NPS Morning Report - Tuesday, May 28, 2002


                           NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                              MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Tuesday, May 28, 2002

INCIDENTS

02-183 - Valley Forge NHP (PA) - Follow-up on Employee Death

The funeral for protection ranger JoAnn Gillette will be held on Saturday,
June 1st. The viewing hours will be on Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and on
Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with the funeral following immediately
thereafter. Both the viewing and funeral will be held at the Bowen-Farr
Funeral Home, 6 Gordon E. Farr Street, Ulster, PA 18550.  For directions
call 570-265-2272. Condolences may be sent to her brother and
sister-in-law, W. and S.G. [Denver Audyatis, TEO, VAFO, 5/24]

02-184 - Great Smoky Mountains NP (NC/TN) - Stolen Vehicle; Weapons
Violations

On May 19th, ranger Heath Soehn was on his way to backup a ranger who was
making a DUI stop on the Foothills Parkway Spur when he came upon a van on
the Gatlinburg bypass with its muffler dragging and shooting sparks along
the roadway. Soehn called in the van's plate, then stopped it and quickly
advised the driver, J.W., of his dragging muffler. Passenger Billy
Runyuns jumped out of the van and hastily repaired the muffler. Soehn then
cleared from the stop and continued to help the ranger with the DUI stop.
Dispatch contacted Soehn just after he'd cleared and told him that the van
was stolen. Soehn turned around, relocated the van, and followed it
northbound on the spur, intending to pull it over near the DUI stop so that
he'd have backup immediately available. The van did not stop, however,
until just before Pigeon Forge and at the end of the spur. Soehn made his
approach from the passenger side, surprising both J.W. and Runyuns. He
then took Runyuns out of the van, handcuffed him, and put him in his
cruiser without incident. By that time, a Pigeon Forge police officer had
arrived as backup and assisted Soehn in handcuffing and arresting J.W..
Criminal history checks confirmed that the van was stolen and revealed that
both men were fugitives from justice from North Carolina on the charges of
burglary and forced entry while using a handgun. The check also revealed
that Runyuns was a convicted felon and had served a prison sentence for a
violent crime involving a firearm. A search of the van revealed a .40
caliber semi-automatic pistol with two loaded magazines under the passenger
seat and a TEC-DC9 9mm machine gun type pistol with a silencer and two
loaded magazines on the seat behind the drivers compartment. The TEC-9
pistol turned out to be stolen as well. Both Runyuns and J.W. have been
arraigned in federal court on charges of being fugitives in possession of
firearms; in addition, J.W. was charged with possession of a stolen
vehicle and Runyuns with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Charges
concerning the stolen firearm and possible illegal firearms charges will be
pursued through assistance from ATF. [Rick Brown, DR, GRSM, 5/22]

02-185 - Colonial NHP (VA) - MVA with Fatality

Park dispatch received a report of a single vehicle accident with injuries
at kilometer 12 on the Colonial Parkway at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 22nd. A
family on vacation had witnessed the accident and stopped to render
assistance to the driver and her infant son. Two members of the family
performed rescue breathing on the infant and other family members cared for
the driver until rescue workers arrived and took over treatment. The
driver, A.M. of Williamsburg, was treated at the scene and
transported to Riverside Hospital in Newport News; her seven-and-a-half
month old son, who was in a child safety seat, was airlifted to Children's
Hospital in Norfolk Virginia with head and spine injuries. A.M. was
treated for non-life threatening injuries and released on Thursday. The
infant remained on life support until Friday afternoon, when it was
removed. On Friday afternoon, the park and county fire and life safety
personnel presented the family with letters of appreciation and
certificates before they left the area. The accident is still under
investigation. Ranger Bob Whiteman is the lead investigator. [Hiram Barber,
ACR, COLO, 5/24]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Situation

Preparedness Level 2

Initial attack was light nationwide on Monday. Two new large fires were
reported; three others were contained. Among the more significant were the
following:

•     Bullock Fire, Coronado NF (17,600 acres, 40% containment, 913 FF/OH)
- Humphrey's Type 1 team is managing the fire, which  is burning in grass,
oak and chaparral about 15 miles northeast of Tucson. The fire intensified
along its southern flank
      yesterday, threatening fire lines. Burnout operations have begun on
the southwest flank.

