NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

BLACKBERRY EDITION

Monday, September 26, 2005

INCIDENTS

Gulf Coast Areas

Taking Stock After Rita's Passage

Only a few reports were received over the weekend on Rita's impacts. They follow. Additional reports will appear as they are received.

Central IMT

The NPS Central Incident Management Team (Eddie Lopez, IC) was mobilized on Thursday, September 22nd, in anticipation of Hurricane Rita striking Texas. The team was asked to pre-position in a safe and sustainable location in order to respond quickly after the storm passed.

On Friday, the team members and Intermountain Region SET team #2 traveled to Lyndon B. Johnson NHP, which is an hour's drive west of Austin. Superintendent David Vela and his staff gave team members a warm welcome and are providing outstanding logistical support and facilities.

Big Thicket NP near Beaumont in southeastern Texas was directly in the path of the storm. Staff members who took shelter at the park maintenance compound at Willow Creek have reported in by satellite phone that they are without electricity, have a sketchy water supply, but are safe. At the time of the report on Saturday, deputy IC Mike Pflaum was to lead a small group of team members and a SET squad to Big Thicket to conduct an initial assessment of the damage. Their report will help the team and acting superintendent Mike George determine how to best support the park, its employees, and their families recover from damage caused by Hurricane Rita.

The incident command post and base camp will remain at park headquarters in Johnson City until an adequate location is found closer to Beaumont.

Natchez NHP

The superintendent reports minor damage, tree limbs down, and power outages. The park is operating on generator power.

Vicksburg NMP

The superintendent reports no damage. The park is open.

Cane River Creole NHP

At the time the park was contacted (Saturday evening), they were still being buffeted by winds and rain. Power went out, but came back on in the evening.

Dry Tortugas NP

The park reopened on Saturday, except for the campground on Garden Key, which is to reopen today following repairs to the park's electrical system. Hurricane Rita passed south of Dry Tortugas National Park last Wednesday, bringing sustained winds of 69 mph, with gusts to 90 mph. Portions of the floating docks at Garden Key were damaged by the storm. The diesel fuel piping system that runs limited electrical services was damaged and is in need of repair. The rainfall collection piping system that directs rainwater into the cisterns was also damaged. There was damage to the superintendent's quarters and some water damage to other staff quarters. Storm-driven debris came ashore on the island and a wooden bridge on the moat wall was destroyed. The good news is that the radio tower reinstalled after Hurricane Katrina remained intact and supported continual radio communications with the communications center at Everglades throughout the storm.

[Al Nash, IO, Central IMT; Ken Garvin, Regional FMO, SERO; Rick Cook, PAO, EVER/DRTO]

Gulf Coast Areas

Update on Hurricane Katrina Recovery Operations

The following reports were submitted on this past weekend's activities.

Jean Lafitte NHP&P/New Orleans Jazz NHP

The National IMT (JD Swed, IC) is charged with both assisting the employees of the two parks and with overseeing the overall NPS response to the hurricane.

The team continued to evaluate and implement hurricane recovery operations at Jean Lafitte and New Orleans Jazz from their temporary ICP at the headquarters of Natchez Trace Parkway in Tupelo, Mississippi. An advance party left Tupelo on Saturday morning to scout out road conditions on the route heading south to Thibodaux. The incident commander was to decide on Sunday as to whether or not the entire team would head back to the ICP on Monday, based on the reported road and weather conditions.

Director Fran Mainella and Deputy Director Steve Martin participated in a conference call Saturday morning that included the National IMT incident commander JD Swed and Central IMT incident commander Eddie Lopez. The ICs updated the director and staff on the status of the incident. The director made the decision to maintain the responsibility of managing the hurricane recovery effort at the national level, since the effort now spans two NPS regions.

The employee assistance branch contacted almost all of the employees of Jean Lafitte and New Orleans Jazz on Saturday, checking to see how they had weathered the storm. Only a few remained to be contacted by day's end, and those were employees who had previously evacuated to Texas. One Jean Lafitte employee based in Lafayette called from the second story of a home requesting rescue as the ground floor had flooded, cutting off any escape routes. State rescue agencies in Louisiana were contacted and the employee was safely evacuated.

The resources and facilities branch managers planned for the return to the ICP and conducting preliminary assessments of facilities at the two parks to determine what had been impacted by Hurricane Rita. Early reports received on Saturday indicated that areas of Chalmette and Barataria had re-flooded.

