United States Park Police
USPP Officer Shoots Assailant
Shortly before 2:30 p.m. on the afternoon of August 23rd, a United
States Park Police officer approached and engaged in conversation the
passenger of a blue Chevrolet Suburban in the area of North Capitol and
K Streets Northeast. At some point, the passenger rolled up his window
and trapped the officer's arm. The operator of the Suburban then sped
off at a high rate of speed on North Capitol Street, dragging the
officer. The officer, who was dragged for about a block and a half,
continuously ordered the driver to stop the vehicle, but was forced to
fire his service weapon in defense of his life. He fired several
rounds into the interior of the speeding vehicle before he was thrown
clear. The Suburban continued traveling at a high rate of speed onto L
Street and struck several vehicles. It was found a short time later in
the 500 block of Oklahoma Avenue, occupied by a male passenger suffering
from a gunshot wound to his body. The driver had fled, but was
apprehended shortly thereafter when police searching the area discovered
him hiding under a motor vehicle in a nearby alley. The officer was
taken to an area hospital, where he was treated for several abrasions
and a sprained ankle and released. His identity is being withheld
because he is considered to be a witness in the case. The wounded man,
identified as 54-year-old R.W.H., was taken to Howard
University Hospital and admitted in undetermined condition. Both R.W.H.
and the driver, identified as 27-year-old K.L.M., have been
charged with assault on a police officer. K.L.M. has also been charged
with assault with intent to kill and fleeing from a law
enforcement officer.
[Submitted by Washington Metro PD, via Scott
Fear, PIO, USPP]
Yosemite National Park (CA)
Major Search Ends in Happy Family Reunion
A major search and rescue operation concluded successfully on August
20th with the finding of overdue hiker M.V., a 57-year-old
woman from Bakersfield who'd gotten lost while on a solo backpacking
trip. M.V. began her hike on the John Muir trail on August 12th, headed
for Mt. Whitney. She was scheduled to pick up food caches at Tuolumne
Meadows and Reds Meadow (in the Inyo National Forest) on August 15th and
August 18th, respectively. As of August 20th, she had not picked up
either cache. Rangers were notified that M.V. was overdue on August
19th and began an initial search of the John Muir trail and neighboring
trails. They also posted trail blocks at all critical trailheads.
Searchers from Mono and Fresno counties also began searching portions of
the John Muir trail in their jurisdictions to rule out the
possibility that she might be ahead of her schedule. Searchers from
Fresno County SAR made voice contact with a female hiker at
approximately 8:30 p.m. Following her
voice, they reached the hiker around 9:00
p.m. They were able to confirm that it was M.V. and that she was in good
health. M.V. was found near Moraine Dome. She had lost the trail, so
set up a camp and attempted to contact rangers using smoke signals.
Searchers were able to focus on that area after Mono County Search and
Rescue interviewed a hiker who had seen her in that vicinity. Rescuers
stayed with M.V. throughout the night. She was then flown by helicopter
to Yosemite Valley and reunited with her husband and daughter. Searchers
from the park and teams from Marin, Mariposa, Mono, Madera, and Fresno
counties worked cooperatively to search the John Muir trail and the
network of trails that connected to it. The operation was supported by
people from throughout the Yosemite community. Yosemite School provided
shelter for rescuers in Yosemite Valley, and Delaware North Parks and
Resorts provided logistical support.
[Submitted by Deb
Schweizer]
Natchez Trace Parkway (AL,MS,TN)
Parts of Parkway Closed by Flooding
As a result of heavy rains and flooding, a section of the Natchez
Trace Parkway has been washed out and is closed between Milepost 282.5
and 307.6. A recommended detour around this closed section of the
Natchez Trace Parkway is as follows:
Northbound — Traffic should exit the Natchez Trace Parkway at
Milepost 282 onto Highway 371 North; take 371 North to Highway 4 West;
follow Highway 4 West to Highway 30 East; and re-enter the Natchez Trace
Parkway near Milepost 307.
