INCIDENTS

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North Cascades National Park (WA)
Three Climbers Die in Fall Near Sharkfin Tower

At approximately 4:00 pm on Sunday, July 10th, a party of six climbers attempting Sharkfin Tower in North Cascades National Park suffered a mountaineering accident resulting in the deaths of three members of the group. A fourth climber received severe head injuries. The group was on a trip organized by the Tacoma, Washington, branch of the Mountaineers, a climbing and hiking club based in Seattle. Sharkfin Tower is above Boston Basin along the ridge between Forbidden and Boston Peaks east of the town of Marblemount. While the party was negotiating the gullies below the granitic cliffs of Sharkfin Tower and above Quien Sabe Glacier, a rock struck the group leader. Due to this minor injury, combined with deteriorating weather, the group decided to abandon the climb and began descending. At the top of a snow- and rock-filled gully they had earlier ascended on the approach, a rappel was rigged and two members of the party successfully descended one rope length and began constructing a second rappel station. Two people in the upper party began a simul-rappel with the injured member with them. Preliminary accounts indicate that the large boulder used as the rappel anchor, to which the fourth member was also tied, broke loose, sending all four and the boulder down the gully. Two of the climbers died at that time and a third some time later. The two climbers in mid-gully miraculously avoided injury, despite one falling 20 feet into a moat. They descended safely to the gully bottom, and one began descending the glacier alone for help. Another climbing group nearby, affiliated with Alpine Ascents International, a commercial permittee in the park, was met on the way, and, using a cell phone, made a call which led to the park being contacted. A team of park rangers led by Craig Brouwer and including Alex Brun, Joe Cook and park volunteer/paramedic Brett Bergeron ascended to the accident scene for six-and-a-half hours during the night, arriving just before dawn. They were supported by a team of rangers who carried additional gear to the base of the glacier in the event of a carryout. At daybreak, the rain had stopped and the cloud cover lifted enough to allow an Airlift Northwest medical helicopter to land near the accident scene and transport the injured climber directly to Harborview Hospital in Seattle. HiLine Helicopters, operating under contract with the park, then brought out the remaining two climbers, uninjured but now nearing hypothermic condition.  Rangers Kelly Bush and Kevork Arackellian then joined the rangers on scene investigating the accident site and recovering the deceased climbers.The recovery operation and transfer to the Skagit County coroner were completed around noon. Media attention was extensive from Sunday night through Monday. The climbers who died in the accident, all of whom were Washington State residents, were group leader J.B. of Tacoma, M.H. of Bellevue, and J.A. of Seattle. The injured climber is W.M. of Tacoma, and the two climbers who were not injured are M.H. of Olympia and J.F. of Seattle.  NPS incident commander for the incident was Kelly Bush. [Submitted by Kelly Bush, Wilderness District Ranger, and Tim Manns, Chief Interpreter]

Yellowstone National Park (ID,MT,WY)
Update on Three Searches in Progress

The following is an update on the three searches in progress in the park, as of this past Tuesday morning:

• Knowles Falls SAR — This is the search for 14-year-old Boy Scout L.S., who fell into the Yellowstone River on June 24th. The current strategy calls for limited continuous operations. This means occasional foot searches, occasional searches utilizing stock, occasional dog team searches, and occasional overflights.
• Bridge SAR — This is the search for 19-year-old Xanterra Parks and Resorts employee C.K., whose car was found in the Yellowstone River on June 29th. The same strategy is being employed as in the Knowles Falls SAR.
• Lewis Lake SAR — This is the search for J.M., 59, of Seattle, Washington, whose empty canoe was found on Lewis Lake on July 2nd. Side scan sonar is being employed in the lake and routine searches are being conducted by boat.