•     Borrego Fire, Santa Fe NF (12,700 acres, 50% contained, 834 FF/OH) -
Bateman's Type 1 team has been assigned. The fire is  burning in pinion,
juniper and mixed conifer forest two miles southeast of Cordova, New
Mexico. Fire intensity diminished
      somewhat yesterday due to lighter winds, higher relative humidity,
and the change in fuel type at higher elevations in the Pecos
Wilderness Area. The towns of Truchas and Cordova remain threatened.

•     Bucktail Complex, Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre-Gunnison NF (3,633 acres,
100% containment, 278 FF/OH ) - The fire has been     fully contained.

•     Blackjack Bay Complex, Okefenokee NWR (100,518, 0% containment, 85
FF/OH) - A fire use management team (Adams) is        operating under a
unified command with Georgia and Florida forestry. Fire activity increased
yesterday along the southeast and   southwest flanks and short runs in
brush and pine stands were observed. Higher winds pushed the fire to the
west.

•     West Fork Chena, Alaska Division of Forestry (14,430 acres, 5%
contained, 323 FF/OH) - A Type 2 team (Jandt) is assigned. The    fire is
burning in black spruce about 50 miles east of Fairbanks. Numerous
residences and commercial properties remain           threatened. The fire
has spotted across Chena Hot Springs Road, now closed, and the Chena River.

•     Kalskag, Alaska Division of Forestry (3,370 acres, 5% contained, 36
FF/OH) - Demobilization of resources has begun.

•     Vinasale, Alaska Division of Forestry (20,000 acres, 0% contained, 34
FF) - The fire is burning in black spruce, taiga and        hardwoods 15
miles south of McGrath. The entire perimeter was active yesterday, and the
fire spread to the north, south and
      east. Extreme behavior was observed.

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

National Resource Commitments

                  Mon   Tue   Wed   Thu   Fri   Sat   Sun   Mon
Date              5/20  5/21  5/22  5/23  5/24  5/25  5/26  5/27

Crews             14    53    83    128   121   126   135   139
Engines           23    107   107   200   143   107   109   67
Helicopters       7     24    25    45    28    38    33    41
Air Tankers       4     4     1     3     2     5     1     1
Overhead          82    444   459   690   565   591   604   719
Type 1 IMT        --    1     2     3     3     3     2     2
Type 2 IMT        2     4     3     1     2     2     2     1
Fire Use IMT            1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1

Fire Warnings and Watches

NICC has not issued any watches or warnings for today.

Park Fire Situation

Hawaii Volcanoes NP - A lava flow from Kilauea's on-going east rift
eruption ignited a wildfire on Pulama Pali on Saturday, May 18th. The fire
had burned about 900 acres as of late last week. It is burning in kupukupu
patches and rain forest consisting of hapu'u, 'ohi'a, maile, kopilo and
kolea. About 40 firefighters and five helicopters have been deployed.

Everglades NP - The park continued the HID Rx fire on May 26th. About 400
acres were treated. Weather and fuel conditions permitted the safe and
effective completion of management objectives.

Park Fire Danger

Extreme - N/A
Very High - N/A
High - Joshua Tree NP, Everglades NP

[NPS Situation Summary Report, 5/27; NICC Incident Management Situation
Report, 5/25-28]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Padre Island NS (TX) - The park is currently recruiting for a permanent
full time GS-5/7/9 commissioned ranger. This position has been announced on
USA jobs with a closing date of June 10th. The person selected will be
responsible for a wide range of visitor and resource protection duties
performed on a 72-mile long barrier island. She/he will play an important
role in developing programs to curb poaching, address illegal commercial
fishing in park waters, and deter a significant volume of alien and drug
smuggling through the park. Other duties include EMS, SAR and wildland fire
suppression; may serve as the park's wildland fire coordinator commensurate
with fire experience and training. The city of Corpus Christi is 18 miles
away and offers a full range of educational, medical, and shopping
amenities.  For further information, contact the chief rangers office at
361-949-8173 ext. 237. [Randy Larson, PAIS]

                               *  *  *  *  *

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

                                --- ### ---