INCIDENTS

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Yosemite National Park (CA)
Highway 140 Reopens

In a ribbon-cutting ceremony this past Friday morning, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) opened the Ferguson rock slide bypass on Highway 140 between the town of Mariposa and Yosemite National Park. The road has been closed since late April due to a massive slide that covered Highway 140 in the Merced River canyon. This is a major commuting route for NPS employees, concession employees and park visitors, and the closure had necessitated commutes of up to two-and-a-half hours each way for some staff. The bypass, which was completed about two weeks ahead of schedule, utilizes two temporary bridges and the existing historical roadway to go around the slide. The road is currently open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily for vehicles less than 28 feet long. Once an automated system for monitoring the slide is operational, the road will be open 24 hours a day. Caltrans will now be concentrating on a permanent solution for repairing the road. The slide still remains active. Media coverage of the closure and of the event was high. [Submitted by Scott Gediman, Public Affairs Officer]


Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (CA)
Body of Missing Hiker Found

On August 17th, rangers recovered the body of a missing hiker from the San Joaquin River in the northernmost section of Kings Canyon National Park. L.S., 56, of Hershey, Pennsylvania, who was reported missing on July 31st, had been on a multi-day backpacking trip with her husband and two friends. She was last seen by her husband sitting on the bank of the river near their camp in Aspen Meadow.  The parks worked cooperatively with the Fresno County Sheriff's Office on this search. [Submitted by Jody Lyle, Public Affairs Specialist]


Yosemite National Park (CA)
Two Short Haul Rescues

On the afternoon of August 12th, a Tuolumne SAR team member climbing Mt. Conness with friends on her own time saw a solo hiker fall about 40 feet and end up in a snow moat. This was just outside the park in Mono County. The man, who ended up wedged between snow and rock, sustained serious injuries and was unconscious. Runners were sent out to report the accident while other members of the group stayed with the injured man. Under a mutual aid agreement with the county, rangers and helitack personnel flew to the scene and evacuated him by short haul under the park's helicopter. He was then flown to the Mammoth Lakes airport, transferred to a commercial helicopter ambulance, and flown to a Reno, Nevada, trauma center, where he remains in critical condition. While the helicopter was refueling, a second injury was reported near Virginia Peak on the northern boundary of the park. The same team flew to this accident and conducted a second short haul rescue. A 26-year-old man had suffered a leg injury in a tumbling fall the previous night. He'd spent the night on a talus slope while his companion hiked out to report the accident. [Submitted by Sally Sprouse, IC]


Castillo De San Marcos National Monument (FL)
Suspicious Device Found In Park

On the afternoon of August 15th, a Florida Department of Transportation employee stopped at a street inside the park boundary to replace a manhole cover that was out of place. While working on the cover, he noticed a suspicious device taped to the traffic light pole with a wire running from a switch on it to the crosswalk button. He removed the device and took it to a St. Johns County fire and rescue station. The county bomb squad was called in and determined that it resembled a homemade explosive device. It was taken to a safe location, examined, and found to be a hoax, with no dangerous or hazardous materials within. The device itself was comprised of a styrofoam model airplane and two PVC tubes and wires, with a lead wire inserted into the housing of the crosswalk button. The area around the light pole was searched by St. Augustine PD officers and park staff, but no other suspicious packages were found. There are no suspects at present. [Submitted by Gordie Wilson, Superintendent]


Point Reyes National Seashore (CA)
Marijuana Field Eradication

On Wednesday, July 19th, rangers found a marijuana patch in the Bolinas Ridge area and placed the area under surveillance. On Thursday, rangers from Point Reyes and Golden Gate, state park rangers, and members of Marin County's major crime task force entered the plantation and removed about 2,470 plants with an estimated street value of $3 million. An investigation is underway. Although there was no one at the site, evidence revealed that they'd recently been there. [Submitted by Colin Smith, Chief Ranger]


Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Marijuana Plantation Found, Plants Seized

