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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Thursday, July 20, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Badlands NP Firefighters Provide Critical Aid At Major Community Fire In the early morning hours of Tuesday, July 18th, members of the park's structural fire brigade were contacted by a resident of the town of Interior regarding a large multiple structure fire which was occurring on Main Street. The party reported that the warehouse utilized by the park's natural history association was in flames. Two adjoining buildings, including the town's post office, were also on fire, and the town's only grocery store was in danger of becoming involved in the blaze. The intensity and size of the fire made it visible from park concession facilities approximately three miles away. The Interior Volunteer Fire Department was on scene and attempting to contain the fire with several engines, but the department is not equipped with any structural fire gear or personnel protective equipment. A size-up conducted by the park's chief fire officer determined that the post office and probably the grocery store would be lost if an interior attack was not made. To complicate matters, two large propane tanks on the outside of the grocery store were in danger of catching fire from an expanded vegetation fire started by the burning buildings. Volunteer departments from the towns of Wall and Kadoka were requested but had a 30 minute response time. Park firefighters deployed an exposure line, began roof operations, and made an aggressive interior attack using positive pressure ventilation. Within 20 minutes, park firefighters had stopped the fire's extension through the post office and saved the two structures. When additional fire engines arrived, ventilation operations and a building search of the grocery store were conducted by the Wall Fire Department. Numerous fire ground problems had to be overcome during the operation, including dead and low water pressure hydrants. Park fire officers had to take an active role in directing other volunteers and alerting personnel to a number of safety issues, including fire engine placement within potential building collapse zones. Following the relocation of one such community engine, an exposed exterior wall collapsed onto the street. The poorly placed engine would have been damaged by the falling wall if it had not been moved. No injuries occurred during the three-hour operation. Had it not been for the quick interior fire attack conducted by the park fire brigade, all four structures would have been lost. The economic impact to the local community would have been tremendous. The park's natural history association estimates its loss alone at more than $340,000. The South Dakota Fire Marshall's Office was notified and a formal investigation into the cause of the fire has begun. [Mark Gorman, Chief Ranger] Assateague Island NS Rangers responded to several EMS calls and a drowning on Sunday, July 16th. A Korean couple from Gaithersburg, Maryland, came to the park that day to go clamming with friends. While clamming in Sinepuxent Bay, the wife fell into deeper water. Both husband and wife were non-swimmers and the husband drowned trying to rescue her. The woman, found face down in the water, was pulled to shore by friends and onlookers. Rangers administered rescue breathing and she was transported to a nearby hospital where she remains in intensive care. A multi-agency search was launched for the missing husband. His body was found and recovered by rangers with the help of the Coast Guard, Maryland State Police, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Berlin VFD, and NPS lifeguards. An autopsy is pending. CISD is being offered to participants in the incident. Protection ranger trainee Josh Frasier assisted with the death investigation, which was complicated by language barriers. Other incidents that day included an incident in which a canoe rental company employee was stung by a wasp and lapsed into anaphylactic shock due to an allergic reaction during transport to the hospital. She is recovering. While the search for the missing husband was underway, rangers responded to the park campground to assist a visitor who was experiencing seizures. The visitor was provided with oxygen and transported to a local hospital for medical treatment. [Mike Anderson, Chief Ranger] Sleeping Bear Dunes NL Search For And Rescue Of Two Kayakers On the morning of July 17th, Ca.A., 37, and her brother Cr.W., 46, both of Grand Rapids, Michigan, departed from their illegal beach campsite on Lake Michigan and paddled north in their kayaks in an attempt to round Sleeping Bear Point to the east and go ashore at Glen Haven, where they had left their vehicle. They found themselves unable to make the turn due to the 25 to 30 knot southerly winds that were blowing up four to six foot waves on the lake. They became exhausted and ultimately were pushed three to five miles offshore in Sleeping Bear Bay. Cr.W. managed to call 911 on his cell phone to report their situation. Ca.W. subsequently swamped her river-style kayak and had to abandon the boat. The water temperature at the time was approximately 66 degrees, with air temperatures over 85 degrees. Both were wearing life jackets, but had no thermal protection. Intermittent cell phone contact between Cr.W. and Leelanau County dispatch allowed responding vessels from the NPS, sheriff's office and a DNR vessel to converge on their approximate locations. After approximately 70 minutes of searching, Cr.W. was able to provide the 911 dispatcher with GPS coordinates he obtained from his cell phone. Once provided the coordinates, search teams found the drifting kayakers and they were rescued by a sheriff's department marine patrol vessel. Both were okay. Due to strong winds and building sea conditions, the outcome could have been much worse for the kayakers if they had not had their cell phone, as they had not filed a float plan and no one knew they were there. [Larry Johnson, Chief Ranger] OTHER NEWS Other news of interest from today's edition of InsideNPS, which can be found at this address if your inside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/) and at this address if you're outside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/). Note that not all articles that appear in the former make it into the latter: WASO Natural Resource Stewardship and Science - New “Wildcam Grizzlies” streaming video site launched whereby people can see grizzlies live from their home computers. WASO Public Health - Report on national incident management team meeting in NIFC last week to develop plans for dealing with avian flu pandemic. Midwest Region - Two announcements open, one for deputy super at CUVA and the other for deputy super at OZAR. NRPC - Announcement for opening for a storm hazard analyst. * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |