INCIDENTS

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Yosemite National Park (CA)
Concessioner Bus Accident with Multiple Injuries

On the morning of Saturday, July 5th, a Wawona maintenance worker reported by radio that there was a bus accident near Washburn Point on the Glacier Point Road. A Yosemite Concessions Services bus carrying 25 passengers was going down the switchbacks towards Glacier Point when the brakes failed. The driver put the bus into low gear, but this was not effective at keeping the bus at a safe speed. She then tried to shift into park, but the transmission just made a grinding noise and the bus lost all engine power. The driver warned the passengers that she had lost control of the bus and couldn't keep it on the road. The bus then went off the road and hit a tree. Five passengers received minor injuries, including possible fractures of an ankle and an arm, two back injuries, and one facial laceration. All of the injured were transported by ambulance to the Yosemite Medical Clinic. Among the uninjured passengers were the park superintendent, Michael Tollefson, and his wife. The response included one fire engine, three ambulances, and five ranger patrol units.
[Submitted by Michael Brindeiro, IC, Wawona District]

Big Bend National Park (TX)
Structural Fire in Park Offices

A structural fire occurred in the Science and Resource Management Division offices of Big Bend at approximately 10:30 p.m. on July 9th. The fire was brought under control and confined to a single office due to the rapid reporting and response by park employees and the structural fire brigade. A fire investigator with the state fire marshal's office will be in the park today to conduct an investigation. Arson is not suspected at this time. The building was not occupied at the time of the fire. No injuries were reported as a result of firefighting efforts.
[Submitted by Mark Spier]

North Cascades National Park (WA)
Multiple Rescues Over Nine-Day Period

The park recorded five significant rescues during the nine day period ending last Friday:

• July 3rd: A Wilderness Ventures team was descending from a hike of Desolation Peak when A.B., 14, fell and received serious lacerations to one leg, rendering him unable to walk without assistance. Numerous employees from different divisions who work in this remote area of the Ross Lake Recreation Area assisted A.B. down the mountain to the shore of Ross Lake, where he was boated out by rangers.
• July 4th/5th: Hiker L.B., 58, of Naugatuck, Connecticut, mistakenly got off-trail while descending from Thornton Lakes. After failing to locate the trail, L.B. followed the adage of "find a creek and follow it downhill" to get out. This led L.B. to a series of rock gullies, waterfalls, and cliffs. After losing much of his gear while descending and ending up "cliffed-out," L.B. used a satellite phone to ask for help. Rangers were able to locate L.B. by helicopter. He was on a ledge next to a plunging waterfall, directing the helicopter to him via a live phone connection to dispatch. Since it was nearly dark, rangers delivered overnight gear to L.B. via long line. On the following morning, L.B. was hoisted from the ledge by a helicopter from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. He was uninjured, but spent the night awake, hanging on to the downsloping rock ledge.
• July 6th: A party of three climbers was descending the Banded Glacier route on Mount Logan when one member, M.C., 50, of Bellevue, Washington, fell 40 feet, entangled with a large rolling boulder. One member of the party hiked out to summon assistance while the remaining member of the group provided medical care, assisted by another party on the same route. After first light, rangers were flown to the scene and extracted M.C. from the gully site to a staging area at the base of the glacier. He was then transferred to a medical helicopter and flown to Harborview Hospital in Seattle, where he remains in recovery from cranial, orbital, and fractures to both legs.
• July 11th: J.R., 60, a guest at Ross Lake Resort, became disoriented while on a nearby trail and ended up lost. The resort and J.R.'s husband reported her missing to park rangers during the night. A search was conducted the next morning. Rangers found J.R., severely dehydrated, disoriented and stranded along broken cliffs near the base of Ross Dam. J.R. was secured, then lowered several hundred feet to the shore of Diablo Lake, where she was boated to a waiting ambulance. During this extraction, rangers were notified of a hiker sustaining a fall and multiple fractures on the Cascade Pass trail. Upon the conclusion of the technical lowering of J.R., rangers were flown to Cascade Pass to evacuate Ann Perkins of Los Angeles. Perkins was flown out of the park to an ambulance that took her to Skagit Valley Hospital.

[Submitted by Pete Cowan, Chief Ranger]

Glacier National Park
Rescue from Mt. Siyeh

Rangers rescued an injured climber from Mt. Siyeh last Thursday evening. L.G. of Mountlake Terrace, Washington, was scramble-climbing on the mountain with two other climbers when he was struck by a falling rock. After being hit, L.G. fell approximately ten feet. One of the climbers stayed with L.G. while the other went for help. Fifteen people and both Alert and Minuteman helicopters took part in the rescue. L.G. was airlifted off Mt. Siyeh by helicopter and transported to Kalispell Regional Medical Center. His condition was not known at the time of the report. With its peak at 10,014 feet, Mt. Siyeh is the fifth highest mountain in Glacier National Park. Though climbing in the park is legal, it is not a recommended or promoted park activity, due to the loose and unstable nature of the rock and, at times, ice and snow encountered on most climbing peaks and climbing routes.
[Submitted by Amy Vanderbilt, PIO]

Obed Wild & Scenic River (TN)
Fatality - Possible Drowning

On the afternoon of July 8th, the Morgan County 911 center notified the park of a possible drowning with CPR in progress and that county EMS and a deputy were in route to the Nemo day use area of the park. Park personnel responded to Nemo and found the victim being transported by ambulance. Witnesses said that T.A. of Oliver Springs, Tennessee, entered the Emory River to help a young girl and began struggling herself. A bystander jumped in and pulled the girl from the river. Two women swam from the opposite shore to pull T.A. from the water and began CPR after determining that she was not breathing and had no pulse. T.A. was taken to the Roane County Medical Center, then flown to the University of Tennessee Hospital in Knoxville, where she died.
[Submitted by Audie Critchley, Park Ranger]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

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National Interagency Fire Center
NIFC Situation Report - Tuesday, July 15, 2003

Preparedness Level 3

Initial attack was moderate in the Southwest on Monday and light elsewhere. A total of 219 new fires were reported, with nine becoming large fires. Another two large fires were contained.