A marijuana plantation was spotted during an overflight of the Cove Mountain area in early July. Rangers hiked to the site the next day and found over 100 plants in small patches in three separate areas. They also found evidence of very recent tilling and signs that the garden's tenders might have hastily departed just before the rangers arrived. When they revisited the sites a few weeks later, rangers found that nobody had been there since their first visit. They made the same finding again on August 9th. Since the plants were no longer being tended, they harvested the fields, seizing 165 plants ranging in height from two to five feet. [Submitted by Rick Brown, Acting Chief Ranger]


FIRE MANAGEMENT

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NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire/Incident Situation Highlights

Preparedness Level 5

A total of 126 new fires were reported on Sunday. Eight became large fires. Another six large fires were contained.

On Thursday, August 17th, BLM firefighter Spencer Koyle, 33, was fatally injured on the Devil's Den fire near Oak City, Utah. For additional details, click on the following news article: http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,645194417,00.html

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in 15 states — Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Weather Discussion

Dry thunderstorms are possible today over portions of the Northwest, Great Basin, and western portion of the Northern Rockies. Thunderstorms will move east by mid week. Dry and unstable conditions continue today along the West Coast states and the Great Basin. A weather system will move across the Northwest and Northern Rockies starting Tuesday with windy conditions for the Great Basin and Intermountain West. Elsewhere, thunderstorms are expected to move into southern portions of California and Nevada by early to mid week.

Red Flag Warnings

• Idaho (northern and central panhandle) — Low humidity and unstable conditions.
• California (northwest Siskiyou County) — Scattered thunderstorms and very dry fuels.
• Washington (eastern) — For a Haines Index of 6, plus relative humidity.
• Oregon (eastern) — Ditto.
• Oregon (southwest and couth central) — Scattered thunderstorms and very dry fuels.

Fire Weather Watches

• Utah (southern and central) — Dry thunderstorms.
• Oregon (central and northern Cascades) — Scattered thunderstorms and very dry fuels.
• Washington (east slopes of the Cascades) — Ditto.
• Nevada (central mountains) — Strong gusty winds and low humidity.

