NPS Morning Report - Wednesday, July 24, 2002


                       NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Wednesday, July 24, 2002

INCIDENTS

02-323 - Obed W&SR (TN) - Follow-up: Oil Spill and Fire

The oil well that caught fire on July 20th continues to burn. The well
is about 200 yards from the park boundary. EPA is the lead agency at the
site; Boots and Coots Company is responsible for extinguishing the fire
and recapping the well. Personnel are clearing debris from around the
well today in order to begin construction on a million-gallon holding
pond. The fire will be knocked down using water curtains, and the
holding pond is necessary to assure that no oil- water mix leaks out
into the watershed. It will take several days to construct the pond. The
10-acre wildfire is contained, but has not yet been declared out. [Ken
Garvin, FMO, SERO, 7/23]

03-330 - Grand Teton NP (WY) - Aircraft Accident with Fatality

On July 1st, D.R., 47, was flying his V-tail glider airplane near
the top of the Grand Teton when the aircraft wing struck the east side
of the mountain approximately 100 feet below the summit, causing the
plane to crash on the North Face. The glider was traveling east to west
into a 40 mile per hour wind when the accident occurred. At
approximately 5:15 p.m., the park received a report of a possible glider
accident via cell phone. The park's contract helicopter was dispatched,
but rangers were unable to locate the wreckage by the end of daylight
flying hours. The search resumed on the morning of July 2nd and rangers
were then able to locate debris from the crash, which was scattered on
the 2,200-foot-high north face of the Grand Teton. The body was later
spotted near the base of a large buttress call the Grandstand. Due to
its precarious location, a thorough risk analysis was completed to
ensure safe access for both the helicopter and rescue personnel. A team
of five rangers was flown to Teton Glacier. They traversed very
difficult terrain, including a wide bergshrund (a large crack formed by
the glacier moving downhill away form the rock) and massive chimney
systems that funneled 2,000 feet of notoriously loose rock from the
upper face. It took all day to successfully recover the body. It was
flown off the mountain on the morning of July 3rd. [Bill Holda, Acting
CR, GRTE, 7/23]

03-331 - Lake Mead NRA (NV/AZ) - Drowning

On the morning of July 23rd, rangers and special agents responded to a
report of a man under water for fifteen minutes near the Las Vegas Bay
Marina. On-scene rangers met with the reporting party, who told them
that he and his friends had left the marina and were heading toward
Sandy Cove when the victim asked to stop the vessel so that he could
swim. Shortly after going into the water, he appeared to be having
problems. A second swimmer entered the water to help; a struggle ensued
and the victim went under. The second swimmer was pulled back onto the
vessel.  Neither the victim nor the rescuer had life jackets on. This is
the 13th fatality for the park this year and the third drowning within
the week. Recovery efforts, including a search with contract side scan
sonar, are underway for all three victims. [Mary Hinson, Boulder Basin
DR, LAME, 7/23]

[Additional reports pending. . . . ]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Situation

Preparedness Level 5

Initial attack was heavy yesterday in the eastern Great Basin and
Northwest, moderate in northern California and the Rockies, and light
elsewhere. Nationally, 433 new fires were reported. Eight of these
became large fires - four in the Northwest, two in the eastern Great
Basin Area and two in Alaska. Four large fires were contained.

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

Priorities for large fires in the Northwest, Southwest, the Rockies and
the Great Basin are being established by the multi-agency coordinating
groups for those areas.

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

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
Date            7/16    7/17    7/18    7/19    7/20    7/21    7/22    7/23
                
Crews           561     537     500     #       516     520     568     646
Engines         1,009   928     1,030   #       1,006   1,013   1,175   1,057
Helicopters     162     154     147     #       144     147     153     175
Air Tankers     2       4       2       #       5       7       13      13
Overhead        3,504   3,610   3,951   #       4,104   4,830   4,391   4,320
Area Commands   0       1       2       #       2       2       2       3
Type 1 IMT      7       9       10      #       10      11      10      11
Type 2 IMT      20      19      16      #       15      14      12      14
T1/T2 S/IMT *   6       7       7       #       4       4       4       4
Fire Use IMT    1       1       2       #       1       1       1       1

* Type 1 and Type 2 state incident management teams
# Information not available

National Fire Warnings and Watches

NIFC has not issued any watches or warnings for today.

Park Fire Situation

Sequoia NP - The 48,000-acre MacNelly Fire is burning in Sequoia
National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument (administered by
USFS) about 35 miles south of the park. IMPORTANT NOTE: There has been
considerable confusion in the media and public about the differences
between the similarly named national park, national forest and national
monument. The fire has not affected the park, which is fully open.

Rocky Mountain NP - The Big Elk Fire continues to burn southwest of the
park, but fire activity yesterday was minimal due to high humidity and
sustained cloud cover. There's been no growth in size, only creeping and
smoldering in heavy fuels. The evacuation for Little Valley subdivision
has been lifted. Structure protection remains in place for Big Elk
Meadows and homes along Highway 36. Demobilization of resources has
begun.

Mesa Verde NP - Numerous lightning strokes hit the park on Monday
afternoon. The storm also dropped about a half inch of rain on Chapin
Mesa. Firefighters responded to four starts, all single-tree fires.
Three were contained/controlled; the fourth was being monitored. Fire
behavior consisted of smoldering and creeping due to rain that fell with
the storm. The storm grounded the park helicopter due to lightning and
high winds, thereby barring efforts to locate and staff of two reported
fires. As of yesterday morning, they had not been located, but smokes
were reported in the park.

Bryce Canyon NP - Firefighters responded to a single-tree,
lightning-caused juniper fire on park lands at 2 p.m. on the afternoon
of July 20th. The fire was declared out by 8:30 p.m. The fire burned
about a tenth of an acre.

Yellowstone NP (WY) - The Broad Fire has burned 9,000 acres (no change
from yesterday) and is 65% contained. Frye's Type 1 team is managing the
fire; 341 firefighters and overhead are committed. Only minimal activity
was reported yesterday. Crews are continuing to construct direct attack
lines and mopping up. Because of some trail closures, visitors planning
to day hike or stay overnight in the backcountry are encouraged to call
the Backcountry Office at 307- 344-2160 for specific trail and campsite
closure information and other possible restrictions. 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, 7/24; Public Affairs,
Yellowstone NP, 7/23; Scott Sticha, ROMO, 7/23; Ross Wilmore, BRCA,
7/23; Fulton Jeansonne, MEVE, 7/23]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Petrified Forest NP (AZ) - The park has a vacancy announcement out on
USA Jobs for two protection positions (PEFO-02-09). Full performance
level is GS-9. The closing date is August 16th. The persons selected
will focus on field patrol of park resource areas, with main job duties
of LE, EMS, and structural fire. Protection staff also works closely
with resources management on a variety of research and monitoring
projects. If you would like to discuss the position, please contact
Ferral Knight in personnel at 928-524-6228, ext. 243, or Greg Caffey,
supervisor, at 928-524-6822. [Greg Caffey, PEFO]

*  *  *  *  *

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

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