NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

INCIDENTS

Great Smoky Mountains NP

City Sewage Tank Failure Causes Massive Spill Into Park

Personnel from Great Smoky Mountains National Park are working with emergency management authorities from the city of Gatlinburg, Sevier County, and the state of Tennessee in responding to a catastrophic failure of the equalization tank at the city's wastewater treatment plant, which resulted in a massive sewage spill yesterday morning. One wall of the main equalization basin, measuring 75 feet by 30 feet by 12 feet, failed, releasing an estimated 1.5 million gallons of untreated effluent into the West Prong of the Little Pigeon, a park-owned stream that bisects the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Spur of the Foothills Parkway. Two persons employed by the contractor that operates the facility are missing and feared dead. Rangers have been assisting the city with overall incident management and search and rescue efforts. Facility management personnel have been providing assistance with an assessment of the plant in hopes that it can resume safe operations in the near term and park resource management personnel will be working with Tennessee Department of the Environment and Conservation personnel to assess resource impacts and the development of short and long term cleanup and monitoring efforts. As of yesterday afternoon, all of the city's sewage was flowing untreated into the river. A major weather system moved through the area on Monday night, bringing heavy rains, high winds and snow/ice at the higher elevations in the park. Over two-and-a-half inches of rainfall fell, significantly increasing the flow into the equalization tank, which may have contributed to the wall failure at the facility. For more information and images, click on the link below. [Kevin FitzGerald, Deputy Superintendent]

HYPERLINK "http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/apr/05/two-die-when-wall-falls-gatlinburg-sewage-treatmen/" http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/apr/05/two-die-when-wall-falls-gatlinburg-sewage-treatmen/

New River Gorge NR

Bodies Of Two Of Three Missing Fisherman Recovered

Late on the afternoon of Sunday, April 3rd, rangers received a report that a johnboat with five fishermen aboard had overturned on the New River near Meadow Creek. Two of the men were able to swim to shore, but the other three disappeared. The New River was flowing at about 9,600 cubic feet per second at the time and the surface water temperature was approximately 50 degrees. Personnel from the National Park Service, the West Virginia State Police, the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, Green Sulfur Springs VFD, Hinton VFD, and the Region 5 Dive Team searched for them from shortly after the notification was received until 9 p.m., when search operations were suspended due to the hazards of nighttime search on the river. Recovery operations continued on Monday. Searchers in five boats checked the area downriver from the accident site. Just before noon, the body of one of the men - P.M., 23, of Lester, West Virginia - was found about 300 yard from the spot where the accident occurred. Three hours later, searchers in another boat found the body of S.A., 49, of Richmond, Virginia, about 100 yards downriver from the accident scene. The search for fisherman D.H. of Lester was suspended late Monday afternoon due to significant lightning in the area. The search was to resume on Tuesday. [Jeff West, Chief Ranger]

Redwood NP

Suicide Victim Found Near Stout Grove

California State Park ranger Mike Whelan investigated a report of a suspicious vehicle near Stout Grove on the afternoon of Sunday, April 2nd. Whelan found the body of a 27-year-old man with a single gunshot wound to his head lying underneath blankets in the back and trunk area of a newer model Honda Civic. Initial investigation by the county coroner revealed that the gunshot was self inflicted. The death will likely be ruled a suicide. [Marshall Neeck, 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/):

National Interagency Fire Center - The National Interagency Fire Center has issued its wildland fire outlook for the period from now through July. Details are provided on areas where problems are expected and areas where normal seasonal fire conditions will prevail.

Shenandoah NP - Shenandoah National Park's 75th anniversary celebration will feature an employee and alumni reunion on the second weekend in May.

Fort Sumter NM - On Saturday, Fort Sumter will begin a week of living history programs commemorating the 150th anniversary of the opening shots of the Civil War.

National Partnership Office - Rich Weideman and Rose Fennell were presented with awards for their exceptional service during the Association of Partners for Public Lands media and partnerships awards dinner in February. Photo.

Denali NP - Mark and Phyllis Motsko are retiring from Denali after 17 winters at the park - and many others in their previous park assignments - and are getting ready to move to their new home in Oregon.

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of Communications and 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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