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

Park	State	Fire	Type	Acres	Percent Contain	Est. Full Contain
Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks	CA	Roaring Fire	Wildland Fire Use	342 acres	N/A	N/A
	Latest Narrative: The fire was mapped by helicopter yesterday and is now 342 acres.
Yosemite National Park	CA	Frog Complex	Wildland Fire Use	For management purposes the Frog Complex will now include... See below for more...	N/A	N/A
	Full Acreage Report: For management purposes the Frog Complex will now include the Falls Fire. (*) Indicates the date the fire was detected Falls Fire (*6/28) is located two miles north of Hetch Hetchy, and east of Falls Creek. 90% of the perimeter is surrounded by natural barriers. Low impact confinement actions have been implemented to limit fire spread to the north east. The perimeter of this 35 acre fire is currently inactive with some interior smoke still visible. Laurel Fire (*7/21): is located in the Hetch Hetchy area near Laurel Lake and is currently 2,100 acres. Low intensity, backing ground fire continues to provide maximum benefit for the resources.To help reduce smoke production this fire is being held along Frog Creek on the southwest perimeter and along the Beehive Trail on the south east perimeter. Frog Fire (*7/21): is located 2 miles north from Laurel Lake in the Frog Creek drainage and is currently 275 acres. Miguel Fire (*7/23): has been contained as of 7/25/06 Latest Narrative: The Frog complex now totals 2,410 acres. Reduced smoke production was observed today with continued daily dispersal to the north east. Due to the night time inversion some smoke may settle in areas west of the park. The Park Service has been quantitatively monitoring smoke in the city of Groveland and to date there has been no exceedance of federal standards.
Yosemite National Park	CA	King Fire	Wildland Fire Use	25 acres	N/A	N/A
	Latest Narrative: The King Fire continues to slowly spread to the north east. Smoke from this fire may be visible from the summit of Half Dome and Glacier Point.
Glacier National Park	MT	Halfmoon Lake	Wildland Fire	7.5 acres.	100	08/21/2006
	Latest Narrative: The fire was reported by a visitor driving by on US Highway #2 at about 1:30 pm. Engine 90 responded and recommended bucketing as soon as possible due to torching and spotting fire behavior. A joint USFS/NPS medium helicopter was bucketing within 45 minuts of the report. The ship was here on a fire severity detail. Two SEAT's were ordered out of Ronan, Mt and dropped one load each. The local IA USFS light helicopter based out of Hungry Horse, Mt was used to first transport firefighters to the fire and then also provided bucket work. Due to the four ships in a small area Air Attack was ordered out of Missoula to coordinate air operations. The quick reponse by the two helicopters allowed the fire to be knocked down so that the 13 firefighters were able to contain the fire in the first burn period.
Crater Lake National Park	OR	Bybee Wildland Fire Use Complex	Wildland Fire Use	720	N/A	N/A
	Latest Narrative: Over the weekend, fire actvity increased significantly and resulted in an acreage increase of more than 500 acres. Unstable air and strong winds carried embers over 400 yards from the main fire. The Whiskeytown and Mammoth Fire Use modules continue to improve the fireline on the south and west perimeter of the Bybee fire. Three fire effects monitors and one fire use manager from Alaska NPS Fire Management are now assigned to the complex. In anticipation of possible new lightning starts this week, the Firestorm initial attack crew has been contracted to respond.
Yellowstone National Park	WY	Dryad	Wildland Fire	0.1	100	8/23
	Latest Narrative: The Dryad fire was discovered by the Park contract helicopter while enroute to the Pumice fire at 1357. The fire was small in size, burning in 100-hour fuels near Dryad Lake. Two jumpers assisted the helitack foreman in containing this fire and several bucket drops cooled it down. The fire was contained at 1500 and the 2 jumpers were flown to join 3 other jumpers on the Pumice fire.
Yellowstone National Park	WY	Magpie	Wildland Fire Use	1844 acres aso of 8/21/06.	N/A	N/A
	Latest Narrative: The Magpie fire was flown and mapped again today. There was some activity at the heel of the fire, with the fire backing into the wind. The fire was mostly on the ground. GIS mapped the growth at 1844 acres, an increase of 29 acres.
Yellowstone National Park	WY	Pumice	Wildland Fire	1.0	65	8/24
	Latest Narrative: The Pumice fire was started by lightning and reported by the Mt. Sheridan lookout at 1310. Due to a PL5 and the fire is in heavy unburned timber the decision was made to suppress this fire. 3 park staff hiked into the fire and were joined by 5 smokejumpers from the West Yellowstone base. At 1900 the fire was 1 acre in size and was 2/3 lined. The fire should be contained by 2200.
Yellowstone National Park	WY	Stinky Fire	Wildland Fire	173 acres as of 8/21/06.		October 10, 2006
	Latest Narrative: The Stinky Fire was flown and mapped again today. 2 FOBS remain on the fire. There was fire growth at the head and the heel of the fire with some single tree torching. The fire size update as mapped by the GIS lab put the total acreage at 173 acres, a gain of 23 acres from Sunday.