Fire Danger

Day	7/10	7/11	7/12	7/13	7/14	7/15
Alaska	VX	VX	VX	--	VX	VX
Arizona	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
California	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Colorado	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Hawaii	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Idaho	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Michigan	--	VX	--	--	--	--
Montana	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Nevada	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
New Mexico	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Oklahoma	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Oregon	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Texas	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Utah	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Washington	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Wyoming	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX

VH — Very high
EX — Extreme
VX — Very high to extreme

Fire Weather Watches and Warnings

No watches or warnings have been posted for today.

National Resource Commitments

Day	7/9	7/10	7/11	7/12	7/13	7/14	7/15
Crews	495	246	278	279	253	273	293
Engines	491	358	398	369	394	425	457
Helicopters	142	81	84	91	93	102	101
Air Tankers	0	0	0	1	1	3	2
Overhead	1,648	2,142	2,416	1,834	2,457	2,615	2,598

National Team Commitments

New team commitments indicated in bold face.

State	Type Team	Team IC	Fire/Location	Acres	Percent Contain	Est Full Contain
AZ	T1	Oltrogge	Aspen Fire Coronado NF	84,750	95%	7/15
WA	T1	Lohrey	Fawn Peak/Sweet Grass Fire Okanogan/Wenatchee NF	12,750	10%	UNK
UT	T1	Hart	Farmington Fire Wasatch-Cache NF	1,395	70%	UNK
AZ	T1	Humphrey	Kinishba Fire Fort Apache Agency	3,800	0%	UNK
NM	T2	Raley	Encebado Fire Taos Northern Pueblo	5,401	70%	7/16
WA	T2	Johnson	Rattlesnake Canyon Colville Agency	10,600	100%	CND
CO	T2	Blume	Brush Mountain Fire Grand Junction County	4,295	45%	7/17
UT	T2	Brunner	Bulldog Fire Richfield FO, BLM	28,382	10%	7/20
CO	T2	Blume	Brush Mountain Fire Mesa County	4,295	45%	7/17
WY	T2	Broyles	East Table Fire Bridger-Teton NF	2,540	10%	7/20
ID	T2	Kechter	Blackwall Fire Salmon-Challis NF	450	0%	UNK
ID	T2	Van Bruggen	Tobias Fire Salmon-Challis NF	13,000	0%	UNK
OR	T2	Gardner	Clark Fire Willamette NF	800	0%	UNK
OR	ST	Keith	Jenkins Cabin Fire State Lands	800	75%	7/16
WA	ST	Bernt/ Andring	Middle Fork Fire State Lands	1,900	30%	UNK
MT	T2	Swope	Jimtown Fire Helena NF	600	0%	UNK
NM	FUM	Rath	Dry Lake Complex Gila NF	90,000	N/A	N/A
NM	FUM	Rath	Turnbo Fire Gila NF	2,527	20%	UNK
CO	FUM	Clark	Bear Creek Fire San Juan NF	1,864	N/A	N/A

San Juan National Historic Site (PR)
Young Hill Prescribed Fire

San Juan Island National Historical Park successfully conducted its first-ever prescribed burn on July 1. Firefighters burned 25 acres of Garry oak woodland on Young Hill in the park's English Camp unit. By re-introducing fire into the open woodland, the park plans to rejuvenate the oak stand and restore native understory vegetation. This habitat type is becoming rare in lowland Puget Sound because of invasion by Douglas-fir. It is home to a number of declining species. Evidence suggests that in earlier times Native Americans burned local grasslands to favor camas and bracken fern for food. Fire staff from Olympic National Park conducted the 4½-hour burn with assistance from park and North Cascades National Park fire fighters. Other fire fighters were from the San Juan County fire department, Washington State Parks and Washington Department of Natural Resources. SCA volunteers gave fire information to the public. North Cascades National Park resource management staff established fire effects plots and will assist the park in monitoring post-burn vegetation response. Additional burns are planned to help restore and maintain Garry oak woodland at English Camp and native prairie at American Camp.
[Submitted by Bill Gleason, Chief Ranger]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

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Horseshoe Bend National Military Park (AL)
GS-5/7/9 Protection Ranger

The park is recruiting for a person ready to take on the full range of duties of a traditional ranger position. The person selected will be conducting both frontcountry and backcountry law enforcement, poaching patrols, wildland and prescribed fire, search and rescue (river and land), emergency medical and natural resources management. The park is doubling the size of its protection/resource management staff and the person in this position will work with the new GS-11 chief ranger (to be announced soon). If you are interested in a great job in a wonderful park with the opportunity to further develop all facets of the ranger profession, take a look at the announcement (SESO-03-90 at www.usajobs.opm.gov) or contact the park at 256-234-7111. The announcement closes on July 21st.
[Submitted by Mark Lewis, Superintendent]

Submission standards for the Morning Report can be found on the left side of the front page of InsideNPS. All reports should be submitted via email to Bill Halainen at Delaware Water Gap NRA, with a copy to your regional office and a copy to Dennis Burnett in Division of Law Enforcement and Emergency Services, WASO.

Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement and Emergency Services, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.