INCIDENTS

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Big Thicket National Preserve (TX)
Train Carrying Hazardous Materials Derails in Park

On the afternoon of Friday, June 24th, a train carrying hazardous materials derailed as it crossed the Neches River within the Lower Neches River Corridor Unit of the park. After the derailment, four tanker cars carrying hazardous materials remained on the bridge. The four tankers were and still are attached to two empty tankers dangling from the bridge. One of the tankers is carrying propionic acid, the other three 2ethyl-hexinol. Eleven railroad cars and/or tankers are off the track over land — some are in a dry slough. On the ground are approximately 500 pounds of flyash and an unknown amount of untreated railroad ties and particle board. Flyash is a particulate and can kill fish if it goes into the river and harm lungs if inhaled. The main trestle over the river has suffered only moderate damage, but the smaller trestle leaving the river has sustained significant damage. It was fortunate that this incident occurred during a drought or the situation would have been much worse because water levels would have been much higher and some of the cars would have been in water. On Saturday, EPA's on-scene coordinator set up a unified command that included himself, a Hardin County emergency management official, and acting NPS FMO Fulton Jeansonne. The Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration completed its initial investigation, with the conclusion that a detailed fracture of a track caused the derailment. As of yesterday, June 26th, the top priority remained the removal of the four tankers from the bridge. To date, a road has been built into the site on lands owned by Temple-Inland Forest Company, cars are being righted, and debris is being removed.
[Submitted by Art Hutchinson, Superintendent ] More Information...

Yellowstone National Park (ID,MT,WY)
Search Continues for Missing Boy Scout

An extensive ground and air search for a 13-year-old Boy Scout who fell into the Yellowstone River on the evening of Friday, June 24th, continued through the weekend. L.S. of Helena, Montana, was with his Boy Scout troop on a two-day backpacking trip into the park. The troop was staying overnight at a backcountry campsite slightly downstream from Knowles Falls, a popular hiking area between Blacktail Trailhead and Gardiner, Montana, in the north section of the park. L.S. and other troop members were pushing logs into the river when one of the logs clipped him, sweeping him off his feet into the river. He was last seen floating downstream in the river with his head above water level. The river below the point last seen curved out of sight and into a rapid. The three adults and six boys of L.S.'s troop immediately searched the banks of the river and surrounding area. One of the adults and a Boy Scout hiked out to report the incident to park staff while the others remained behind and continued the search. The park received notification of the incident around 10 p.m. and started the initial phase of search operation planning and resource mobilization. On Saturday, more than 150 people and a park helicopter began the extensive search along both sides of the river and area between Knowles Falls and the bridge at Corwin Springs, Montana. The group consisted of around 40 to 50 park staff and more than 100 of L.S.'s friends and church and family members. A searcher did locate a white tennis shoe, fitting the description of one worn by L.S., approximately two miles upstream from Gardiner, Montana, and about five miles downstream from where L.S. entered the river. No other clothing was found. The park planned to continue with ground and air operations on Sunday and to deploy a team of white-river expert kayakers.
[Submitted by Cheryl Matthews, Public Affairs Officer]

Colonial National Historical Park (VA)
National Socialist Movement Rally

On June 25th, the National Socialist Movement, which claims to be the largest Nazi party in the United States, held a permitted rally in the park. It was attended by 112 NSM supporters. Also attending were about 250 protestors and about 15 people who attended a Center for Educational Rights demonstration. NSM members and protestors were separated by iron fences. There were only a few minor incidents. Six protestors were escorted out of the protest area for trying to start a disturbance. There were also a few minor medical cases. Seventeen federal, state and local law enforcement agencies joined together to provide security at the event.
[Submitted by Tom Nash, Chief Ranger]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

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NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Monday, June 27, 2005

Preparedness Level 2

A total of 160 new fires were reported yesterday, six of which became large fires. Three other large fires were contained. Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Alaska, Arizona, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas and Utah.

Weather Forecast

A low pressure trough will be entering the Pacific Northwest while high pressure remains over the Southwest. The combination of these two features will bring gusty winds to portions of the Great Basin. In Alaska, high pressure is building over the northern and central interior for warmer and drier weather.

Red Flag Warnings

A red flag warning has been issued for this afternoon for gusty winds and low relative humidity across central and east-central Nevada.

Fire Weather Watches

A fire weather watch has been posted for this afternoon for gusty winds and low relative humidity across southern Nevada.

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

Park	State	Fire	Type	Acres	Percent Contain	Est. Full Contain
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area	CA	Tree fire	Wildland-Urban Interface Fire	.25	100	8/9/2005
	Latest Narrative: SAMO patrol engine responded to the neighborhood adjacent to the entrance to park's Cheeseboro Canyon site. The fire was limited to the top of three palm trees, with embers dropping into a woodpile below.
Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks	CA	Comb Fire	Wildland Fire Use	2,810 acres and continuing to burn	N/A	N/A
	Latest Narrative: Yesterday, the Comb Fire reported light activity and burned into the evening hours; fire spread was slight and occurred along the west and southwest sides of the fire area. The fire is spreading on both sides of the boundary between Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Forest. East of Wildman Meadow, the fire is slowly backing into the Deer Cove Creek drainage, and from Stag Dome the fire is moving in a southeast direction. Although current conditions of higher humidity are expected through Thursday, fire activity is expected to persist at a slow, but consistent rate over the immediate fire area. Winds from afternoon thunder cell build-up could increase fire activity and fire spread. Fire managers are keeping a close eye on local weather development and fire weather forecasts. Over the next few days, fire crews will take appropriate management actions, such as patrols or managed ignitions, to strengthen handlines intended to keep the fire from moving into unwanted areas.
Yellowstone National Park	WY	Phantom WFU	Wildland Fire Use	0.1 estimated by the fire lookout. Fire has been declared o... See below for more...	100	N/A
	Full Acreage Report: 0.1 estimated by the fire lookout. Fire has been declared out at 0.1 of an acre. Latest Narrative: The fire was patrolled on foot and no smoke was found.