Southbound — Traffic should exit the Natchez Trace Parkway near
Milepost 307 onto Highway 30 West; take Highway 4 East to Highway 371
South; follow Highway 371 South and re-enter the Natchez Trace Parkway
at Milepost 282.
These detour routes will be signed accordingly. This detour
will remain in effect until further notice while this section is under
repair.
[Submitted
by Rusty Rawson, Chief of Maintenance]
Dry Tortugas National Park (FL)
Post-Hurricane Charley Recovery Continues
Three employees with The Nature Conservancy joined in recovery
operations on Garden Key on Wednesday. They worked alongside park
and incident staff to load the park's motor vessel with the remains of
docks destroyed in the storm. The treated lumber must be transported by
boat 70 miles to Key West for proper disposal. The combined forces also
made great progress in clearing debris from the park's campground. The
three tradesmen dealt with the utility systems on the remote island; the
diesel mechanic worked on generators, boats, tractors and bobcats.
A contractor pumped out the holding tank for the composting toilets,
which had been filled by the storm surge. NPS critical incident
stress debriefers were made available to all park staff. Eight
members of the incident command staff continued to support the work at
the park. For those unfamiliar with the site, "Dry" in Dry
Tortugas refers to the fact the small islands have no fresh
water.
[Submitted by Barb Stewart, IO, Eastern IMT]
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (WV)
Car Clout Arrest
The August 7th arrest of T.C., 20, of Jefferson County,
Maryland, during an attempted car clout in the park brought to
conclusion a summertime spree of burglaries and petit larcenies in that
county. Ranger Mark Howard caught T.C. near the Dam #3 area, where
he'd been patrolling each day for several weeks because of a tip he'd
received. Howard saw T.C. and his girlfriend acting suspiciously in
the Dam #3 parking lot; he immediately called for backup and detained
them until ranger Tim Morrison and a Harpers Ferry PD officer arrived on
scene. Both were taken into custody. T.C.'s arrest lead to 15 other
charges being filed against him, including six counts of petit larceny,
four counts of burglary, three counts of destruction of property, and
two counts of breaking and entering an automobile. He's being held on
$100,000 bail. The arrest concluded a multi-agency operation focusing on
car clouts in the Harpers Ferry area. The operation, led by rangers
Morrison and Ryan Peabody, was two pronged, with a special operations
team and an investigations team. Although special o9ps proved fruitless,
investigations was able to identify and obtain warrants for two
suspects, including T.C..
[Submitted by Ryan Peabody, Acting
Chief Ranger]
Colonial National Historical Park (VA)
Car Clouter Arrested
On July 12th, ranger Jimbo Thompson investigated a report of two
motor vehicle break-ins at the College Creek pullout along Colonial
Parkway. As a result of Thompson's investigation, a possible suspect
— one T.S. — and a suspect vehicle were
identified. Over the next few weeks, rangers attempted to locate
T.S., but without success. Meanwhile, several more vehicles were
broken into and purses taken. On August 9th, chief ranger Tom Nash saw
T.S. sitting in a white van parked at the pullout. Nash called for
assistance and was joined by rangers Steven Williams and Ken Doak.
Williams setup surveillance of the pullout, while Doak and Nash
established a perimeter. As Williams watched, T.S. moved his vehicle
several times, always parking next to another vehicle in the pullout,
then looking into that vehicle. After watching him for about 40 minutes,
Williams saw T.S. enter a car and take a purse. T.S. then left
the area in his van, but was stopped by Doak and Nash. After a brief
interview, he admitted to the theft of the purse and to the thefts from
cars on July 12th. Felony charges are pending. The victims of the car
clout were surprised at how quickly the break-in was executed, as they'd
only been away from their car for fewer than ten minutes. They were even
more surprised that T.S. had been stopped and arrested within five
minutes of committing the crime. About $400 in cash and over $9,000 in
jewelry were recovered.
