NPS Morning Report - Thursday, July 18, 2002


                           NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                              MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Thursday, July 18, 2002

INCIDENTS

02-319 - Lake Clark NP&P (AK) - Aircraft Crash with Four Fatalities

On Sunday, July 14th, the remains of a float plane missing since last
Friday were found in the park about eight miles southeast of Port Alsworth.
The Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) had been coordinating the search for
the missing DHC-2 DeHavilland Beaver since Friday afternoon. Air National
Guard, CAP, NPS and private aircraft conducted an extensive search
throughout south-central and southwest Alaska. The plane was spotted on
Sunday evening, and para-rescuers confirmed that it was the DHC-2 and that
all four occupants had died in the crash. The plane, which was operated by
Bigfoot Air Taxi, was flying from Anchorage to Lake Iliamna, 220 miles to
the southwest. The pilot was M.H., 35, of Florence, Oregon; the
passengers were three Seattle-area men who were on a week-long fishing trip
to the lake. The weather was good at the time of departure. The Beaver
crashed in mountainous terrain at an elevation of 2,500 feet. The wings and
floats separated from the fuselage on impact, and fire consumed portions of
the cabin section. The search efforts consisted of 61 sorties for a total
of 258.9 flight hours. The NPS flew a total of four sorties for 13.8 hours.
[Lee Fink, CR, LACL, 7/17]

02-320 - Mount Rainier NP (WA) - Search for Six Fallen Climbers; No Victims
Found

A report of six fallen climbers has yielded no evidence of an accident,
despite extended searching by ground teams and an Army Reserve Chinook
helicopter. The search was begun on Saturday, July 13th, after a 4:30 a.m.
911 call from the top of Disappointment Cleaver (12,300 feet) on the
mountain's most popular climbing route. A party of four, climbing up at
about 12,500 feet, had observed what appeared to be the headlamps of a
party of three above them, falling from about 12,800 feet. The leader
appeared to tumble downhill and the other two rope team members fell soon
thereafter. They appeared to cartwheel and tumble in what appeared to be a
very serious fall. Very soon afterwards, a second party of three also
appeared to fall, first slowly and then picking up speed. Both parties then
disappeared. The reporting party, believing that the two rope teams may
have fallen into a crevasse, or possibly two separate crevasses, descended
to 12,300 feet, where they encountered another climbing party with cell
phones and made the call. Climbing ranger Glenn Kessler, already on a
climbing patrol with a volunteer member of Portland Mountain Rescue, began
investigating and interviewing climbers as he ascended the Disappointment
Cleaver until he reached the reporting party. Kessler and his rope team,
along with three guides from Rainier Mountaineering, Inc., spent a number
of hours searching above Disappointment Cleaver but found no evidence of an
injured or missing party. Rangers also searched from the Chinook helicopter
in two separate flying missions totaling over two hours over the upper
reaches of the Ingraham and Emmons glacier, but found no indications of an
accident. Rangers and RMI guides conducted two inventories of all of the
tents at Camp Muir, Ingraham Flats, Camp Schurmann, and Emmons Flats, and
all people associated with those tents were accounted for. Although
climbing and protection rangers interviewed the reporting party and found
them to be experienced, knowledgeable, mature, and apparently credible, the
search was suspended due to lack of any evidence of anyone missing or
injured. The investigation continues, and the search will be initiated
again should any important clues appear. Steve Winslow was IC. [Maria
Gillett, PIO, MORA, 7/15]

02-321 - Glen Canyon NRA (UT/AZ) - Drowning

C.T. of Clichy, France, went for a swim in the Chains area
around 6 p.m. on July 14th. When he failed to return to his tour group's
van by 7 p.m., he was reported missing. A hasty search of the lake and
shoreline was begun immediately, utilizing Coconino County SAR volunteers.
The search focused on the area near the point on the lake shore where
C.T.'s sandals were found. Divers were brought in the next morning and
found his body in 15 feet of water just out from the point where he was
last seen. C.T. had multiple prescription inhalers with him to treat a
respiratory condition, but it's not known at this time if his medical
problem was a contributing factor. IC was ranger Jared St. Clair; also
participating in the operation were Wahweap SDR Eric Scott and dive team
members Pat Horning, Chad Nelson, Mike Burnett, Rick Moore, Jim Gould and
Julie Yucker. [Cindy Ott-Jones, CR, GLCA, 7/16]

[Additional reports pending. . . . ]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Situation

Preparedness Level 5

Initial attack was moderate in the Northwest, Rockies and Great Basin on
Wednesday and light elsewhere. Five of the 240 newly reported fires became
project fires; another six large fires were contained.