The park has scaled back all three searches considerably, with a total of about ten park personnel now involved on a daily basis. Suspension of all three operations is being considered. The rivers are dropping significantly, water temperatures are rising, and water clarity is increasing. Hundreds of visitors are engaged in river recreation on a daily basis, increasing the chances that one or more of the three missing people will be spotted. Members of the S. family continue to staff an observation point on the bridge over the Yellowstone River in Gardner around the clock.
[Submitted by Stephen Swanke, East District Ranger]

Yosemite National Park (CA)
Update on Search for Missing Hiker

The search for missing backpacker M.F. was scaled down to a limited continuous search strategy on June 30th. M.F., a 51-year-old experienced hiker from Santa Barbara, California, disappeared during a six-day solo trip into the wilderness north of Hetch Hetchy. M.F.'s backpack was located on the first day of the search, but no other clues were discovered despite an intensive ground and aerial search operation involving over 250 people and four helicopters.
[Submitted by Adrienne Freeman, M.F. SAR Information Officer]

Mojave National Preserve (CA)
Multiple Significant Incidents

Park staff responded to several major incidents between June 22nd and the 28th:

• June 22nd — Lightning started seven fires in the park and quickly overwhelmed available resources. The fires were finally contained on the 28th, but not before burning over 70,000 acres. NPS rangers from Death Valley and Santa Monica and BLM rangers from Barstow, Needles and Ridgecrest joined Mojave rangers in closing roads and evacuating private residences within the park. Eleven private homes and numerous outbuildings were burned by the fire. The Mid-Hills campground was burned over and sustained significant damage. Backfire operations and aerial retardant drops saved a ranger residence, the Hole-in-the-Wall campground, and numerous private inholdings. After structures were lost in Round Valley, rangers and county SAR personnel conducted a search for a resident who couldn't be located. The search was terminated when they found that the resident wasn't in the area during the fire.
• June 24th — Rangers and the San Bernadino County FD responded to a multi-vehicle accident on I-40. One person was ejected from a vehicle and another was trapped. The latter required an extensive extrication effort.
• June 25th — Members of the BAER (burned area recovery) team reported a vehicle fire on a dirt road in the northern portion of the park. Ranger Tim Duncan and a BLM ranger responded. A helicopter assigned to the fire dropped a bucket of water on the vehicle and prevented a vegetation fire. It was later learned that the vehicle had been stolen in Las Vegas the previous day.

[Submitted by Denny Ziemann, Chief Ranger]

Blue Ridge Parkway
Attempted Suicide

A park visitor called Nelson County 911 on the afternoon of July 4th to report an unconscious and non-responsive woman in a vehicle at Afton Mountain Overlook. The Rockfish Rescue Squad arrived first on the scene. They confirmed that the woman was unconscious and determined that she'd apparently overdosed on prescription medications. EMT's found a note listing the medications (411 pills) that she had taken in an apparent attempt to end her own life. She was transported to the Augusta Medical Center, where she was last reported to be on a respirator in the ICU but stable. Rangers are continuing the investigation and interviewing family members.
[Submitted by Bruce Bytnar, Ridge District Ranger]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

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NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Thursday, July 14, 2005

Preparedness Level 2

Initial attack remained light on Wednesday. Eight of the 132 newly-reported fires escaped to become large fires. Another five large fires were contained.

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Weather Forecast

High pressure centered over the Great Basin is bringing very hot weather to much of the West along with increasing moisture in the Southwest and Great Basin. Weak high pressure will be building over Alaska.

Red Flag Warnings

A red flag warning has been posted for northeast Wyoming and the Black Hills for high winds, low relative humidity and high temperatures.

Fire Weather Watches

None 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

No updates on National Park Service fires have been received since yesterday.

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	7/12	7/13	% Con	Est Con
FL	FEMA	T1	Custer	Hurricane Dennis Response	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
AL	FEMA	T1	Feser	Hurricane Dennis Response	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FL	FEMA	T1	Hill	Hurricane Dennis Response	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FL	FEMA	ST1	Koehler	Hurricane Dennis Response	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
CO	USFS	T1	Krugman	Mason Fire, Pike San Isabel NF	12,200	12,666	60	7/16
SD	USFS	T1	Martin	Ricco Fire, Black Hills NF	3,941	3,959	95	7/16
FL	FEMA	T1	Quesinberry	Hurricane Dennis Response	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FL	NPS	T2	Panko	Hurricane Dennis Response, Gulf Islands NS	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
AZ	USFS	T2	Raley	Florida Fire, Coronado NF	6,000	11,375	20	NR
WA	BIA	ST	Reed-Holloway	Wes Omak Lake, Colville Agency	---	8,000	10	UNK
AZ	NPS	FUM	Cones	Dragon Complex, Grand Canyon NP	5,984	6,416	N/A	N/A
CO	BLM	FUM	Cook	Pack Trail Fire, White River FO	300	300	N/A	N/A
CO	USFS	FUM	Hahnenberg	Rio Blanco Fire, San Juan NF	1,182	1,182	N/A	N/A
NM	USFS	FUM	Hall	North Gila Complex, Gila NF	21,711	NR	N/A	N/A