There are currently 108 personnel assigned to the hurricane recovery at Jean Lafitte and New Orleans Jazz, 231 to the recovery effort at Gulf Islands, and 28 to the IMT in Texas.

Gulf Islands NS

The Pacific West IMT (Denny Ziemann, IC) is charged with assisting employees and helping with the rehabilitation of the Mississippi District.

Crews continue debris removal and clean-up in the Davis Bayou area of the park. Hurricane Rita skirted the Ocean Springs area, bringing rain and wind, but no tornadoes or utility interruptions at Gulf Islands. Boat operations to the island were still suspended over the weekend and are expected to resume Monday or Tuesday when winds subside.

The Southeast SET is demobing and spent the weekend transitioning to a new team of individual LE rangers from all over the NPS. They will continue to be responsible for law enforcement and EMS responses within the Mississippi District of the park and incident.

The FEMA camp in Gautier that has been supporting incident personnel is moving to Vancleave, 30 minutes from the park. Incident personnel will continue to receive food, laundry and shower services in Vancleave. Crews will be moving their sleeping areas to Vancleave to make room in the now rehabilitated campground for 20 trailers for displaced Coast Guard families and 20 FEMA trailers for displaced area residents.

Information Directory

A web site has been established as a repository for official documents related to hurricane recovery operations: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/waso.cfm?prg=15&lv=1" http://inside.nps.gov/waso/waso.cfm?prg=15&lv=1.

[Kris Fister, IO, IMT, JELA/JAZZ; Shauna Dyas, IO, IMT, GUIS]

Capitol Reef NP

SAR in Burro Wash

On the evening of September 4th, the park received a 911 call notifying them of an overdue party. Two adults and three juveniles, ages 10 to 12, failed to exit Burro Wash by nightfall. Burro Wash is a premier slot-canyon destination, but the upper and lower thirds of the wash are difficult to traverse owing to 18-inch wide narrows with standing water and numerous chock stones. The middle third of the wash requires technical climbing gear to navigate pour-offs. Passing through the entirety of Burro Wash would typically require a full day, but the group did not depart the trailhead until 2 p.m. Adding to concerns, many areas of the park experienced heavy rain and flash flooding during the afternoon. A park ranger and a park biologist entered the lower portion of the wash just after midnight, proceeding as far as safely possible in darkness. They hiked through cold water, which reached depths in excess of five feet, but did not locate the party. Another ranger secured the upper portion of the wash. By 4 a.m., rescuers were certain that members of the party were in the middle of the wash, but still hadn't contacted them or determined their condition. A technical rescue squad from Zion NP and a short-haul helicopter from Grand Canyon NP were placed on standby, and the fixed-wing aircraft from Glen Canyon NRA arrived at Capitol Reef shortly after dawn. The pilot and park biologist conducted numerous sweeps on the wash, but were initially unsuccessful in spotting the party. Shortly after 9 a.m., members of the party was seen hiking down the wash and they exited it a short time later. They were not initially visible to observers in the plane because they were passing through a deep, narrow portion of the wash. All five were tired and hungry, but in good health. They had continued hiking the previous evening until about 9 p.m., when they determined that further travel in the darkness was unsafe. They then built a fire and wrapped garbage bags around their legs to stay warm. [Ranger Jessie Jordan, IC]

Richmond NBP

Structural and Wildland Fires

Just before noon on September 19th, park headquarters received a call from a park neighbor stating there was smoke coming from the area of the historic West House in the Malvern Hill Unit. Rangers responded with the park's brush truck ; also responding was Henrico County Fire and EMS. The responding units found a grass fire adjacent to a park Bobcat loader and the West House barn. Initial attack began on the grass fire and adjacent crops but soon the fire spread into the pole barn, fully engulfing the structure. A unified command was setup between the park and Henrico County to fight the fire with various tanker and brush trucks. The barn, Bobcat T200 loader and two Bobcat implements were totally destroyed. Damage is estimated at $60,000. The non-historic barn was set to be demolished and removed from the site in the near future. There were no injuries. Approximately a half acre of soy beans and a half acre of cotton farmed through an agriculture lease also burned. There was no fire damage to the historic West House. There were no employees at the site at the start of the fire. The Bobcat loader had been used that morning on a park trail and was parked by the barn for the lunch period. It is believed that the engine compartment of the loader ignited cured dry grass in the area. Weather conditions have been hot and dry for the past month. Both the park and County of Henrico are investigating the incident. [Tim Mauch, Chief Ranger]

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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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