East Coast Areas
Hurricane Isabel Slams Virginia, Carolina Parks
Hurricane Isabel caused moderate to extensive damage in many parks within Southeast, National Capital and Northeast Regions. As of yesterday, 36 parks had reported damage sufficient to require the preparation of conditions assessments. Although most of these parks are not requesting any additional assistance, several have sustained damage sufficient to warrant oversight of recovery efforts by incident management teams:
- JD Swed's Type 1 team will move from its staging location in Charlotte, North Carolina, and relocate to Williamsburg, Virginia, late today and early tomorrow to manage recovery efforts at Colonial NHP, Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania NMP, Richmond NB and Petersburg NB. They will indirectly oversee Rick Brown's Type 2 team and Shenandoah's Type 3 team, but those teams will do their own ordering, IAPs, and 209s. Each team will participate as needed in joint briefings, and will coordinate the ordering of critical resources (such as aircraft, saw teams, falling bosses, equipment operators and radios) through the Type 1 team. IC JD Swed and planning section chief Dave Lattimore flew to most of the sites requesting team assistance on Sunday and met with park superintendents and other staff. The team will also provide some assistance to three downtown parks in National Capital Region.
- Rick Brown's Type 2 team has been ordered to assist Cape Hatteras NS and Cape Lookout NS in recovery efforts. They should arrive on site Sunday and will work under the delegation of authority issued to the Type 1 team by Director Mainella.
- Shenandoah National Park's recovery efforts are being managed by a Type 3 incident management team working under the Type 1 team's delegation of authority. Clay Jordan, the park's acting chief ranger, is the incident commander.
These teams will be seeking substantial assistance in their efforts to recover from the hurricane. Resource orders are being processed and parks should expect to be asked to commit personnel to these operations. One of the resources being ordered is a team of Facility Management Software System (FMSS) specialists, who will work under the direction of Type 1 team deputy IC Dennis McGinnis to input and compile information on hurricane-related facilities damage. This system, now being used by all parks, should provide the most accurate costs of funding required for hurricane repair.
Aerial assessments of the Virginia parks will be completed on Monday. Orders for about 90 resource orders are being lined up for processing as soon as the Type 1 team gets sorted out in its new location. Among the specialists to be ordered are Type 1 saw crews, electricians, carpenters and HVAC mechanics; equipment includes dump trucks and front end loaders.
At present, there are 28 people assigned to the incident.
Here's a rundown on the affected parks (south to north), excluding those that reported negligible impacts:
- Moores Creek NB — The park suffered little damage. A few small trees and numerous limbs fell, but no facilities were damaged. Rainfall was moderate. All employees and their residences are okay. The park is open.
- Cape Lookout NS — The center of the eye of Hurricane Isabel passed over Drum Inlet, which separates South and Core Banks within the park, on Thursday. The park's incident management staff returned to Cateret County on Friday to begin assessing damage. There was extensive overwash from the lighthouse to Ocracoke Inlet and serious damage to visitor facilities and historic sites. Most docks in the park are unusable. Concession lodging and vehicle ferry facilities were extensively damaged, making them unusable. As noted above, Rick Brown's Type 2 IMT will be providing assistance. The park has also requested additional law enforcement rangers to enforce park closures, as visitors have been attempting to enter areas.
- Cape Hatteras NS — The hurricane caused extensive flooding on the Albermarle/Pamlico Sound side of the park. Highway 158 was flooded to a depth of four to five feet from Kitty Hawk to Kill Devil Hills; a significant section of Highway 12 washed out between the villages of Hatteras and Frisco. Aerial photographs reveal three new inlets between Hatteras and Frisco, one of which is deep with constant water flow. Sixty-eight power poles were swept away by storm surge on the northeast end of the island; generators are providing some power to the park. The mainland of Dare County, Roanoke Island, the towns of Duck and Southern Shores, and the Outer Banks in Currituck County were open to unrestricted access as of yesterday. The towns of Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk are open to residents, property owners, and employees of local businesses. South Nags Head remains inaccessible. On Hatteras Island, only the residents of Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo, Avon, Buxton and Frisco are being allowed access. Hatteras Village is inaccessible except by boat; only residents and essential personnel are being allowed boat access. For a map of the park, go to http://www.nps.gov/caha/map.htm. Rick Brown's Type 2 team arrived in the park on Sunday and will transition with the park's IMT.
- Colonial NHP — The storm left six feet of water in the Jamestown Visitor Center and knocked hundreds — if not thousands — of trees down. The parkway is closed and power and phones are out throughout the area. Sewage systems are out and some water is contaminated.
- Petersburg NB — Major tree damage occurred, and downed trees are blocking roads throughout the park. Some are entangled in power lines. Power is out.
- Richmond NB — The hurricane caused serious tree damage throughout the park. Many roads are blocked. Power lines are down, and there was no electricity as of Friday. Damage to structures appears to be limited, but one government Chevy Tahoe was flattened by a falling tree. The park remains closed.
