NPS Morning Report - Friday, July 19, 2002


                           NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                              MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Friday, July 19, 2002

INCIDENTS

02-322 - Great Basin NP (NV) - Recovery of Stolen Plaque

A bronze plaque commemorating Stephen Mather, the Service's first director,
was stolen from the park in August, 1995. The plaque, which weighs about 80
pounds, was spotted in the yard of a surplus dealer in Reno this May by an
alert Forest Service law enforcement officer, who promptly notified the
NPS. The subsequent investigation revealed that the surplus company may
have acquired the plaque inadvertently from a military surplus depot.
Agents recovered the plaque, which will be returned to the park. It was
originally purchased for $1,800. There are no suspects in the case and no
charges have been filed. [Eric Inman, SA, PWRO, 7/18]

[Additional reports pending. . . . ]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Situation

Preparedness Level 5

Initial attack was moderate on Thursday in the Northwest, Great Basin,
northern California and Southwest and list elsewhere. Only one of the 307
newly-reported fires became a project fire; three other large fires were
contained.

A Hawkins and Powers Aviation BY4Y2 air tanker on contract to the Forest
Service crashed yesterday while working the Big Elk Fire near Estes Park,
Colorado. The two crew members aboard were killed.

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.

Two area command teams are in the field - Mann's team has been assigned to
southeast Oregon to manage the large fires there, and the Williams-Rhodes
team is assigned to management of large fires on the Malheur and Ochoco
National Forests in Oregon.

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

                  Wed   Thu   Fri   Sat   Sun   Mon   Tue   Wed   Thu
Date              7/10  7/11  7/12  7/13  7/14  7/15  7/16  7/17  7/18

Crews             197   178   236   304   423   474   561   537   500
Engines           329   346   460   637   940   990   1,009 928   1,030
Helicopters       110   93    120   130   171   161   162   154   147
Air Tankers       1     0     6     2     11    8     2     4     2
Overhead          1,934 1,536 1,671 2,152 2,676 3,287 3,504 3,610 3,951
Area Commands     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     1     2
Type 1 IMT        3     1     2     4     6     7     7     9     10
Type 2 IMT        7     9     14    17    23    24    20    19    16
T1/T2 S/IMT *     -     -     -     -     5     5     6     7     7
Fire Use IMT            2     2     1     1     0     1     1     1     2

* 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

Santa Monica Mountains NRA (CA) - On July 15th, the park issued a ban on
campfires and other open flames on federal land within the park. The
prohibition mirrors a similar order issued by Governor Gray Davis for state
lands in California, including the several state parks inside the NRA's
boundary. Future restrictions on charcoal and propane fires and other
similar actions are possible during periods when red flag warnings are
posted. Like much of the West, southern California is experiencing drought
conditions, with the Los Angeles area receiving less than five inches of a
fourteen inch average annual rainfall. The last significant rain was in
April, and no further precipitation is likely until winter rains bring the
fire season to an end.

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 20% contained. Frye's Type 1 team has been assigned to the fire; 346
firefighters/overhead (including nine crews), one engine, and six
helicopters are committed. The fire was much less active yesterday due to
precipitation and increased relative humidity. Crews are constructing
direct attack lines on the east flank. Type 1 helitankers are being
utilized on the west flank, holding the fire on the east side of the
Yellowstone River.

Due to the recent rain, fire restrictions that were put into place on July
12th have been lifted. Smoking and campfire restrictions have been lifted
for both frontcountry and backcountry areas. Open fires are now permitted
in established fire rings at backcountry campsites that permit wood fires;
in the frontcountry, fires are allowed in developed campgrounds and picnic
areas, but in designated fire rings only.

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, 7/19; Public Affairs,
Yellowstone NP, 7/18; Marty O'Toole, FIO, SAMO, 7/18]

                               *  *  *  *  *

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

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