NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

INCIDENTS

Eastern Areas

Hurricane Recovery Continues, More Sites Reopen

The National Park Service incident management team overseeing Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts in New York and New Jersey completed its ninth day of operations yesterday. At present, 423 National Park Service employees are committed to the incident. Over the last nine days, employees from 114 National Park Service units have supported the response effort.

Director Jon Jarvis, Deputy Director Peggy O'Dell, Comptroller Bruce Sheaffer, and Northeast Regional Director Dennis Reidenbach visited the greater New York area yesterday, seeing firsthand the impact of Hurricane Sandy on the parks and taking time to speak with park staff and incident personnel.

Work continues at the sites listed below. Several areas have reopened - St. Paul's Church, Sagamore Hill, Morristown, Edison, General Grant and Hamilton Grange.

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island - Park maintenance staff continued removing debris, filling a second 20-yard dumpster. A bobcat was used to pick up scattered heavy debris on Ellis Island. The lower windows of the main immigration building were boarded up.

Grant's Tomb, Hamilton Grange and St. Paul's Church - A shed that was destroyed at Grant's Tomb was broken down and removed. A wood chipper crew completed final cleanup around the church.

Federal Hall and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace - The sites have no assessed damage but will remain closed until further notice.

African Burial Ground - The site remains closed. It sustained only minimal damage.

Castle Clinton - Castle Clinton remains closed until further notice.

Gateway - Debris, hazard tree removal and chipping operations were completed at Fort Tilden, but continued at Frank Charles Memorial Park. Debris removal and saw work continued at Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Debris cleanup and hazard tree removal have progressed to Tennessee Road on Staten Island; heavy equipment was used to remove debris at Battery Weed. The chapel at Sandy Hook was assessed for safety compliance. The headquarters building there is being cleaned out and items organized. About 4,000 gallons have been pumped out of lift station 47.

Fire Island - Breach and overwash assessments and hazardous materials removal continued. Hand crews and heavy equipment were used to continue debris cleanup along the shoreline. Maintenance staff and an electrician started the restoration of the Lighthouse Annex.

Morristown - All hazards were removed from Fort Nonsense trails. Hazard tree work continued on the Cross Estate grounds and on trails in Jockey Hollow. Crews assisted in locating and assessing downed phone lines along park roads.

More information on the response can be found at these websites:

Hurricane response and recovery - A HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/waso.cfm?prg=1168&lv=3" webpage with current information on the NPS response to Hurricane Sandy.

Resource needs shopping list - A HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custommenu.cfm?lv=3&prg=1168&id=10935" ”shopping list” HYPERLINK "http://classicinside.nps.gov/documents/SHOPPING%20LIST%2011-5.pdf" of incident management team positions that still need to be filled, updated daily.

Hurricane Sandy relief fund - E&AA has set up a HYPERLINK "http://www.eparks.com/_" relief fund web page where you can make donations in support of employees who were affected by the storm.

Facebook - A HYPERLINK "https://www.facebook.com/HurricaneResponseNPS" Facebook page managed by the IMT with updates on the response.

Twitter - A HYPERLINK "http://mobile.twitter.com/NPS_Sandy?" Twitter page managed by the IMT with updates on the response.

Flickr - A HYPERLINK "http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandyresponsenps/sets/72157631954446291/" Flickr page managed by the IMT with images of the response.

Fort McHenry NM&HS

Truck Hits And Seriously Damages Historic Entrance Gate

The driver of a dump truck who entered the park on the morning of November 5th quickly realized that he was lost and in the wrong place, so backed his vehicle onto a side road and attempted to pull forward and make a left turn onto the park entrance road in order to exit through the main gate. While making the illegal left turn, the truck hit the south wing of the historic entrance gate, knocking over the attached column. Although the column is currently in several pieces, it will be repaired within the next three weeks. A temporary gate has been erected in the interim and the park remains secure overnight. The estimated cost for repairing the gate, first constructed in 1836, has been placed at $10,000. Ranger Sierra Daniels is the lead ranger for the incident and is working with the driver's insurance company to recoup the cost of repairs. The driver was issued a violation notice for failure to obey a traffic control device. [Glen L. Clark, 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/):

Death Valley NP - Hundreds of park visitors took part in a series of events celebrating the opening of the remodeled Furnace Creek Visitor Center on the first weekend in November.

Eastern Areas - Many employees lost uniforms in flooded residences or park offices during Hurricane Sandy, and the incident management team is assisting by soliciting donations of used uniform components, as well as other needed items, to be distributed to affected employees.

Crater Lake NP - On Saturday, October 20th, park EMS personnel were honored with a Heart Hero award from the American Heart Association for their part in saving the life of a woman who went into cardiac arrest in the park last July.

Denver Service Center - Cheryl Everman will retire on November 30th following more than 34 years of government service. Cheryl is the information technology coordinator for Denver Service Center.

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The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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