NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Thursday, July 29, 2010
INCIDENTS
Gulf Coast Parks
Gulf Spill Incident Reaches 100 Day Mark
The NPS response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has reached its hundredth day. Here's a short summary of some of the milestones for the National Park Service during this period:
April 20th - An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig kills 11 of the rig's crew and oil begins to spill in the gulf.
May 10th - The National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife directors arrive at command centers and begin rotating duties as incident commanders for DOI.
May 12th - The first oil is spotted on NPS lands at Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Late May - The sensitive lands branch is created within the incident's command structure. This is a significant, unprecedented idea within the ICS structure and provides an efficient and effective way for the NPS and USFWS to partner and protect parks and refuges.
July 14th - The capping stack is in place and oil stops flowing into the gulf.
July 20th - The NPS successfully tests new equipment to remove beach tar balls at Gulf Islands National Seashore
July 23rd - Gulf Island National Seashore hosts an excavation of an endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle nest and successfully relocates 89 eggs to the Kennedy Space Center.
For more information on the NPS, DOI and national oil spill responses and for a link to the BP online oil spill safety training needed by all incident staff, please see the following sites:
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.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm" NPS Oil Spill Response
HYPERLINK "http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/" National Oil Spill Response
HYPERLINK "http://www.restorethegulf.gov/" Restore The Gulf
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
[Jeff Wolin, Gulf Coast Oil Spill Response]
Golden Gate NRA
Rangers Intercede In Brawl In Stinson Beach Park Lot
On the evening of Sunday, July 19th, rangers on patrol at Stinson Beach heard a call on the Marin County radio reporting a fight in progress involving two groups with baseball bats in the south parking lot. Rangers and Marin County deputies responded along with medics assigned to Stinson Beach for the summer. Ranger Sarah Cavallaro responded from the lifeguard tower and witnesses directed her to a sedan that was being driven out of the parking lot. Cavallaro conducted a traffic stop and was backed by a Marin County deputy. The driver of the sedan had blood on his face and said that he had been hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat; he in turn punched another male from the other group in the face with the assumption that he was the subject who hit him with the bat. The deputy stayed with the driver and occupants of the van while Cavallaro went to the south lot to meet with supervisory ranger Pat Norton and medics to determine what precipitated the fight. The group in the south lot was highly agitated, uncooperative and verbally abusive to rangers. One member of the group was so uncooperative that Cavallaro advised him he would be tasered if he did not respond to commands to sit down. It was determined that the fight started over inappropriate comments made towards one of the young women in the sedan. The man who was punched suffered a broken jaw but refused medical care. The man who was hit with the baseball bat also refused medical care. Deputies and rangers realized very quickly that neither group was providing credible information about who was responsible for using the baseball bat; everyone gave conflicting stories and refused to cooperate. A detective from U.S. Park Police was summoned and is conducting a follow up investigation. No charges or arrests were made at the scene. The baseball bat was seized and placed into evidence. [Kim Coast, Acting Chief Ranger]
Buffalo NR
Visitor Drowns In Middle Buffalo River
Twenty-one year-old J.C. of Augusta, Arkansas, drowned in the Buffalo River downstream from Grinders Ferry on Tuesday, July 27th. Around 12:30 p.m., a ranger from the Middle District working out of Tyler Bend was contacted by a visitor and advised that someone was underwater downstream of the landing. The ranger notified dispatch, then commandeered a canoe from a visitor and headed downstream, arriving at the scene within 15 minutes. The ranger called for assistance from other rangers and requested a medevac helicopter. J.C. was found within minutes and CPR was begun as he was taken by canoe to Grinders Ferry. Medical personnel took over there, but were unable to revive him. Witnesses said that J.C. had complained of leg cramps prior to his disappearance. [Robert Maguire, Chief Ranger]
Yellowstone NP
Woman Drowns In Firehole River
A 22-year-old woman died on Tuesday night at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center from injuries sustained when she slipped under the surface of the water at Firehole River near Old Faithful. Lin Ching-Ling, a Taiwanese national, was submerged for approximately five minutes before bystanders were able to pull her out of the water. Rangers and a paramedic responded to a call received at approximately 1:35 p.m. regarding a woman who had been submerged in the water. A park visitor saw the woman on the bottom of the river, approximately 10 feet below the surface, and dove down to retrieve her. He then brought her to the water's edge, yelled for help, and immediately began CPR. A doctor and two nurses who happened to be in the area quickly took over CPR efforts. When park paramedics and rangers arrived, CPR was continued for about 40 minutes at the scene, at which point the patient regained a pulse. She was then taken by ambulance to Madison Junction where a waiting helicopter transported her to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. She later died. [Al Nash, Public Affairs Officer]
Mount Rainier NP
Climber Dies In Fall Into Crevasse
A climber died Tuesday on Mount Rainier high on the Emmons Glacier. L.F.A., 52, of Seattle was descending from the summit as part of a four-man team when the last person on the rope caught his crampon on the snow, tripped and fell. The four climbers were swept off their feet and, despite attempts to arrest the fall by digging their ice axes into the snow, they fell 100 feet and plummeted into a 35-foot-deep crevasse. L.F.A., the last person into the crevasse, died in the fall. The three surviving climbers scrambled out of the crevasse and made their way back to Camp Schurman, the high camp at 9,450 feet, arriving at 3:00 p.m. They spent the night there in the company of a climbing ranger. On Wednesday, climbing rangers were dropped off by helicopter on the summit of Mount Rainier and climbed down to the accident site at 13,000 feet. They retrieved L.F.A.'s body from the crevasse and it was airlifted off of the mountain by helicopter. Two of the surviving climbers were able to hike out on their own (accompanied by a climbing ranger) and the third was flown off of the mountain. The incident commander was Nick Hall. [Lee Taylor, Information Officer]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/):
Korean War Veterans Memorial - A ceremony was held at the Korean War Memorial this week to mark the 15th anniversary of the memorial's dedication and to commemorate both the July 1953 signing of the agreement that instituted the current armistice between North and South Korea and the United States' involvement in that war.
Yellowstone NP - As part of the “Summer of Recovery,” Vice President Joe Biden visited the park last Monday to view the largest of Yellowstone's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act projects and to address NPS employees, volunteers and contractors and their families. Photo.
Haleakala NP - At 12:37 p.m. (HST) on July 16th, Haleakala National Park employees observed the phenomenon known as "Lahaina Noon" in which their shadows appear directly beneath them. Photo.
Midwest Region - Sandra Washington, formerly Chief of Planning and Compliance in the Midwest Regional Office, is the region's new Associate Regional Director for Planning, Communications, and Legislation. Photo.
NPS incident submission standards can be found online at the HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504" serious incident notification web page.
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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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