- Appomattox Courthouse NHP — The park was closed until noon Friday due to storm damage and lack of power, but reopened that afternoon (except for the Courthouse, which serves as the park's visitor center. Power is out throughout the county and will likely not be restored for seven to ten days. Generators are supplying minimal power to park housing.
- Shenandoah NP — The center of Hurricane Isabel passed over the park as a strong tropical storm during the early morning hours on Friday morning. By noon, emergency personnel who were able to leave their residences and reported for duty to begin restoring critical infrastructure and to begin clearing trees to gain access to frontcountry areas of the park. On Saturday, crews worked to clear an access route to frontcountry facilities and to conduct an initial size-up of damage to structures and utilities. An emergency access route was established for the entire length of Skyline Drive. With one exception, no structures in the frontcountry were found to have received more than minor damage. One concessions-owned building received moderate damage. The condition of Camp Rapidan and all backcountry structures remains unknown. Although the park remains without power and phones (except at headquarters), the extent of damage to utility lines remains unknown. The entire park remains closed. Many employees remain without utilities and some are stranded behind fallen trees and/or high water, but all seem to have faired well. Damage appears to be significantly less than that caused by Hurricane Fran in 1996.
- Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania NB — The storm caused extensive damage to trees throughout the park. Roads are blocked, and there's no electricity. The park is closed.
- George Washington Birthplace NM — The park sustained major tree damage. Electricity was out and phone service was limited. A falling tree caused some damage to one park residence.
- Prince William FP — The park has no power and no radio communications. Many trees are down blocking roads, but there's not structural damage.
- George Washington Memorial Parkway — Twelve bridges on the bike trail along the parkway are gone and will cost millions of dollars to replace. Significant tree damage occurred throughout the park. The parkway from Alexandria to Mount Vernon was closed through Saturday.
- National Capital Parks/NCRO/US Park Police — The regional office is inaccessible due to flooding. Over 100 large trees are down or damaged on the Mall. Heavy damage is reported to the headquarters annex for NCP Central, which has five feet of water on its first floor. Anacostia and Greenbelt have both sustained significant damage. The temporary berm used to close the driveway gap in the seawall was breached, resulting in flooding of NCP East headquarters and the Park Police's Anacostia Operations Facility. The latter sustained only minor damage, but six offices in the former were seriously damaged. Six government vehicles were damaged.
- Chesapeake and Ohio NHP — Damage assessments are focusing on the lower 24 miles of the canal. It will take several days to complete them. The towpath is closed to traffic. As of Saturday, about a fifth of the park had been visited and checked; within that area, there were about 80 downed trees and several damaged structures. Many access points are blocked by downed trees or high water.
- Manassas NB — Power is out to the visitor center and maintenance facility and radios are out, but no structural damage is apparent.
- Harpers Ferry NHP — The park has downed trees and is without power, but there was no significant street damage. The Shenandoah River was expected to crest at 20.4 feet on Saturday, which would not be high enough to flood buildings.
- Catoctin MP — Significant tree damage occurred throughout the park, and power was knocked out on the east side. Two historic cabins suffered major damage — one was collapsed by a falling tree, the other sustained porch damage. Five other cabins were also damaged.
- Assateague Island NS — The hurricane had only a modest impact on the park. Storm damage to facilities was minor, but there was considerable overwash of the beach road and parking lots in the Toms Cove area at the south end of the island — the same area that was hit in the President's Day storm. Electrical power was out on Friday, but indications were that it would be restored by Saturday night. Toms Cove is open for day use, but with very limited parking. The Maryland end of the island was expected to open on Saturday, depending on resumption of power. It should be open for camping no later than today. The off-road vehicle zone will remain closed indefinitely.
- Fort McHenry NM&HS — The hurricane inflicted minor damage on trees, but there was no flooding in any park building. The ocean came over the historic seawall, leaving behind many tons of debris, including a channel buoy and many large beams. A dock which services a small water taxi to the park was severely damaged. Neighboring agencies — the Corps of Engineers, Naval Reserve Center, and Baltimore City FD fireboat station — sustained serious damage. Many of their 40 or so vehicles would have been damaged or lost if they had not been sheltered on higher ground within the park. Hazardous debris is being cleaned up from the park's very popular, mile-long seawall trail. The status of the seawall, which recently underwent rehabilitation, is not yet known.
- Hopewell Furnace NHS — The historic Tenant House #2 was severely damaged by limbs falling from the pre-Civil Ware sycamore tree in its front yard. The roof caved in down to the stone side walls. Other structures sustained minor damage. Power was restored on Friday, so the park has reopened. Tree debris is being cleaned up.
- Morristown NHP — The hurricane had only minimal impact. Downed trees blocked roadways and damaged sections of fence in the Jockey Hollow unit. Power outages at park residences were generally of short duration. Less than an inch of rain fell on the park, and there was no water damage to buildings. The park is open.