[Submitted by Tom Nash, Chief Ranger]
Kings Mountain National Military Park (SC)
Marijuana Seizure
Acting on a tip from researchers working in the park, rangers seized
three-and-a-half pounds of marijuana at a point on the park's western
boundary on August 5th. The stash of drugs was found in a trash bag
which had been stuffed in a box under a wind blown tree about 50 feet
off of Lookout Tower Road. A joint investigation is underway with the
Cherokee County Sheriff's Department.
[Submitted by Chris Revels,
Chief Ranger]
FIRE MANAGEMENT
NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Thursday, August 26, 2004
Preparedness Level 3
Only 60 new fires were reported nationwide yesterday;three of them became large fires — one in Alaska and two in the Great Basin.
Very high to extreme fire indices were reported yesterday in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Weather Forecast
A low pressure trough will continue to bring scattered showers and thunderstorms to the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies. Further south, strong winds will prevail from the Sierra to the Rockies. In Alaska, gusty winds will persist over the interior as a low pressure system moves into the southwest corner of the state.
Warnings and Watches
A RED FLAG WARNING has been posted today for strong northeast winds over portions of northwestern and north interior Alaska.
Three FIRE WEATHER WATCHES haves been issued today, all in California — for gusty northeast winds and low relative humidity for the mountains and valleys of extreme eastern Mendocino County; for increasing northeast winds and low relative humidity for California's north coastal mountains, the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, and northern Sacramento Valley; and for strong offshore winds and very low relative humidity for North and East Bay and Santa Clara County.
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
{||inc|http://data2.itc.nps.gov/fire/includes/bill_table.cfm||}
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/Incident and Location |
8/25 |
8/26 |
% Con |
Est Con |
|
WA |
USFS |
1 |
Anderson |
Fischer Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF |
16,439 |
16,439 |
95 |
UNK |
|
AK |
BLM |
1 |
Frye |
Central Complex, Upper Yukon Zone |
452,100 |
458,600 |
20 |
UNK |
|
FL |
FEMA |
1 |
Ferguson |
Hurricane Charley recovery |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
WA |
USFS |
1 |
Lohrey |
Williams Butte Complex, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF |
2,088 |
2,095 |
50 |
UNK |
|
NV |
BLM |
1 |
Martin # |
Andrew Fire, Carson City Field Office |
----- |
2,600 |
10 |
8/28 |
|
FL |
State |
2 |
Beauchamp |
Hurricane Charley, Charlotte County |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
AK |
State |
2 |
Blume |
Camp Creek Fire, Delta Area |
161,253 |
161,253 |
40 |
9/30 |
|
FL |
State |
2 |
Crow |
Hurricane Charley, DeSoto County |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
WA |
USFS |
2 |
Jennings/ |
Pot Peak Complex, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF |
47,470 |
47,470 |
90 |
UNK |
|
FL |
State |
2 |
Koehler |
Hurricane Charley, City of Lakeland |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
AK |
State |
2 |
Jandt |
Taylor Highway Complex, Tok Area Forestry |
1,239,857 |
1,240,265 |
2 |
UNK |
|
FL |
State |
2 |
Jones |
Hurricane Charley, Hardee County |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
OR |
State |
2 |
Mair * |
Bland Mountain #2, state lands. |
4,677 |
4,705 |
75 |
UNK |
|
FL |
NPS |
2 |
Panko |
Hurricane Charley, Dry Tortugas NP |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
# On order.
* State incident management team
National Resource Commitments
| Day |
Fri |
Sat |
Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
|
Date |
8/20 |
8/21 |
8/22 |
8/23 |
8/24 |
8/25 |
8/26 |
|
|
|||||||
|
Crews |
316 |
229 |
225 |
237 |
189 |
185 |
146 |
|
Engines |
639 |
451 |
461 |
340 |
246 |
233 |
174 |
|
Helicopters |
135 |
94 |
116 |
90 |
74 |
62 |
57 |
|
Air Tankers |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
|
Overhead |
2,806 |
1,914 |
2,479 |
2,350 |
1,982 |
1,552 |
1338 |
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.