Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park (GA)
Assault with Deadly Weapon
On the evening of Friday, June 2nd, a woman was assaulted with a knife on the trail leading from the park visitor center to Kennesaw Avenue/Burnt Hickory fire road. The woman told ranger Anthony Winegar that she'd been running on the trail when someone grabbed her from behind and placed a knife to her neck. The woman said that she was able to head butt her assailant with the back of her head and that she was then able to get away from him. Winegar and Cobb County officers searched the entire area, but were unable to find the assailant. The woman was treated for minor scratches and drover herself home. The case is still under investigation. [Submitted by Lloyd R. Morris, Chief Ranger]
Joshua Tree National Park (CA)
Attempted Burglary of Ranger Residence
In the early morning hours of Saturday, June 10th, a man attempted to enter the ranger residence at Indian Cove by smashing in a window with a gardening tool. One of the residents was at home asleep during the incident. A dog in the house started barking just prior to the window breaking, awakening the occupant and scaring away the suspect. The resident called 911, and San Bernadino County Sheriff's Office deputies responded, as there were no rangers on duty at the time of the attempted break-in. The deputies were able to locate the would-be burglar at a nearby picnic table, drinking a Nalgene bottle full of beer, and arrested him for felony attempted burglary. [Submitted by Dan Messaros, Acting Chief Ranger]
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (PA)
Rescue of Injured Boy Scout
Park dispatch received a cell phone call from a Boy Scout group on the Red Dot trail on Mount Tammany in the New Jersey District just before noon on Saturday, June 10th. The caller reported that a 12-year-old scout fell while hiking, that he'd injured his ankle and hip, and that he was unable to walk. The Red Dot is an arduous, rocky trail which climbs in elevation very quickly. A unified command was set up between the park's SAR team and the New Jersey State Park Service. Efforts to find the injured boy were delayed because of inaccurate information on the incident location. Based on initial assessments of the boy's injuries, the team decided to request a medical helicopter. The victim's location was just 20 minutes from a helispot, so a total of only 25 minutes elapsed from the team's arrival at the scene of the accident to the boy being loaded into a medevac helicopter. He was flown to Lehigh Valley Medical Center in Allentown, where he was treated for his injuries and released. A carryout would probably have taken several hours. [Submitted by Phil Selleck, Chief Ranger]
Colorado National Monument (CO)
Man Commits Suicide by Driving Off Cliff
On the afternoon of June 8th, rangers and members of the Mesa County technical rescue team recovered a body near a wrecked vehicle approximately 200 feet below Rim Rock Drive in Red Canyon. The suicide most likely occurred on May 18th. On that day, rangers received notice that a 49-year-old Grand Junction man was threatening to drive off a cliff near Cold Shivers Point. An immediate search was conducted in the Cold Shivers Point area and along Rim Rock Drive, but rangers found no signs of a vehicle going over the edge. On the morning of June 8th, a park volunteer was picking up litter near Rim Rock Drive when he noticed a white vehicle in Red Canyon. Rangers, Mesa County Sheriff's Office deputies, and the Colorado State Patrol officers are investigating. [Submitted by Phil Akers, Chief Ranger]
FIRE MANAGEMENT
NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire/Incident Situation Highlights
Preparedness Level 3
NIFC has gone to Preparedness Level 3. Preparedness Level 3 goes into effect when the following conditions are met: Two or more geographic areas have incidents requiring a major commitment of national resources. Additional resources are being ordered and mobilized through NICC. Incident management teams are committed in two or more areas, or 275 crews are committed nationally.
Initial attack was light nationally yesterday, with 78 new fires. Seven of them, however, became large fires — two on state lands in New Mexico, two on state lands in Wyoming, and three on state and BLM lands in Utah. Another five large fires were contained.
Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, Texas and Utah.
Weather Discussion
A large low pressure trough moving across the west will continue to create strong winds and dry conditions over portions of the Great Basin, Southwest and Rocky Mountain Areas. Dry thunderstorms are possible mainly over Colorado and New Mexico. In Alaska, windy conditions will develop over the northern and central portion of the state, with a chance of thunderstorms across the southern interior.
Red Flag Warnings
Red flag warnings have been posted:
- For strong south winds and low relative humidity in southeast Utah this afternoon.
- For strong winds and low humidity over most of Arizona and New Mexico.
- For strong northeast winds in the northern and eastern interior of Alaska on Thursday and Friday.
Fire Weather Watches
A fire weather watch will be in effect on Friday for strong northeast winds in northwestern interior Alaska.
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
Service Unavailable
The requested service is temporarily unavailable. It is either overloaded or under maintenance. Please try later.
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 (on scene or on order) are listed in alphabetical order within each type by the IC's last name.
|
State |
Agency |
Team |
IC |
Fire/Incident and Location |
6/13 |
6/14 |
% Con |
Est Con |
|
UT |
USFS |
T1 |
Muir |
Annabella Fire, Fish Lake NF |
573 |
573 |
100 |
CND |
|
AZ |
BIA |
T1 |
Oltrogge |
Navajo Mountain 1, Navajo Regional Office |
1,500 |
2,500 |
5 |
UNK |
|
CA |
USFS |
T2 |
Johnson |
Ferguson Rock Slide, Sierra NF |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
AK |
State |
T2 |
Kurth |
Parks Highway Fire, Fairbanks Area Forestry |
51,700 |
51,700 |
25 |
7/1 |
|
WY |
State |
T2 |
Lowe |
Tracer Fire, Wyoming State Forestry |
----- |
1,600 |
5 |
6/16 |
|
CO |
BLM |
T2 |
Mullenix |
Thomas Fire, Little Snake Field Office |
800 |
3,700 |
20 |
UNK |
|
AZ |
USFS |
T2 |
Raley |
Potato Complex, Apache-Sitgreaves NF |
6,000 |
6,200 |
60 |
6/17 |
|
AZ |
BIA |
T2 |
Reinarz |
Ranger Two Fire, Truxton Canyon Agency |
393 |
393 |
100 |
CND |
|
AZ |
USFS |
FUM |
Hahnenburg |
Warm Fire, Kaibab NF |
251 |
251 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
NM |
USFS |
FUM |
Hall |
Skates Fire, Gila NF |
5,000 |
6,400 |
N/A |
N/A |
National Resource Commitments
|
Date |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
|
Day |
6/6 |
6/7 |
6/8 |
6/11 |
6/12 |
6/13 |
6/14 |
|
Crews |
47 |
66 |
72 |
141 |
133 |
143 |
133 |
|
Engines |
254 |
194 |
211 |
197 |
242 |
219 |
248 |
|
Helicopters |
25 |
35 |
37 |
35 |
41 |
37 |
33 |
|
Air Tankers |
13 |
12 |
14 |
14 |
14 |
14 |
13 |
|
Overhead |
301 |
368 |
441 |
596 |
719 |
863 |
744 |
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
Manassas National Battlefield Park (VA)
Death of Don Turner
On the evening of Saturday, June 10th, after working in the park all day, Don Turner, a maintenance employee at Manassas National Battlefield Park, died from a massive heart attack. As the maintenance staff in the park dwindled because of tightening budgets, Don worked harder to make sure that the park always put forward its best appearance for its visitors. He was so dedicated that when we had to bring our employees in from the field during heat advisories, we had to go out and find him and get him off his tractor. We will miss Don terribly, but at the same time, always have pleasant memories of him as a colleague. [Submitted by Bob Sutton, Superintendent]
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.