East Coast Parks
Parks Escape Significant Damage from Charley
Hurricane Charley's passage up the East Coast affected more than a dozen NPS areas. Here are reports from parks that were in or near the storm's path, south to north:
Dry Tortugas NP — As of Saturday afternoon, the park was still assessing storm damage, which at that point included the park's radio antenna, a thousand feet of masonry bricks from the top of the moat wall, damage to the main dock area and finger piers, and unspecified damages to the facilities at Loggerhead Key. Navigational aids have also been damaged or destroyed or are missing.
Everglades NP — Cleanup and recovery work was completed on Saturday at Flamingo, the headquarters area and along the main park road. This made it possible to reopen the main portion of Everglades by 10 a.m. The visitor center in the Everglades City area reopened at noon. Shark Valley reopened at 8 a.m. Concessions there also reopened in full at that time. Flamingo reopened with limited services on Saturday, but planned to be fully functional by Sunday. The Everglades City boat tour concession reopened on Sunday. At the peak of operations, about 200 park employees and cooperators were assigned to the incident team managing the response to the hurricane.
Biscayne NP — The park reopened to the public on Saturday morning. The storm inflicted no damage. The park's concession reopened yesterday.
Big Cypress NP — The park will resume business as usual this morning. The hurricane had little impact. The maximum wind gust at headquarters in Ochopee was 44 mph.
DeSoto NM — The superintendent surveyed the park right after the storm passed and reports that they "dodged the bullet." The hurricane caused no more damage than a bad thunderstorm. The park was to reopen on Saturday morning.
Castillo de San Marcos NM/Fort Matanzas NM — Both sites closed on Saturday. As of mid-morning, there was no power at the latter. It appeared that the storm caused no significant damage.
Canaveral NS — The park returned to normal operations on Sunday morning, with both districts open to the public. Electrical service had been lost, but was restored Saturday evening. Although damage was minimal, cleanup is expected to take several days. Most park employees reported damage to their homes, but nobody was hurt.
Timucuan E&HP/Fort Caroline NM — The park was spared a direct hit. All frontcountry operations returned to normal on Saturday. The status of the park's backcountry was not known at the time of the report (Saturday).
Fort Sumter NM/Charles Pinckney NHS — Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, Liberty Square and Charles Pinckney were closed on Saturday while the hurricane passed over Charleston.
Moores Creek NB — The park closed at 5 p.m. on Friday, and reopened — for the most part — at 1 p.m. on Sunday. As of Sunday afternoon, flood water still covered the trail around the bridge site and causeway and the creek continued to rise. No significant damage was reported.
Cape Lookout NS — The park put its storm evacuation plan into effect at 1 p.m. on Friday and closed the park to visitors at 5 p.m. The evacuation of the park was completed by that time. Park staff returned to Cape Lookout on Sunday morning to assess storm damage. They found that the hurricane had inflicted little damage, so the park was reopened at noon.
Outer Banks Group — All three parks closed to the public and shutdown at 5 p.m. on Friday. Earlier that day, the remnants of Tropical Storm Bonnie passed over the area, bringing heavy rains and tornado warnings. Since all forecasts called for Hurricane Charley to bring an additional four to eight inches of rain and hurricane force winds, the Outer Banks Group activated its storm plan and put ICS into effect (Dann Trexler, IC). All areas were closed and secured by Saturday morning. The hurricane, fortunately, did not hit as hard as predicted. Winds and rains were limited to periodic squalls from noon until about 7 p.m. The maximum recorded gusts on Ocracoke Island were about 50 mph, and less than an inch of rain fell throughout the area. Most park facilities were to be reopened yesterday. Cape Point campground, Ramp 4, Pole Road and all Ocracoke sound side accesses remain closed due to the cumulative impacts of Hurricane Alex, Tropical Storm Bonnie and Hurricane Charley (the park is hoping its streak — three for three — does not continue). Due to the combined effects of these three storms, Wright Brothers remains closed. Roads in that park and the surrounding area are under six to eight inches of water. Sewage lift stations and septic fields are currently being evaluated. HVAC systems have been shut down, along with other electrical equipment, due to the high water. The visitor center, pavilion and fee booths all have minor leaks from windblown water working under and around doors and windows. It appears that Wright Brothers received more rain than other parks in the group, and that it may be several days before waters recede. Fort Raleigh has reopened and is operating on a normal schedule.
Colonial NHP — The park reports little damage. It reopened on Sunday.