National Resource Commitments

Day	Mon	Tue	Wed	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu
Date	6/27	6/28	6/29	7/11	7/12	7/13	7/14
Crews	186	182	168	125	76	96	121
Engines	366	353	315	247	230	276	275
Helicopters	77	78	59	50	33	42	45
Air Tankers	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Overhead	1,393	1,437	1,355	1,178	895	914	967

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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Capitol Reef National Park (UT)
Ken Kehrer To Retire

After 31 years of service, Ken Kehrer, Jr will be retiring on August 3rd.

Ken began his career in 1974 as a seasonal interpreter in Yosemite National Park.  During his career, he worked as a protection ranger at Yosemite National Park, and Capitol Reef National Park, as the West District ranger and chief ranger in Denali National Park, and, since 2000, as the chief ranger at Capitol Reef National Park.

Throughout his career, he has been recognized with numerous awards and citations, including the Departmental Award for Valor, the Alaska Region Harry Yount Award and a special Intermountain Regional Director's Award for his work on homeland security.  He is the past chair of both the Alaska Chief Ranger's Advisory Group and the Colorado Plateau Cluster Chief Rangers.

Ken and his lovely wife Jere plan on splitting their time between their home near Teasdale, Utah, their family inholding in Yosemite (Wawona), and visiting their children and grandchildren. Their older son Kelly is a successful civil engineer in Eagle, Idaho and their younger son, Matt, is a doctoral candidate at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania.  As always, look for Ken on the back of a horse and Jere on the tennis court. 

Please send cards, photos, and well wishes t Capitol Reef National Park, Jessie Jordan, HC 70 Box 15, Torrey, UT 84775. A retirement party will be held on Friday, August 5th, at 6:30 p.m. at the Rim Rock Restaurant in Torrey, Utah. Those interested in attending the retirement party should contact ranger Jessie Jordan at 435-425-3791 x 155 or via email at  Jessie_Jordan@nps.gov. 

[Submitted by Jessie Jordan, Park Ranger]

NPS Office at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
Passing of Don Sprenkle

The NPS staff at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center is saddened to report the passing of retired Enforcement Techniques Division instructor Don Sprenkle. 

Don, also known as the "Gas Man," will be remembered by a generation of law enforcement rangers for his cheerful application of CS, CN and OC gases to his captive audiences. 

Always upbeat and humorous, Don provided a meaningful learning experience to an otherwise "tearful" event.
[Submitted by Don Usher]

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (AZ)
GS-025-9 Park Ranger (LE)

Dates: 07/13/2005 - 08/04/2005
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument has announced a full-time GS-025-9 park ranger (LE) position in the park's Border District. This position encompasses the full range of front and backcountry law enforcement in a high intensity drug trafficking area. The incumbent will be responsible for EMS, SAR, and structural and wildland fire. The law enforcement program at Organ Pipe is unique and diverse. It is a team oriented program that is committed to increasing the safety of our borders and protecting the resources of the park. The announcement number is SOAR-05-39. For a copy, click on "More Information" below. [Submitted by Julie Kovacs, Border District Ranger, julie_kovacs@nps.gov, 520-387-6849 ext 7203] More Information...

Zion National Park (UT)
GS-025-9 PFT Commissioned Ranger

Zion National Park is seeking qualified candidates for a lateral transfer to a GS-9, permanent full time commissioned ranger position. The announcement is ZION-MERIT-05-03. Applicants must already be at the GS-9 level or have been a permanent GS-9 employee and be qualified for a law enforcement position. This position is in the Canyon District (Zion Canyon). The ranger filling this position will:

• Perform the full range of law enforcement duties in a primarily front country setting.
• Conduct patrols by vehicle and foot.
• Perform the full range of emergency services, including EMS, SAR (primarily high angle rescue), structural and wildland firefighting.
• Serve as part of a small and active ranger work group where good communication, a strong work ethic and a team approach are critical to successful performance.