- Edison NHS — Power was restored to the park's Glenmont unit on Friday afternoon. Contractors worked on the building all day, using battery lights where necessary. The park will return to routine operations today.
Additional reports will appear daily during recovery operations, which will likely go on for some time. Current information and essential documents from the incident management teams will be available at the IMT web page: http://www.nps.gov/fire/allrisk/. Please check if for additional details.
Reports compiled from submissions by Kris Fister, IO, Type 1 IMT; Ken
Garvin, SERO; Don Boucher, NCRO; Doug Wallner, NERO; Ann Childress,
Superintendent, MOCR; Wouter Ketel, IC, and Bob Vogel, Superintendent,
CALO; Paul Stevens, Liaison Officer, IMT, and Barry Munyan, ADR, CAHA;
Vidal Martinez, Superintendent, GEWA; Reed Johnson, Superintendent,
APCO; Clay Jordan, IC, Type 3 IMT, SHEN; Mike Hill, Superintendent,
ASIS; Charlie Strickfaden, Chief Ranger, FOMC; Gregory Smith, Chief
Ranger, MORR; Maryanne Gerbauckas, Superintendent, EDIS; Bill Sanders,
Superintendent, HOFU; Cindy McLeod, Superintendent, RICH; Bob Kirby,
Superintendent, PETE; Russ Smith, Superintendent, FRSP.
FIRE MANAGEMENT
Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Report - Sunday, September 21, 2003
Preparedness Level 3
Initial attack was moderate in southern California on Saturday and light elsewhere. Only 53 new fires were reported.
A Type 1 Incident Management Team (Ferguson) has been assigned to provide logistical, operational, planning and resource support for Hurricane Isabel recovery operations in Virginia. The team will work jointly with GSA, FEMA and COE at Ft. A.P. Hill in Virginia.
Three Type 2 Incident Management Teams (Wathen/Pearson, Custer, Collins/Col Holt/Hendricks) are also assigned to support operations in North Carolina. The Governor of North Carolina has declared a state of emergency for 12 counties. A federal disaster declaration was made on September 18th.
Fire Danger
|
Day |
9/12 |
9/15 |
9/16 |
9/17 |
9/18 |
9/21 |
|
Arizona |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
California |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Colorado |
-- |
-- |
-- |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Hawaii |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
-- |
|
Idaho |
VX |
-- |
-- |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Montana |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
-- |
|
Nevada |
-- |
VX |
VX |
-- |
VX |
VX |
|
New Mexico |
VX |
VX |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
North Dakota |
VX |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
Oklahoma |
VX |
VX |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
Oregon |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Texas |
VX |
VX |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
Utah |
-- |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Washington |
VX |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
Wyoming |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
-- |
VX |
VX = Very high to extreme danger
National Resource Commitments
|
Day |
9/11 |
9/12 |
9/15 |
9/16 |
9/17 |
9/18 |
9/21 |
|
Crews |
439 |
362 |
241 |
244 |
216 |
196 |
182 |
|
Engines |
745 |
594 |
315 |
380 |
318 |
261 |
206 |
|
Helicopters |
163 |
153 |
96 |
96 |
83 |
70 |
64 |
|
Air Tankers |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
|
Overhead |
3,521 |
3,502 |
2,740 |
2,728 |
2,153 |
2,174 |
2,719 |
National Team Commitments
Teams are listed alphabetically by type. New team commitments or changes in teams (as of this report) are indicated in bold face.
|
State |
Type Team |
Team IC |
Fire/Location |
Acres |
Percent Contain |
Est Full Contain |
|
MT |
T1 |
Bennett |
Blackfoot Lake Complex Flathead NF |
|||
|
VA |
T1 |
Ferguson |
Hurricane Isabel |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
NC |
T2 |
Collins/ Col Holt/ Hendricks |
Hurricane Isabel |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
NC |
T2 |
Custer |
Hurricane Isabel |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
CA |
T2 |
Dietrich |
Grindstone Complex Mendocino NF |
7,926 |
76 |
9/24 |
|
WA |
T2 |
Furlong |
Needle Fire Okanogan/Wenatchee NF |
17,445 |
39 |
UNK |
|
OR |
T2 |
Hoff |
B&B Complex Deschutes NF |
90,769 |
95 |
UNK |
|
MT |
T2 |
Sandman |
Trapper Creek Complex Glacier NP |
70,406 |
40 |
10/1 |
|
CA |
T2 |
Szepanik |
Loma Fire Shasta-Trinity NF |
3,000 |
70 |
9/21 |
|
NC |
T2 |
Wathen/ Pearson |
Hurricane Isabel |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
CA |
ST |
Hawkins |
Canoe/Honeydew Fire Humboldt-Del Norte RU |
11,198 |
25 |
9/28 |
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.