The above report was based on submissions from the following people: Ken Garvin, Southeast Regional Office; Bob Panko, IC, EVER; Mark Hardgrove, Deputy Superintendent, Outer Banks Group; Ann Childress, Superintendent, MOCR; John Tucker, Superintendent, FOSU; Jon Anglin, Acting Chief Ranger, CAHA; Wouter Ketel, Chief Ranger, CALO; Michelle Oehmichen, BISC; Charlie Fenwick, Superintendent, DESO; Gordie Wilson, CASA/FOMA; Barbara Goodman, Superintendent, TIMU/FOCA; Tom Nash, Chief Ranger, COLO; Timothy Morgan, Chief Ranger, CANA; Mary Doll, Management Assistant, Outer Banks Group; Larry Belles, BICY
FIRE MANAGEMENT
NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Monday, August 16, 2004
Preparedness Level 3
Fire activity increased on Friday and Saturday, with moderate to heavy initial attack west of the Rockies, but moderated yesterday. There were 290 newly-reported fires on Friday, 285 on Saturday, and 276 yesterday. Of these, 18 became large fires. During the same period, ten other large fires were contained.
Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Weather Forecast
Thunderstorms will continue to develop over higher elevations across much of the West today. Some of the storms are expected to be dry from western sections of the Northern Rockies southward into western Colorado. The thunderstorms elsewhere are expected to contain wetting rains. In Alaska, high pressure will keep the Area in a warm, dry air mass.
Warnings and Watches
No warnings or watches have been issued for today.
NPS Fires
For a brief supplemental narrative on each fire, click on the bar with the arrow. Internal NPS readers can link directly to full reports on each fire by clicking on the notepad icon; public readers of the Morning Report can obtain similar information by going to http://www.nps.gov/fire/news
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National/State Team Commitments
Newly listed fires (on this report) appear below in boldface. Changes in the status of a fire (type of team, change from a fire to a complex, etc.) are also noted in boldface.
Fires are sorted by type of team; teams are listed in alphabetical order within each type by the IC's last name.
|
State |
Agency |
Team |
IC |
Fire and Location |
8/13 |
8/16 |
% Con |
Est Con |
|
WA |
USFS |
1 |
Anderson |
Fischer Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF |
1,330 |
3,813 |
30 |
UNK |
|
CA |
State |
1 |
Chuchel * |
Bear Fire, Shasta-Trinity Unit |
7,500 |
10,484 |
95 |
8/16 |
|
CA |
USFS |
1 |
Gelobter |
Deep Fire, Sequoia NF |
---- |
3,172 |
55 |
UNK |
|
CA |
State |
1 |
Lutts * |
French Fire, Shasta-Trinity Unit |
----- |
7,760 |
10 |
8/20 |
|
AK |
BLM |
1 |
Frye |
Central Complex, Upper Yukon Zone |
260,000 |
317,000 |
15 |
UNK |
|
ID |
USFS |
2 |
Broyles |
Bear Spring Fire, Salmon-Challis NF |
----- |
350 |
5 |
8/21 |
|
WA |
USFS |
2 |
Furlong/ |
Pot Peak Complex, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF |
46,970 |
47,100 |
85 |
UNK |
|
AK |
State |
2 |
Jandt |
Taylor Highway Complex, Tok Area Forestry |
1,015,129 |
1,124,158 |
NR |
UNK |
|
WA |
USFS |
2 |
Johnson # |
Mebee Pass, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF |
189 |
238 |
50 |
UNK |
|
OR |
USFS |
2 |
Paul |
Grassy Fire, Fremont NF |
----- |
5,169 |
0 |
8/19 |
|
CA |
USFS |
2 |
Rios |
Early Fire, Stanislaus NF |
1,670 |
1,670 |
100 |
CND |
|
OR |
NPS |
2 |
West |
Bybee Complex, Crater Lake NP |
----- |
120 |
20 |
UNK |
|
ID |
USFS |
2 |
Whalen |
North Star Butte Fire, Payette NF |
----- |
600 |
20 |
8/24 |
|
ID |
USFS |
FU |
Cones |
Porter Fire, Salmon-Challis NF |
450 |
3,617 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
WA |
USFS |
FU |
Cook |
Freezeout Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF |
666 |
727 |
17 |
UNK |
|
WA |
USFS |
FU |
Weldon |
Rattlesnake Peak Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF |
576 |
650 |
N/A |
N/A |
* California state CDF IMT
# Washington state IMT
National Resource Commitments
| Day |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
Sun |
Mon |
|
Date |
8/10 |
8/11 |
8/12 |
8/13 |
8/14 |
8/15 |
8/16 |
|
|
|||||||
|
Crews |
185 |
223 |
229 |
234 |
317 |
530 |
314 |
|
Engines |
474 |
315 |
487 |
497 |
648 |
709 |
741 |
|
Helicopters |
101 |
100 |
142 |
110 |
128 |
150 |
144 |
|
Air Tankers |
2 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Overhead |
1,317 |
1,311 |
1,456 |
1,342 |
1,658 |
2,257 |
2,030 |
Further Information
This report is meant to present just highlights of the current fire situation. Two other NIFC sites provide much greater detail:
Full NIFC Situation Report (PDF file) — http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf
National Fire News — http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html
Information on NPS Fire and Aviation Management (FAM) and on park fires can be found at:
FAM — http://www.nps.gov/fire
Park fires — http://www.nps.gov/fire/news
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.