NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:           All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:         Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:     Thursday, August 15, 2002

*** NOTICE ***

Director Mainella has authorized the lowering of all flags to half-staff
at parks and NPS offices across the nation in memory of Park Police
officer Hakim Farthing and NPS ranger Kris Eggle. Uniformed employees
are authorized to wear black bands on their badges; non-uniformed
employees may wear appropriate black mourning devices.

Flags are to be returned to full staff on Sunday, August 18th. The
wearing of mourning devices on badges and civilian clothes is to be
suspended on Sunday as well.

Please see "Memorandum" below for two related messages - one from
Director Mainella to all employees and one from the Ernesto Enkerlin
Hoeflich, president of Mexico's National Commission of Protected Natural
Areas.

INCIDENTS

02-370 - Organ Pipe Cactus NM (AZ) - Follow-up: Ranger Shot and Killed

Arrangements are nearly complete for the funeral for Kris Eggle, which
will be held in Cadillac, Michigan. A public viewing will be held at
Peterson Funeral Home (205 East Cass Street, Cadillac, MI 49601;
231-775-3411) from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday.
The funeral will be on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Cadillac High School at the
corner of Linden and West Haynes Streets. Following the funeral, there
will be a procession to Maple Hill Cemetery which will include law
enforcement vehicles from the NPS and other agencies. The incident
management team coordinating the funeral activities has asked that as
many attending NPS employees as possible come in marked vehicles (i.e.,
if more than one of you is coming, please bring individual vehicles in
order to increase the NPS presence). The interment will be open to the
public. NPS employees who choose to attend should wear Class A summer
uniforms. A phone number for further information is not yet available,
but will be provided ASAP. Intermountain Region has established an
internal web site to commemorate Kris Eggle. You can offer your thoughts
and condolences on this web site and view the thoughts of others about
Kris. The content of the web site will be given to Kris' parents after
people have had a chance to contribute to it. The web site address is: 
http://im.den.nps.gov/commemorate.cfm. [Rick Jones, PIO, IMT; Linda
Griffin, IO, IMRO]

02-371 - Baltimore-Washington Parkway (MD) - Follow-up: Park Police
Officer Killed

Funeral arrangements have been completed and announced for Park Police
officer Hakim Farthing, who was killed in the line of duty on Saturday,
August 10th. A viewing will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday at
Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, Virginia (6911 Braddock Road,
Springfield, VA 22151). The memorial service will be at the same church
at 10 a.m. on Friday, with a police procession to follow immediately.
Law enforcement and public service agencies sending representatives have
been asked to report at 9 a.m. on the Braddock Road side of the church
on Friday. The procession will begin after the memorial service and will
follow a route through northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., before
returning to Springfield. A reception will be held at Immanuel Bible
Church immediately following this procession. There will be a second
funeral procession to Philadelphia on Saturday. It will depart from the
Demaine Funeral Home (5308 Backlick Road, Springfield, Virginia) at 7
a.m. that morning. Law enforcement and public service agencies are asked
to report at 6:30 a.m. at Word of Life Church at the intersection of
Edsall Road and Backlick Road. The procession to Philadelphia will be
followed by a viewing at White Rock Baptist Church (53rd and Chestnut
Street, West Philadelphia) from 10 a.m. to noon and a service at noon.
The interment will immediately follow the service and will take place at
Ivy Hill Cemetery. Lodging has been reserved for those coming to
Washington for the funeral at the Quality Inn at I-395 and Duke Street
West in Alexandria, Virginia. Call either 703-642-3422 or 1-877-782-1981
and ask for United States Park Police rooms. For additional information,
call the Park Police Command Center at 202-619-7161 from 7 a.m. to 7
p.m. After hours calls should be directed to 202-619-7105. Information
or questions regarding honor guard details, the memorial fund, or escort
bagpipes and drummers should be directed to Chris Jackson at
304-728-0228. Note: The uniform of the day for rangers is the summer
uniform - flat hat, summer shirt, no tie. [Scott Fear, PIO, USPP]

[Additional reports pending. . . . .]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Situation

Preparedness Level 4

Initial attack was light nationwide yesterday. Eight of the 224
newly-reported fires became large fires; another two large fires were
contained.

