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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Monday, November 19, 2012 INCIDENTS Eastern Areas Hurricane Response IMT Transition Completed Over the weekend, the Intermountain Incident Management Team took operational control of the Service's Hurricane Sandy response efforts in the New York Harbor Area from the National Park Service IMT. The National Park Service IMT, which was formed by the merger of the Eastern and Midwestern teams, led the planning and initial response as Hurricane Sandy made landfall on October 29th. Fresh energy and new ideas made possible by the transition to a new team will ensure the work continues to move forward safely and efficiently. The transition also reaffirms the resiliency of the National Park Service in its commitment to its employees and the resources affected by Hurricane Sandy. Ten of the 15 National Park sites initially closed due to the hurricane reopened over the past week; areas that remain closed include some of the National Park Service's most prominent and popular parks - the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Gateway, and Fire Island. During the first 21 days of the incident, the flood waters receded and the teams made considerable progress both in caring for the needs of affected park employees and in stabilizing park resources. The road to normalcy for these parks will be a long one, though, and the NPS teams will endeavor to complete the task before them using sustainable and forward-thinking solutions, following the lead of Director Jarvis, who said last week during his address to employees on site that “we need to be thinking about how we create sustainability in all of our structures and facilities” as we respond to Hurricane Sandy. Nearly every park and program in the system has contributed to the Sandy recovery efforts, which stretch the length of the eastern seaboard and west to the Appalachian Mountains. Parks in every region have donated people, resources, and uniforms to those affected by Hurricane Sandy personally and professionally. The dedication of all parks and the incident management teams to helping those parks affected return to fulfilling the mission of the National Park Service will continue until the work is complete. Currently working with the team are 526 National Park Service employees from 115 National Park Service units and 44 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, with more staff continuing to arrive. Regular updates on their work will resume tomorrow. 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. Uniform donations - Information on donating uniforms to employees can be found at HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=13059" this web page. 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. North Cascades NP Helicopter Crashes In Park On October 4th, rangers received a report that a leased HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_R22" Robinson 22 helicopter had crashed the day before in a remote area of the park about six miles south of the international border with Canada. Rangers located and interviewed the pilot and passenger, who were uninjured in the crash and had hiked out over 20 miles to the nearest road. After several days of poor weather conditions and some rough off-trail travel, rangers documented the scene with agents from Homeland Security Investigations and assistance from Customs and Border Patrol's Air and Marine Division. The helicopter was released from the site on October 11th and removed by private contractor to a facility for inspection by the NTSB and FAA. Charges are pending. [Kinsey Shilling, 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/): Office of Communications - Ranger Renee Albertoli from Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia is the 2012 recipient of the National Park Service's Freeman Tilden Award for interpretive excellence. Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services - This coming year will mark the beginning of full implementation and use of IMARS by all parks having search and rescue, structural fire, law enforcement and emergency medical incidents to report. All participating parks must be on board by January 1st. Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs - This week's update on past and upcoming hearings, newly introduced bills, and the status of legislation of interest to the National Park Service. This report covers the week ending November 16th. Office of Risk Management - Susan D. Eaves, a 20-year veteran of the occupational safety and health management field, is joining the Office of Risk Management as the Service's occupational safety program manager. * * * * 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). --- ### --- |