Zion is subject to heavy visitation (2.5 million/year), long hot summers and a significant emergency services workload. The park is also a training site for the FTEP. This is an excellent opportunity for the right ranger to gain experience and function as a member of a closely knit team to accomplish common goals.

Zion National Park is located in Southwest Utah.  This is a required occupancy position.  The park and surrounding areas offer a wide variety of outdoor activities including hiking, rock climbing, hunting, mountain biking and winter sports.

For more information contact Kevin Killian, Canyon District Ranger, via email or at 435-772-7825. Send resume or application materials t Janel Bassett, Zion National Park, State Route 9, Springdale, UT 84767. Enclose your most current SF-50 and supervisory evaluation. Applications must be postmarked by July 22nd.  This is a mandatory drug testing, 6(c) covered position.  Relocation expenses will be paid.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area (AZ,NV)
GS-025-9 Protection Ranger

Lake Mead National Recreation Area has an immediate opening for a lateral reassignment to a permanent full-time GS-09 protection ranger position with primary duties as a field training ranger. This is a 6(c) position and requires a Level I law enforcement commission. Government housing is required. If you have been trained and have worked or are currently working as a field training ranger, we want you to come join our team!

Lake Mead NRA has been and will be an active member of the field training program. We are currently expanding the program parkwide and need dedicated, motivated, enthusiastic personnel who can coach, mentor and lead new rangers. If you are interested in being part of a dynamic team that strives to provide the best that the service can offer, don't miss this opportunity.

Written applications can be mailed to Lake Mead NRA, 601 Nevada Way, Boulder City, NV, 89005 attention Angie Kuekes. If you are interested please respond by July 29th. This position and several other positions are now advertised on USAJOBS and will close on July 29th.

For more information, contact deputy chief ranger Mary Hinson at 702.293.8963 or human resources specialist Angie Kuekes at 702.293.8028.
[Submitted by Mary Hinson, Deputy Chief Ranger]

Chickasaw National Recreation Area (OK)
Law Enforcement Detail Opportunity

The park is in need of qualified law enforcement rangers to fill several two-week details, starting on July 10th and continuing to September 3rd. This opportunity has occurred due to two recent knee injuries within the protection staff and a vacancy that is presently open for lateral transfer. The detailees will cover ranger responsibilities associated with a 10,000-acre recreation area, which includes the Lake of the Arbuckles and the original Platt National Park.  Work will be performed independently in an area of concurrent jurisdiction that experiences moderate to heavy numbers of incidents.  Law enforcement responses will include alcohol violations, traffic enforcement, campground problems and marine patrol. Rangers will perform patrols via vehicle, boat and foot to insure timely law enforcement responses, EMS treatment, search and rescue and resource protection. Travel, lodging, per diem and base salary will be covered by the park. Chickasaw NRA is located adjacent to the city of Sulphur (4,000), which provides all necessary services. Larger urban services and excellent educational opportunities are readily available in the metro Oklahoma City area (80 miles away) or Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas (160 miles distant). Interested rangers need to contact chief ranger Dennis Weiland at 580-622-3161 x 1400 or supervisory park ranger Albert Faria at 580-622-3161 x1405.
[Submitted by Dennis Weiland, Chief Ranger]

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (CA)
Special Park Uses Program Manager

Dates: 06/17/2005 - 07/08/2005

Interested in broadening your experience as a park ranger in a national park? Like to work independently and with "outside" partners? We are seeking an experienced special park uses (SPU) ranger to work cooperatively with two other major land management agencies and a host of local and regional agencies, authorities and organizations to ensure consistency in permit conditions and event operations. The ranger will oversee film permit operations working with state agencies, economic development and tourism organizations, and industry trade groups and organizations, and will be responsible for cost recovery related to those permits. She/he will also run the incidental business permit/commercial use authorization program, which includes traditional (e.g., guided horseback rides) and non-traditional services such as catered group picnics and scattering of cremated remains.
[Submitted by Evan Jones, evan_jones@nps.gov, 805-370-2305] More Information...

Submission standards for the Morning Report can be found by clicking here. 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 Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.