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	8/17	8/20	% Con	Est Con
ID	---	ACT	Zimmerman	Fires in Payette NF	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
OR	USFS	T1	Anderson	Cascade Crest Complex, Deschutes NF	4,435	15,982	30	UNK
ID	USFS	T1	Broyles	Potato Fire, Salmon-Challis NF	18,416	18,454	80	8/28
CA	USFS	T1	Dietrich	Bar Complex, Shasta-Trinity NF	15,729	17,841	44	UNK
UT	USFS	T1	Feser	Devil's Den Fire, Fishlake NF	------	609	0	UNK
WA	USFS	T1/T1	Lohrey, Molumby	Tripod Complex, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	103,291	116,330	30	10/1
WY	State	T1	Muir	Jackson Canyon Fire, Natrona County	11,297	11,765	95	8/21
WA	NPS	T2	Barnett	Flick Creek Fire, North Cascades NP	4,401	4,738	50	UNK
ID	USFS	T2	Brunner	Boundary Complex, Salmon-Challis NF	1,412	2,026	45	9/10
OR	USFS	T2	Goheen	Sharp Ridge Fire, Umatilla NF	------	500	0	UNK
MT	USFS	T2	Grant	Sand Basin Fire, Beaverhead/Deerlodge NF	700	700	20	UNK
TX	State	T2	Hannemann/Floyd (TX)	Caddo 2 Complex, Texas Forest Service	600	7,500	40	UNK
ID	USFS	T2	Kusicko	Trout Creek Fire, Payette NF	4,605	4,200	20	UNK
WA	State	T2	LaFave	Carbon Copy Fire, Washington DNR	------	120	0	UNK
SD	State	T2	Lowe	Hells Acre Complex, Hot Springs, SD	288	288	100	CND
ID	USFS	T2	Lund	Red Mountain Fire, Boise NF	1,500	1,300	25	8/25
ID	USFS	T2	McNitt	Lightning Creek Fire, Nez Perce NF	1,950	1,950	100	CND
OR	BLM	T2	Morcom	Hole in the Ground Fire, Vale District	2,815	4,271	100	CND
WY	USFS	T2	Mullenix	Purdy Fire, Shoshone NF	8,600	10,500	35	9/11
OR	USFS	T2	Paul	Blister Fire, Mount Hood NF	445	752	35	8/25
ID	BLM	T2	Raley	Crystal Fire, Idaho Falls District	196,000	223,700	90	8/21
ID	USFS	T2	Reed	South Fork Complex, Payette NF	16,229	16,250	NR	10/3
ID	USFS	T2	Reid	Ulm Peak Fire, Idaho Panhandle NF	------	180	0	UNK
CA	USFS	T2	Sinclear	Orleans Complex, Six Rivers NF	11,700	15,700	35	9/30
NV	BLM	T2	Smith	TP Fire, Elko Field Office	------	6,991	85	8/21
NV	BLM	T2	Thomas	Charleston Complex, Elko Field Office	------	190,421	90	8/23
MT	USFS	T2	Turman	Gash Creek, Bitterroot NF	6,900	7,200	60	UNK
OR	USFS	T2	West	Mount Hood Complex, Mount Hood NF	1,050	1,450	30	9/4
CA	USFS	FUM	Hahnenberg	Uncles Complex, Klamath NF	11,397	12,922	35	10/3
ID	USFS	FUM	Hall	Payette WFU Complex, Payette NF	9,624	9,824	N/A	N/A
ID	USFS	FUM	Svalberg	Middle Fork Complex, Salmon-Challis NF	6,760	6,592	N/A	N/A

National Resource Commitments

Date	Wed	Thu	Sun	Tue	Wed	Thu	Sun
Day	8/9	8/10	8/13	8/15	8/16	8/17	8/20
Crews	414	436	431	497	488	502	423
Engines	743	810	676	817	878	991	710
Helicopters	155	154	172	153	171	191	172
Air Tankers	20	21	19	20	21	20	21
Overhead	3,538	3,979	4,563	4,937	4,540	4,886	4,584

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

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NPS Alumni
Passing Of Stanley Albright

Stanley "Stan" T. Albright died peacefully on Friday in West Linn, Oregon, after a long illness.  He was 74. 

Stan was the nephew of Horace Albright who, with Stephen Mather, founded the National Park Service in 1916.  He followed his uncle into the Service, devoting 42 years — through ten presidents, a dozen secretaries of the interior, and ten NPS directors — to park operations, management and its politics.

"Stan will always be remembered as Horace's nephew," said former NPS director George Hartzog today.  "Stan was a wonderful person and fully justified that inheritance."