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	6/24	6/27	% Con	Est Con
NV	BLM	T1	Krugman	Goodsprings Fire, Las Vegas Field Office	15,000	31,611	60	6/28
AZ	State	T1	Oltrogge	Humbug Fire, Crown King, AZ	1,500	3,136	80	UNK
AZ	USFS	T1	Whitney	Cave Creek Complex, Tonto NF	46,000	92,145	20	UNK
AZ	BLM	T2	Blume	Mt. Bangs Complex, AZ Strip Field Office	---	20,000	40	UNK
AK	State	T2	Kurth	Sheenjek River Fire, Upper Yukon Zone	68,480	81,390	65	UNK
UT	USFS	T2	Muir	Blue Spring Fire, Dixie NF	---	10,000	30	UNK
AZ	USFS	T2	Philbin	Three Fire Complex, Tonto NF	11,000	19,370	20	6/30
AZ	BLM	T2	Reinarz	Perkins Complex, Phoenix Field Office	21,000	21,600	95	6/29
UT	BLM	T2	Saleen	Westside Complex, Cedar City Field Office	---	68,264	70	6/28
NV	BLM	T2	Suwyn	S. Nevada Complex, Las Vegas Field Office	10,000	228,851	6	UNK
CA	NPS	T2	Walker	Hackberry Complex, Mojave NP	21,200	68,200	NR	6/27
NM	USFS	FUM	Hall	North Gila Complex, Gila NF	11,948	13,313	N/A	N/A

National Resource Commitments

Day	Thu	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Mon
Date	6/16	6/20	6/21	6/22	6/23	6/24	6/27
Crews	23	37	42	49	115	204	186
Engines	127	59	97	150	414	407	366
Helicopters	5	14	15	22	41	46	77
Air Tankers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Overhead	83	183	277	417	618	756	1,393

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

PARKS AND PEOPLE

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Director/Deputy Directors
GS-0303-5/7 Administrative Assistant

Do you wonder how WASO works? Would you like to meet NPS employees from across the country? Are you a "go to" person? Here's your chance -- this fast-paced position in the Office of the Director is a great opportunity for a customer service oriented, flexible person who is proud to wear the NPS uniform. For a copy of the job announcement, click on "More Information" below. The announcement closes on July 8th. [Submitted by Jennifer Mummart, jennifer_mummart@nps.gov, (202) 208-4986] More Information...

Southeast Region
GS-11 Supervisory Park Ranger (LE)

Dates: 06/23/2005 - 07/07/2005

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHS in Kentucky has an opening for a GS-11 supervisory ranger who will serve as chief of the Division of Interpretation and Resource Management. The division has major responsibilities for the preservation of the park's cultural and natural resources, the safety and protection of the visiting public and employees, and the interpretation of the park's resources to the public. She/he will be under the direct supervision of the superintendent and is first in line to assume the duties and responsibilities of acting superintendent in absence of the superintendent.
[Submitted by Charles E. Fenwick, charlie_fenwick@nps.gov] More Information...

Pacific West Region
Martha Lee Named Superintendent of Four Bay Area Parks

Martha Lee has been named the new superintendent of four NPS historical areas in California — John Muir NHS, Rosie the Riveter World War II Homefront NHP, Port Chicago Memorial, and Eugene O'Neill NHS.

Lee is a 25-year veteran of the NPS and is currently serving as acting superintendent at Pinnacles National Monument. Prior to this appointment, she served as the Hetch Hetchy program manager at Yosemite National Park, coordinating NPS responsibilities with the city and county of San Francisco for the Tuolumne River watershed and the O'Shaughnessy Dam.

While at Yosemite, she also worked on two significant planning efforts—the Yosemite Valley Plan and the Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan. She has a long history of working with park partners and for several years she served as the park's editor-in-chief. Lee was on the staff of the Yosemite Museum for twelve years, where she confides that one of her most satisfying accomplishments was co-authoring (with Craig Bates) Traditions and Innovation: A Basket History of the Indians of the Yosemite-Mono Lake Region, a book of the history of Native people and their baskets in the Yosemite area. She expects to move to the Richmond area by the first of September.

"Martha has built bridges with organizations and partners in every position she has had held," said regional director Jonathan Jarvis in making the appointment. "I am confident she will bring her usual high energy, motivation, and infectious enthusiasm to the endeavors at the rich fabric of national park areas in the San Francisco East Bay."

Lee will be stepping into a newly designed park superintendency. It has been molded to capitalize on the common World War II theme at the new Rosie the Riveter World War II Homefront National Historical Park in Richmond and the Port Chicago Memorial in Concord. Lee also will oversee management of John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez and Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site in Danville. These well-established NPS sites and staff will support park operations among the four areas. The assistant superintendent will be located in the park offices in Martinez.

"The ambitious planning schedule for the Rosie park and the outstanding partnership opportunities at John Muir and Eugene O'Neill sites offer plenty of challenges," Lee said. "I look forward to meeting and learning from each of the staff and park partners."

Lee has completed the NPS Executive Leadership Training Program with long-term details in the Office of Budget in the Washington, D.C. office of the NPS and with the California Resources Agency. She has a BA from Stanford University.

[Submitted by Holly Bundock, Public Affairs Officer]

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.