NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, July 1, 2010

INCIDENTS

Gulf Coast Parks

New Oil Spill Multimedia Page Now Live

Weather in the Gulf of Mexico pushed up oil products yesterday on several Gulf Islands beaches. A new oil spill response multimedia page has been completed and launched. Here are the details:

Gulf Islands NS - Weather conditions in the Gulf of Mexico pushed high tide waves to the edge of the park road to Fort Pickens, located on Santa Rosa Island. Some small tar balls were deposited on the sand between the water's edge and a narrow stretch of road west of the park's entrance station. Winds also drove oily water through the Fort Pickens Pass inlet into the bay at the west end of Santa Rosa Island. Resource advisors reported tar balls, light mousse, and liquid oil washed up on the sands on the bayside (north) of Fort Pickens. Weather conditions are expected to improve tomorrow, which will permit cleanup crews access to remove oil from affected areas. Meanwhile, the NPS has developed a new oil spill response multimedia page that contains information for the media on the effects of the spill on NPS resources and response efforts. You can find short videos and fact sheets on the oil spill response multimedia page, which can be found at HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/archive/features/oilspillresponse/" this address.

South Florida Parks (Big Cypress, Biscayne, Desoto, Dry Tortugas, Everglades) - No new developments.

Jean Lafitte NHP&P - No new developments.

Padre Island NS - No new developments.

For more information on the NPS, DOI and national oil spill responses and for a link to the BP on line oil spill safety training needed by all incident staff, please see the following sites:

HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm" NPS Oil Spill Response

HYPERLINK "http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doctype/2931/53023/" Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Response

HYPERLINK "http://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/index.cfm" DOI Oil Spill Response

HYPERLINK "http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/" National Oil Spill Response

HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Conferences&id=1957" Oil Spill Safety Training

HYPERLINK "http://www.geoplatform.gov/gulfresponse/" GeoPlatform

HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custommenu.cfm?lv=3&prg=1006&id=9336" NPS ICS 209 Incident Status Summaries

HYPERLINK "http://classicinside.nps.gov/documents/NPS%20-%20Public%20Health%20Notice%20SIGNAGE%206-26-10.pdf" Gulf Islands Public Health Precautions Notice

HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/archive/features/oilspillresponse/OilSpillSafety/index.htm" Public Health Service Oil Spill Safety Video

HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/archive/features/oilspillresponse/" Oil Spill Media Page

[Lynne Murdock, Gulf Coast Oil Spill Response]

Great Sand Dunes NP&P

Visitor Killed When Her Car Rolls Over Her

On the morning of Saturday, June 26th, M.A., 68, of Algodones, New Mexico, was killed in an accident along the roadway leading to the Dunes Parking Lot. Just prior to the accident, M.A. had driven her 2009 Nissan Murano SUV into the parking lot, looking for a parking space. It was full so she drove out of the lot and parked on the south side of the entrance road. M.A. and her passengers, identified as her husband and two grandchildren, exited the vehicle. The passengers walked to the rear of the SUV, where they waited for M.A. to unlock its rear hatch door. M.A. then leaned back into the SUV through the driver's side door to unlock the rear hatch and apparently knocked the transmission into neutral. The vehicle began to roll backward with M.A. only partially inside. Her husband and grandchildren quickly moved out of the way of the rolling vehicle. While the SUV was rolling backward across the road, M.A. tried to reach the brake and steered to avoid a parked vehicle on the other side. This gave the vehicle a clear path toward a steep embankment on the north side of the road. Once it headed down the embankment, the SUV's momentum caused M.A. to lose her grip and fall from it. According to witnesses, the open car door hit her as she fell and the front left tire subsequently rolled over her. Resuscitation efforts by ranger Tillman Cavert and firefighter/EMTs from the Bandelier Fire Module working on the ongoing Medano Fire were unsuccessful. Rangers and an accident reconstruction expert from the Colorado State Patrol are investigating. Cavert was incident IC. [Jim Bowman, Chief Ranger]

Cape Cod NS

Body Found In Surf

Several people walking along a park beach just north of Ballston on the afternoon of June 24th found a man's body in the surf. This section of beach is somewhat remote and no one was in the area where the body was found until the walkers made their observation. Rangers responded and investigated. There was no identifying information on the body or on the beach nearby. The rangers interviewed people on the beach and found that the man had recently been seen walking the beach but that nobody knew who he was. Rangers and Truro police assisted state police in the on-scene investigation and with the removal of the body. Recent storms made normal access to this beach more difficult, so rangers also had to assist other agencies responding to the scene. The man was not identified until the next day, when rangers found an unsecured residence in the area and a vehicle in the driveway that turned out bo be the victim's. He was found to be a 76-year-old man from New York City who owned the house and had come there by himself. The medical examiner has not yet determined the cause of death. North District Ranger Craig Thatcher is the primary investigator. [Bob Grant, Chief Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS:

Director's Office - Interior GLOBE (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Employees) presented the New Millennium Human Rights Award to Deputy Director Dan Wenk at a June 29th ceremony in Washington, DC.

Federal Protective Service - Flags previously lowered to half staff in remembrance of Senator Robert Byrd are to be returned to half staff, where they are to remain until sunset on the day of interment, which is Tuesday, July 6th.

Midwest Region - Steven N. Mietz, currently deputy chief of science and resource management at Grand Canyon National Park, has been selected as the new superintendent for Missouri National Recreational River. Photo.

Steamtown NHS - Carol A. Wasalinko, procurement technician at Steamtown, has announced her July 31st retirement, leaving the government after nearly 28 years of federal service. Photo.

To see these and other stories posted on InsideNPS (or NPS Digest, its public version), click on one or the other of the following links (please note that not all stories in the former appear in the latter):

NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index

Non-NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/

NPS serious incident submission standards can be found at the following web site: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/notify" http://inside.nps.gov/notify

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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