NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
BLACKBERRY EDITION
Friday, September 30, 2005
INCIDENTS
Yosemite NP
More on Funeral Arrangements for Dan Madrid
The following first few paragraphs are repeated from yesterday's edition. The items in bold face at bottom are new.
Funeral arrangements have been announced for Special Agent Dan Madrid.
Visitation will be from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, October 2nd, at the Kutis Funeral Home on 2906 Gravois Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63118 (314-772-3000).
The funeral will be at 10 a.m. on Monday, October 3rd, at the Basilica of Saint Louis the King (the Old Cathedral on the Gateway Arch grounds), 209 Walnut Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63102 (314-231-3250).
Following the service, there will be a procession from Old Cathedral to Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery on 7030 Gravois Road in St. Louis.
The NPS uniform of the day is winter dress. The dress service jacket or blouse is preferred. For the funeral service at the Old Cathedral, all uniformed NPS personnel, with or without marked vehicles, must arrive no later than 9 a.m. Lodging information for NPS employees will follow.
Due to a baseball game and a large convention, downtown St. Louis hotel rooms are booking very quickly. We recommend calling the hotels on the following list for availability as soon as possible, or making your reservations through one of the online travel sites:
Renaissance St. Louis Suites Hotel, 827 Washington Avenue; 314-621-9700
Embassy Suites, 901 North First Street
Drury Plaza Hotel, Fourth and Market; 314-231-3003
Adams Mark, Fourth and Chestnut
Hilton Downtown, 400 Olive; 314-436-0002
Hampton Inn, 333 Washington; 314-621-7900
Pavilion Hotel, Broadway and Market; 314-421-1776
Cards, letters and other forms of condolence may be sent to the Madrid Family, c/o Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, 11 North Fourth Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63102. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made in memory of Daniel P. Madrid to the Old Cathedral, 209 Walnut Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63102.
[Frank Mares, Public Information Officer]
Gulf Coast Areas
Update on Recovery from Hurricane Rita
Big Thicket NP
The Central IMT (Eddie Lopez, IC) is charged with assisting the parks and employees affected by Hurricane Rita, primarily Big Thicket NP, and with supporting communities around the park.
The team moved its ICP to Big Thicket yesterday, where it will be located in the two trailers that have been brought on-site. The move not only facilitates the recovery work, but also frees up their hotel rooms in Huntsville for displaced residents.
Members of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe are receiving three hot meals a days despite having no electricity or water. The team is partnering with Stewart's Firefighter Food Catering to feed tribal members, BIA officers, and other support staff at the reservation. Said tribal member Sharon Miller: “The NPS is a good neighbor. They are around when you need them. For years they have helped us.” While most tribal members are eating at food tents, some meals are being hand delivered to homebound friends and family. Seniors are being served indoors at the local community center.
Hot meals from the catering service arrived yesterday for the first time at Big Thicket National Preserve. Until last night, hot meals had been prepared by family members of park employees who had endured the onslaught of Hurricane Rita.
Paul Eubank, oil and gas specialist, flew over the park to assess damage to the many pipelines that traverse the park. Assessment of damage to employee homes should be completed Friday. Several displaced families staying in hotels moved from Austin to Huntsville today. That brings them closer to home and employee assistance located there.
[Al Nash, IO, Central IMT]
Gulf Coast Areas
Update on Recovery from Hurricane Katrina
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.
Gordon Wissinger's Eastern Area IMT traveled to Thibodaux on Thursday. His team members will be working with their counterparts on JD Swed's team all day Friday to get an overview of the incident operations that they will be responsible for when the teams transition on Saturday morning.
Employee Assistance Branch - The branch completed writing the statement of work for the long-term contract for a mental health provider, and a contractor has been identified. They are also working on a “tool kit” for employee assistance that can be used on future incidents. Branch members had six contacts with employees today to follow-up on previous issues. The peer support group will demobilize by the end of the week.
Resources and Facilities Branch - The clean-up of tree debris at Cane River Creole NHP was completed yesterday, and the crew is relocating to Barataria Preserve to continue work on clearing trails there. A new work group consisting of FMSS and technical specialists arrived today to begin assessing damage to buildings and determine what needs to be done for the historic trees that were damaged by Hurricane Rita. The push is on to get the temporary park headquarters for Jean Lafitte NHP&P set up in the visitor center at the Barataria Preserve by the beginning of next week. The furniture and office equipment is in place; all that remains is the testing of the phone system and computer hookups. Since the computers are being rented, access to NPS networks will have to be done via the virtual park network (VPN). Upon a recent thorough inspection of the site, it was discovered that some documents at the Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery were not removed before Katrina struck. They were completely soaked by the brackish water that flooded the site. The documents were retrieved today and are being stored in a freezer, pending being shipped out to technical specialists for salvage and restoration. The hazardous materials group finished removing the spilled materials at Chalmette. A crew of local hires began venting the New Orleans Jazz Visitor Center and buildings at Chalmette to help dry out the interior of the buildings in order to reduce damage caused by mold and mildew. The utilities group continued to work on the air conditioning at 419 Decatur Street. The latest estimate for having potable water in the area is 50 days.
Law Enforcement Branch - The LE staff escorted one employee to a residence and removed personal property from a dorm for another employee. They will continue to patrol the sites downtown and at Chalmette.
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 continued clean-up on the island yesterday while other crews finished up on Davis Bayou. The windows of the visitor center are being boarded up and dehumidifiers are being left inside the building to prevent further damage from mold and dampness. The finishing touches are being applied to the electrical repairs in the campground in preparation for guests from the Coast Guard and FEMA. Both agencies will be housing 20 displaced families in trailers at the campground for the foreseeable future. Two OSHA representatives visited the incident yesterday to advise the safety officer and incident personnel on safety concerns and issues. They provided brochures, information and advice to ensure the safety of the operational functions being carried out at Gulf Islands.
The SET team continues to provide law enforcement and EMS services to the park and incident. Some traffic citations have been issued on the park road used by the public to reach private property. The majority of citations are speeding and non-use of child restraints, with many more verbal warnings issued than citations.
The Employee Assistance Branch continues to assist employees and their families with claims, pay issues, housing, emotional support and information on assistance from FEMA and the Red Cross
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]
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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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