NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, January 27, 2011

INCIDENTS

New River Gorge NR

Sixteen Cars Of Train Derail In Park

On the morning of Tuesday, January 18th, sixteen cars of a train operated under the authority of CSX Transportation derailed within the boundaries of New River Gorge National River. The derailed cars spilled tons of corn onto the CSX right of way. Rangers were on scene with 30 minutes of the accident. A CSX clean-up crew was dispatched immediately to the site and conducted cleanup operations under the authority of an MOU with the park. All operations were overseen by NPS personnel. In addition to the cleanup crew, a CSX accident investigation team was also dispatched to the site; this investigation is ongoing. At the time of the accident, which occurred about a quarter mile north of Prince, West Virginia, the train was traveling between 22 and 25 miles per hour as it approached the Prince tunnel. The CSX Transportation network encompasses about 21,000 route miles of track in 23 states, the District of Columbia and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and operates on track that runs the entire length of the park. [Jeff West, Chief Ranger]

Biscayne NP

Boat Sinking Leads To Smuggling Investigation

Rangers Didier Carod and Bradon Falls responded to a report of a vessel sinking near a reef on the ocean side of Elliott Key this past Monday. When they arrived, they found no one near the sunken boat, so a search was begun with assistance from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, the Coast Guard, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. Park volunteers soon reported finding a man walking around Elliott Key harbor who said he was from the sunken boat. Carod contacted the man, identified as D.M., and found that he was the boat's only occupant. D.M. said that the boat started taking on water once he cleared the bay and headed east into open ocean. He made some calls before the vessel went under, then wrapped himself in four life jackets and swam about two miles to shore in the middle of the night. D.M. said he spent the rest of the day walking around the island, trying to find someone who could help him. Further investigation revealed that the sunken vessel was a 27-foot-long Wellcraft that did not belong to him and that it had six 30-gallon drums full of gasoline on the bow - a frequent hallmark of boats employed in smuggling aliens and/or drugs, as they need additional fuel to make the journey to Cuba or the Bahamas. Because of this and because Biscayne is known for smuggling operations, the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection are investigating this incident as a smuggling incident. [Didier Carod, Chief Ranger]

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/):

Conservation Study Institute - During the week of January 17th, fourteen NPS employees from a variety of career fields began a new “Leadership for Public Lands and Cultural Heritage” graduate certificate program designed to prepare future leaders. Photo.

Fort Stanwix NM - Members of the Oneida Indian Nation First Allies Project, park VIPs, and staff ignored the frigid weather of central New York and came together on January 19th to prepare Fort Stanwix National Monument for the upcoming spring season. Photo.

Fire and Aviation Management - The NPS and DOI are recruiting for natural and cultural resource specialists to serve on post-wildfire Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) teams. Photo.

Saguaro NP - Meg Weesner, chief of science and resources management at Saguaro National Park, will be retiring on January 31st after 34 years of federal service. Photo.

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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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