NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
BLACKBERRY EDITION
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
INCIDENTS
Blue Ridge Parkway
Update on Ranger Brian Stackowicz
Ranger Brian Stackowicz continues to improve and has been moved to a regular room at Memorial Mission Hospital, where he's been since his accident. The orthopedic surgery last week went well and he will have additional surgery on his left knee soon. Most likely he will move from the floor to a rehab center in the hospital in the near future. He remains affected by pain meds but is aware of visitors and is very responsive, although quickly fatigued. You can send cards and letters to Brian at Memorial Mission Hospital, Room 446, Asheville, NC 28801.[John Garrison, Chief Ranger]
Sequoia/Kings Canyon NPs
Ten-Day Search For Missing Man Concludes Successfully
A ten-day search for a missing man came to a successful conclusion on Wednesday, August 17th. On the morning of August 8th, the NPS received a call from V.L., mother of B.L, reporting that he had left his uncle's house in Dunlap, California, on Sunday to go to Kings Canyon National Park. She also reported that he'd been diagnosed with paranoid-schizophrenia, had recently stopped taking his medications, and was scared of people in uniform. A multi-agency search was begun for him under a unified command that included the NPS, Tulare County Sheriff's Office, Fresno County Sheriff's Office and the Forest Service. Tulare County was the lead agency. At times, up to 70 search and rescue personnel a day were being used, assisted by helicopters (including one with infrared capabilities) and California Rescue Dog Association search dog teams. Missing person posters were also disseminated. Although several reports were received of visitors sighting B.L., searchers were unable to contact him. Search strategies were accordingly changed. Search teams were covertly dropped off to monitor areas where he'd last been seen and spent the night in the field. When this approach also proved unsuccessful, a decision was made to remove the command post and any obvious search personnel to reduce B.L.'s reluctance to come out from hiding. The search continued, with many more reports of sightings by park visitors. On August 17th, B.L. broke into a nearby unoccupied house and phoned his parents, but was unable to describe his location. His uncle was able to find him, however, and brought him to Kings Canyon, where his parents were waiting for him. He was taken to a hospital for observation. Assistance was provided by Hume Lake Christian Camp, which provided meals and support to the searchers, and Buck Rock Fire Lookout Association, which helped with communications relay. The Office of Emergency Services brought out communications equipment to provide phone and internet service to the unified incident command post. Also providing help were Tulare County Search and Rescue, Marin County Search and Rescue, Death Valley National Park, and China Lake Mountain Rescue. [Alexandra Picavet, Public Affairs Officer]
Mount Rainier NP
Search For Missing Hiker Ends
Searchers combed rocky terrain, dense forest, and glaciers for seven days, but were unable to find Z.W., 22, of Meriden, Connecticut. Z.W. was reported missing at midnight on August 11th. Over the course of the following week, more than 20 searchers, on foot and aboard helicopters, looked for evidence of Z.W.'s whereabouts in the rugged Mount Rainier backcountry. The search area extended from the Nisqually Glacier west to Success Cleaver and from 3,600 feet to the 14,410-foot summit. As the search progressed, more and more clues pointed to Wapowety Cleaver above the Kautz Glacier as Z.W.'s route of travel. These included conversations he had had about the route, tracks ascending to 10,000 feet, and a stuff sack containing some of his belongings stashed at 9,000 feet. But no sign of him was found. Incident commander John Piastuck called the search to an end at the close of operations on August 18th. [Lee Taylor, Information Officer]
FIRE MANAGEMENT
NIFC reports 237 new fires on Monday. Eleven became large fires, while another four large fires were contained. Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
Individual fire entries for today for the National Park Service can be obtained at HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/fire/news" http://www.nps.gov/fire/news . The full NIFC Incident Management Situation Report for today can be obtained at HYPERLINK "http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf" http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf.
OPERATIONAL NOTES
Law Enforcement and Emergency Services
New Violation Notices Now Being Shipped
The new violation notices (VN) from the Central Violations Bureau have arrived at the Brentwood Storehouse in Washington, DC, and are being shipped as quickly as possible. The VN's will be shipped to parks in the order that requests from the parks were received. First one up will be Colonial National Historical Park. [Dennis Burnett, NPS Law Enforcement Program Administrator]
PARKS AND PEOPLE
Nothing today.
JOBS
Nothing today.
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Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.
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