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in the following states:

*     Continued from yesterday - Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho,
Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota,
Utah, Washington and Wyoming. 
*     Added today - Massachusetts.
*     Removed today - Georgia, Rhode Island.

National Resource Commitments

                   Wed     Thu     Fri     Sat     Sun     Mon     Tue     Wed
Date               8/7     8/8     8/9     8/10    8/11    8/12    8/13    8/14
                    
Crews              548     566     564     561     518     503     481     502
Engines            906     865     876     820     734     754     635     614
Helicopters        160     158     164     160     152     140     135     140
Air Tankers        4       4       3       2       3       7       4       11
Overhead           4,385   3,989   3,741   3,667   3,429   3,707   3,762   3,505
Area Commands      2       2       1       1       1       1       1       1
Type 1 IMT         5       5       5       4       5       5       5       5
Type 2 IMT         5       5       5       5       5       5       5       9
T1/T2 S/IMT *      2       2       2       2       1       0       0       1
Fire Use IMT       0       0       0       0       0       0       0       2

* 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 Wupatki NM (AZ) - The Antelope Fire, a wind-drive grass fire,
has burned 1,400 acres and is 60% contained. Engine crews are patrolling
and cold-trailing. Redwood N&SP (CA) - The Biscuit Fire Zone 2  (28,680
acres, 90% containment) remains on the northeast side of the North Fork
of the Smith River. Roads and services are still open in the park
although fire restrictions are in place in the backcountry along with a
ban on smoking except in developed areas due to extreme fire danger.

Glacier NP (MT) - The Huckleberry Fire (a quarter acre) was actively
suppressed, is now listed as contained, and will be monitored. It
started from a lightning strike on a tree on/about July 27th and
remained inactive until Monday, August 12th. The park is also managing
five fires as wildland fire use fires.

Yellowstone NP (WY) - The Phlox Fire (80 acres) is currently staffed
with four fire use monitors and four fire effects monitors. A spike camp
has been established south of the fire on Two Ocean Plateau. The Broad
Fire (9,140 acres, 95% containment) showed no activity on Tuesday.

Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP's (CA) - The Slide Fire is still active and is
being managed along with two other fires as wildland fire use fires
(Slide, Moraine, and Fallen Moon). The Slide Fire (5 acres) has been
active on the west side of Slide Creek, the Moraine Fire (a quarter
acre) has shown activity along the Sphinx Crest, and the Fallen Moon
Fire (a tenth of an acre) has not shown any growth. The McNalley Fire
(133,154 acres, 75% contained) is on the Sequoia NF. For more
information on McNally: www.r5.fs.fed.us/sequoia/incident/mcnalley.html

Yosemite NP (CA) - The Wolf Complex - the Wolf Fire (200 acres), Lukens
Fire (4 acres), and Morrison Fire (22 acres) - is being managed as a
wildland fire use complex. Smoke from the fire is visible from Tioga
Road. The fire is burning in sparse fuels (lodgepole pine and red firs).
A field crew is thinning the fuels around the historic lodge at White
Wolf. Several additional fires are also being managed as wildland fire
use fires: The Wilmer Fire (3 acres) is burning a mile and a half east
of Wilma Lake and the Virginia Fire (3 acres) is burning two miles west
of McCabe Lake. Fire activity is low at this time. Four more fires, each
under two acres, are located near Nancy Peak, Rancheria Mountain,
Tuolumne Peak, and Lower Merced Pass Lake. These fires are showing
little activity and are being monitored

Additional Information

For additional information on all fires, check the following web sites:

*     Map of fire locations - http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/firemap.html 
*     Details on all current major fires - http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf 
*     Fire news and fire year in perspective - http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html. 

