manages a wildland fire management
program that includes wildland fire suppression, wildland fire use, fuels
management and prescribed fire. Crater Lake NP is in the process of
developing a new fire management plan, the focus of which will be the
restoration of the natural role of fire in fire-adapted ecosystems. The
park is seeking a person who will apply a collaborative teamwork approach
toward implementing this plan and incorporating the fire program into the
park's overall management goals.  Interested applicants can contact David
Brennan, chief of resource and visitor protection, at 541-594-3051 for
specific information concerning the position and the park. [David Brennan,
CRLA]

                               *  *  *  *  *

Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation
and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.

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