Stan was born in Oakland, California, and grew up in the Owens Valley in Bishop. He graduated with a biology degree from UCLA in 1958 after service in the Army during the Korean conflict. His first job out of college was as a fire lookout in a tower strategically located on Bald Mountain in Inyo National Forest. In his later years, he often reminded his staff about what happens to the hair on the back of one's neck when lightning is nearby.

"Stan had a storied career with the NPS," said friend, colleague and former NPS deputy regional director Bob Peterson.  "He served in some of the finest places on earth, breaking trail in some of the new areas for the Service."

Stan worked on the ski patrol in Yosemite National Park.  He was a park ranger and, later, superintendent of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.  He lived in the desert southwest while managing the business and concessions management aspect of Grand Canyon National Park.  He was the superintendent of Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico.

By the 1970s, Albright was shepherding the planning process for new parks and land management in Alaska as the state director.

"Stan's professionalism and dedication to the National Park System and the National Park Service were an inspiration to his friends and associates," Peterson said.  "His leadership as Alaska state director led to the successful planning and eventual establishment of the new national parks in Alaska."

Albright left Alaska to accept the donation of the magnificent valley and mountain area known as Mineral King for Sequoia National Park and served as the superintendent for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in the mid 70s.

"As I traveled the nation," said former NPS director Ron Walker, "Stan helped me as much as anyone — he bolstered my spirits and helped me get through difficult days."

Albright was summoned to Washington, D.C. in 1977 as the associate director for management and operations, working through the Reagan Administration on NPS issues as diverse as professional ranger skills, land acquisition, and concessions management.

"He would often joke how secretary James Watt kept a sealed 'blue envelope' on the right hand corner of his desk containing Stan's resignation letter," said former NPS director Russell Dickenson.  "Those were pretty tense times for us in the NPS."

Albright returned west in time to dedicate the creation of Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada in 1987.  He would serve as the regional director for Western Region, stationed in the San Francisco Bay Area, for ten tumultuous years as park budgets flattened, the call for more parks mirroring the face of a diverse America sounded, and the California Desert Protection Act passed, creating the largest park in the lower 48 — Death Valley National Park — and Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park.  He also developed relationships with park systems in Japan, China, and Italy, traveling to those places to sign agreements and create opportunities for rangers.

"There was no one who provided more opportunity for youth and the advancement of youth," said former park superintendent and friend Tom Ritter, recalling how Albright always approached people — from Senators to those just starting out — with honor and dignity.  He also recalled Albright's courage, including his stand in creating a natural resource inventory system that is now institutionalized through the Service's natural resource program.

"Most will never know the full impact of Stan's leadership in shaping the National Park System," said Yosemite National Park superintendent Michael Tollefson.  "He usually led from a very subtle position of suggestion that he knew would grow as soon as the seed was planted with his managers."

By 1997, after the winter flood through the Yosemite Valley, Albright determined to get his beloved Yosemite National Park back in shape.  He moved to the Valley as its superintendent to begin the long planning process to rehabilitate the visitor services. He retired in 2000, leaving the NPS with the next generation of managers he had trained. 

"All of us who worked closely with him cherished that time," said North Cascades National Park superintendent Bill Paleck.  "He created an atmosphere of warmth and humor; he trusted his staff; he was a skilled teacher; and he insisted on taking seriously the mission of the National Park System.  It was a very rare opportunity to work for a guy like that."

He is survived by his second wife, Kris, of Bend, Oregon, his son, Sean, of Walnut Creek, California, and her son, Jon, of Lake Oswego, Oregon.

No memorial services are planned.  Donations can be made to the Stanley T. Albright Scholarship at Yosemite Institute which will be used to bring under served youth to the parks (www.yni.org) and the Willamette Falls Hospice in Oregon City, Oregon.
[Submitted by Holly Bundock, Public Affairs Officer, Pacific West Region]

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.