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report; Judy Chetwin, Fire Information Desk, NIFC]

MEMORANDUM

Memorandum: "Death of Park Ranger Kris Eggle & U.S. Park Police Office
Hakim Farthing," signed by Director Mainella and sent to all National
Park Service and United States Park Police employees:

"The recent deaths of two of our finest has been a devastating tragedy,
first and foremost, for the family and friends of Ranger Eggle and
Officer Farthing.  It has also been an immense loss for the National
Park Service and U.S. Park Police families.  We share in the grief and
outrage at the senseless deaths of such fine men.  I have sent a
personal message to the families of each man to express my deepest
sympathy on behalf of the National Park Service.

"Park Ranger Eggle was killed on the afternoon of August 9th as he
assisted Mexican police and U.S. Border Patrol officers in a search for
two armed suspects along the United States border with Mexico.  U.S.
Park Police Officer Farthing was struck and killed by a vehicle in the
early morning hours of August 10th while maintaining a road closure on
the Baltimore Washington Parkway as a result of a previous fatal motor
vehicle accident that occurred on Route 50.

"Kris exemplified all that a park ranger should be, his colleagues all
agree that he was an exceptional ranger.  He has been described as
extremely professional, possessing outstanding abilities as a ranger and
a having a very positive outlook.  He graduated first in his class in
FLETC and received the Director's Award.  Hakim has been remembered by
his fellow officers as a rising star.  He had a reputation for
dedication, self-discipline and attention to detail.  A highly skilled
officer, I am told he never complained about anything and had a
wonderful sense of humor; his laughter was infectious to his colleagues.
He was respected by all for his ability to effectively interact and
communicate with everyone.  He had been an officer with the United
States Park Police for the past two years and previously an NPS employee
with the National Capital Region.  Both men made the ultimate sacrifice
and they will be missed by family and friends and by all of us.

"Randy Jones, Deputy Director, Karen Wade, Regional Director and I
joined hundreds of other NPS employees and friends in attending a
memorial service for Kris on Monday, August 12th at the Ajo Cavalry
Baptist Church in Ajo, Arizona.  A separate family memorial service and
interment will take place in Michigan within the next few days. 
Condolences can be sent to his parents.

"A memorial service for Officer Farthing has been planned for Friday,
August 16th at 10:00 a.m., at Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, VA. 
The service will be followed by a police procession from the church
through Washington, D.C. and back to the church.  The procession will
pass east along Constitution Avenue near the Interior Department
building.  I encourage all of you to take the time to pay respect to
Officer Farthing and view the police procession.  On Saturday, August
17th, a funeral procession of police officers, colleagues and friends
will escort Hakim's body to Philadelphia, PA for a memorial service at
White Rock Baptist Church and interment at Ivy Hill Cemetery.  Many
Washington NPS employees and I will be attending the service on Friday. 
Condolences can be sent to his parents.

"I hope each of you will join me in offering your thoughts and prayers
at this most difficult time to the family, friends, and colleagues of
Park Ranger Kris Eggle and United Sates Park Police Office Hakim
Farthing. They deserve our utmost respect and gratitude, as they were
truly two of the best to wear a badge and uniform with such great pride,
extraordinary dedication and boundless commitment."

*****

Letter from Ernesto Enkerlin Hoeflich, President, National Commission of
Protected Natural Areas, Secretariat of the Environment and Natural
Resources, Mexico, to Director Mainella and the National Park Service
community:

"On behalf of all the personnel of the National Commission of Protected
Natural Areas, I wish to express our great sadness over the highly
regrettable death of Park Ranger Kris Eggle, which occurred while he was
fulfilling his duty at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument August 9.

"I would also like to request that you please extend our condolences to
Ranger Eggle's family, and to the Superintendent of Organ Pipe Cactus
National Monument, Bill Wellman, for this irreparable loss of someone
who dedicated himself to safeguarding the natural heritage of a
protected area, the task to which all of us are committed."

*  *  *  *  *

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

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