NPS Morning Report - Thursday, July 25, 2002
- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Thursday, July 25, 2002
- Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2002 10:05:48 -0400
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Thursday, July 25, 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. According to the Knoxville News,
the park has closed a six-mile stretch of Clear Creek because of the oil
spill and well fire. The closure was precautionary. Containment and cleanup
efforts on Tuesday focused on the area around Barnett Bridge, where most of
the spilled oil has been harnessed by absorbent booms and pads. Contractors
have been brought in to siphon off the oil. The well fire continues to burn
actively, but the flame has been going down somewhat as the oil burns off.
For additional information, including a photo of the fire and a URL to the
relevant newspaper article, see the front page of today's InsideNPS. [Ken
Garvin, FMO, SERO, 7/24]
02-332 - Zion NP (UT) - Rescue
On Tuesday, July 23rd, rangers conducted a demanding technical rescue of an
injured hiker from Russell Gulch near the upper starting point for the
popular Left Fork of North Creek, also known as the Subway. G.B.,
19, of Perry, Utah, fell approximately 30 feet while hiking with
his parents and three friends and sustained a fracture to his lower right
leg. The Washington County Sheriff's Office received a cell phone call at
approximately 7:15 p.m. on Monday from G.B.'s father, who informed them
that his son had fallen and injured himself in the area of Russell Gulch.
The accident occurred at around 3 p.m., but very poor cell phone coverage
in the area made it necessary for G.B.'s father and three companions to
hike out to the Kolob Terrace Road to make the call. G.B.'s mother
stayed with him. Park dispatch was then contacted and rangers immediately
organized a search and rescue team and hiked into the area. G.B. was
located at approximately 9:30 p.m. A park medic assessed his condition and
provided emergency treatment. Because of darkness, the technical nature of
the planned extraction route, and the fact that it was not an immediate,
life-threatening injury, rangers decided to wait until morning to make the
rescue safer for all involved. They stayed with G.B. throughout the
night, then began rescue operations around 6 a.m. the following morning.
G.B. was secured to a litter and raised to the canyon rim via a 400-foot
guiding line. From there, he was carried a quarter mile to a spot where a
helicopter could transport him to the Kolob Terrace Road. A fire
department ambulance from Hurricane then transported G.B. to a hospital
in St. George. [David Eaker, ZION, 7/23]
[Additional reports pending. . . . ]
FIRE MANAGEMENT
National Fire Situation
Preparedness Level 5
Initial attack was heavy yesterday in the Northwest, moderate in the
eastern Great Basin and northern Rockies, and light elsewhere. Nationally,
315 new fires were reported. Six of these became large fires, two in the
Northwest and one each in the eastern Great Basin, northern Rockies,
northern California and the western Great Basin. Seven large fires were
contained.
Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in 16 states - Alaska,
Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska,
Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, 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 Wed
Date 7/16 7/17 7/18 7/19 7/20 7/21 7/22 7/23 7/24
Crews 561 537 500 # 516 520 568 646 674
Engines 1,009 928 1,030 # 1,006 1,013 1,175 1,057 1,078
Helicopters 162 154 147 # 144 147 153 175 197
Air Tankers 2 4 2 # 5 7 13 13 15
Overhead 3,504 3,610 3,951 # 4,104 4,830 4,391 4,320 4,887
Area Commands 0 1 2 # 2 2 2 3 3
Type 1 IMT 7 9 10 # 10 11 10 11 10
Type 2 IMT 20 19 16 # 15 14 12 14 15
T1/T2 S/IMT * 6 7 7 # 4 4 4 4 3
Fire Use IMT 1 1 2 # 1 1 1 1 1
* Type 1 and Type 2 state incident management teams
# Information not available
National Fire Warnings and Watches
NIFC has issued a FIRE WEATHER WATCH for dry lightning for southeast Oregon
and southwest Idaho.
Park Fire Situation
Sequoia NP - The 48,000-acre MacNelly Fire was 10 to 12 miles south of the
park's south boundary as of midday on Wednesday. There were no concerns at
the time about it reaching the park, as the area between the fire and the
park is sparsely vegetated. The primary concern is the unpredictable nature
of the fire, which is being pushed north in the Kern River drainage by
strong and erratic winds. The only impact that the fire is currently having
on the park is some smoke and ash in the backcountry.
Yellowstone NP - Frye's Type 1 team continues to manage the Broad Fire,
which remained at 9,000 acres yesterday. The weather was again favorable
for firefighting efforts. Fire activity was limited to smoldering, creeping
and isolated interior torching. Crews are patrolling and mopping up. Four
new lightning-caused fires were reported in the park on Tuesday. The Moose
Fire is located north of Moose Falls near Lewis River. An initial attack
team (including eight smokejumpers), along with helicopter support, was
able to get a line around this one-acre fire on Tuesday. The team is
continuing to strengthen lines with helicopter support. The Jones Fire
(less that one-tenth acre) is located east of Turbid Lake. An initial
attack team was able to contain this fire and it is now in patrol status.
Water bucket drops were done on the Red Fire, located near Mt. Sheridan in
the southern part of the park. Fire crew and helicopter support l continued
yesterday. This fire is less than one-tenth acre. The Howard Fire,
discovered late in the day on July 23rd, is located on the east side of Mt.
Washburn and is less than one-tenth acre. An initial attack team, along
with helicopter support, is suppressing the fire.
Dinosaur NM - The Harding Fire was started by lightning on the afternoon of
July 23rd. It's a single tree fire and has shown no activity since the
initial burnout. The fire will be monitored by Roundtop Lookout and managed
under a confinement strategy.
Yosemite NP - The park reports two new wildland fire use fires. The Cloud
Rest Fire is a single-tree fire at 9,900 feet. The quarter-acre Table Fire
is on top of Table Mountain.
[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 7/25; Public Affairs,
Yellowstone NP, 7/24; Jerry Carter, SEKI, 7/24; Bruce Fields, DINO, 7/23]
PARKS AND PEOPLE
Organ Pipe Cactus NM (AZ) - The park has a vacancy announcement out on USA
Jobs for one or two GS-11 supervisory park ranger positions (SOAR-02-39
MP). The closing date is August 12th. The persons selected will supervise a
growing staff of resource-based rangers who focus on drug interdiction
along with traditional ranger operations. Protection works closely with
all park divisions, especially research and monitoring projects. The person
in one of the positions will also serve as the park's safety officer. If
you are interested and have questions, contact Dale Thompson at
520-387-7661 ext. 7201. [Dale Thompson, ORPI]
* * * * *
Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation
and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.
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