An area command team (Mann) has been assigned to southeast Oregon to manage
the large fires there. Priorities for large fires in the Southwest, the
Rockies and the Great Basin are being established by the multi-agency
coordinating groups for those areas.

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in 18 states: Alaska,
Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska,
Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas,
Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

For a map showing the locations of current major fires , click on
http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/firemap.html ; for details on all major fires
currently burning, click on http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf or
http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html.

National Resource Commitments

                  Tue   Wed   Thu   Fri   Sat   Sun   Mon   Tue   Wed
Date              7/9   7/10  7/11  7/12  7/13  7/14  7/15  7/16  7/17

Crews             207   197   178   236   304   423   474   561   537
Engines           444   329   346   460   637   940   990   1,009 928
Helicopters       119   110   93    120   130   171   161   162   154
Air Tankers       4     1     0     6     2     11    8     2     4
Overhead          2,141 1,934 1,536 1,671 2,152 2,676 3,287 3,504 3,610
Area Commands     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     1
Type 1 IMT        3     3     1     2     4     6     7     7     9
Type 2 IMT        7     7     9     14    17    23    24    20    19
T1/T2 S/IMT *     -     -     -     -     -     5     5     6     7
Fire Use IMT            1     2     2     1     1     0     1     1     1

* Type 1 and Type 2 state incident management teams

National Fire Warnings and Watches

NICC has not issued any watches or warnings for today.

Park Fire Situation

Yellowstone NP (WY) - The park is dealing with a number of fires, but the
main one continues to be the Broad Fire, which has burned 9,000 acres and
is now 12% contained. Frye's Type 1 team has been assigned to the fire; 235
firefighters/overhead and six helicopters are committed.

An intense afternoon thunderstorm and rising humidity calmed the fire on
Tuesday, improving prospects for containment. A quarter inch of rain fell
at the incident command post at Fishing Bridge and similar amounts fell on
the fire itself. Crews made substantial progress in extending lines along
the southern flank of the fire. Another crew was dispatched to the southern
edge of the fire on Tuesday; crew members constructed line east towards
Joseph's Coat hot springs to tie in with completed line from the rim of the
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Other crews isolated and mopped-up spot
fires adjacent to the line. Another spike camp and helispot will be
established at Coffee Pot hot springs today. Crews based here will continue
mopping up to within 100 feet of the fire line. Bucket drops will be made
to keep the fire from spreading to the west across Yellowstone River
Canyon.

Some trails and backcountry campsites have been closed near the Broad Fire.
Although none of these areas are immediately threatened, the park closed
them due to unpredictable fire behavior and concerns over public safety.
The following areas have been closed: Specimen Ridge Trail, Agate Creek
Trail, Yellowstone River Picnic Area Trail, Astringent and Pelican Creek
Trails closed north of campsite 5B1, north of Fern Lake, and one mile north
of Fern Lake Cabin.  Seven Mile Hole Trail and Washburn Hotsprings/Spur
Trail closed from the summit of Mt. Washburn to the junction with Seven
Mile Hole Trail.

Due to the high fire danger, no wood, charcoal, or open fire is allowed in
any backcountry area in the park.  In the park's frontcountry, fires are
allowed only in designated fire rings at developed campgrounds.  Fires
fueled by liquid fuel and LPG fuel are permitted in the backcountry and
frontcountry only if used in self-contained appliances.

For a recorded message of updated fire information, call 307-344-2580.  For
fire maps and other fire information visit the park's web site at:
http://www.nps.gov/yell/technical/fire/index.htm

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 7/18; Public Affairs,
Yellowstone NP, 7/17]

                               *  *  *  *  *

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

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