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 webpage with current information on the NPS response to Hurricane Sandy.
- Resource needs shopping list — A "shopping list" of incident management team positions that still need to be filled, updated daily.
- Hurricane Sandy relief fund — E&AA has set up a 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 this web page.
- Facebook — A Facebook page managed by the IMT with updates on the response.
- Twitter — A Twitter page managed by the IMT with updates on the response.
- Flickr — A Flickr page managed by the IMT with images of the response.
North Cascades National Park (WA)
Helicopter Crashes In Park
On October 4th, rangers received a report that a leased 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.
[Submitted by Kinsey Shilling, Chief Ranger]
OPERATIONAL NOTES
Law Enforcement, Security, and Emergency Services
IMARS Deadline Approches
January 1st is rapidly approaching. As the snow falls in the eastern Sierras of California and the waters of Biscayne Bay get even busier, rangers continue to serve the visiting public in our national parks. 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. January 1st is the deadline (link to the memo from the associate director back in April of this year below).
Many parks have submitted the names of the employees who will need access to IMARS and have been using the system for the last year. This "head start" should pay off and those rangers, dispatchers, agents, etc. will be good resources for the rest of the parks to call on for hints and advice. If your park still needs to add or change the list of people needing access, please notify John Evans.
As for continued training, the eLearning site under the training tab on the IMARS website (http://inside.nps.gov/imars) will continue to expand as more slide shows and videos are produced to answer specific questions that the field forwards. For live, webinar style trainings, daily ones will be offered Monday thru Friday twice a day. Check the website for further information. For park specific training, when a group of rangers or dispatchers or seasonal medics can be in one place at one time, contact John Evans to set up special sessions.
IMARS is not a choice. It is a mandated system that we must use when justifying expenses for programs and defending good work done by hard working employees with solid statistical data accessible by many. IMARS is something new for the Service and for the Department. As with any new system the initial learning curve will be a challenge. The benefits of the system are already apparent to those who have used it. We will work to make it as painless as possible.
http://classicinside.nps.gov/documents/Electronic%20Record%20Keeping%204.6.2012.pdf
[Submitted by John Evans, john_evans@nps.gov] More Information...
PARKS AND PEOPLE
Pacific West Region
WG-4742-9 Utility Systems Repairer Operator
Dates: 11/16/2012 - 11/30/2012
Haleakala National Park is seeking applicants for the position of utility systems repairer operator.
This is a permanent, career seasonal position, and is being advertised under both merit promotion and DEU.
Please click on the link below for a copy of the announcement with full details on duties and procedures for applying.
The announcement closes Friday, November 30th.
[Submitted by Peter Kafka, Supervisor, Facilities Mgmt Div., peter_kafka@nps.gov, 808-572-4421] More Information...
Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve (CO)
GS-0303-6/7Administrative Support Assistant
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve has issued an announcement for a GS-6/7 administrative support assistant. This is a permanent, full-time position, and is being advertised under merit promotion.
Click on the link below for a copy of the announcement. It closes on Friday, December 7th.
More Information...
Office of Risk Management
Susan Eaves Joins Division
The Washington Office of Risk Management has announced that Susan D. Eaves, a 20-year veteran of the occupational safety and health management field, will join the office as the newest member of its safety and health management team as the occupational safety program manager.
Susan comes to Risk Management from National Capital Region, where she has served as the regional safety and occupational health manager since August of 2010.
Susan has been a valued asset to NCR and brings to the Washington Office a wealth of knowledge, proven leadership skills, and years of practical experience that will be invaluable to the entire Service. She has worked directly with NPS employees to cultivate a workplace free from recognized hazards to reduce the likelihood of injuries and illnesses.
"The dedicated employees and volunteers who serve the National Park Service are our most valuable resource," says Susan. "We want employees, volunteers, and visitors to return healthy to their families and friends at the end of each day."
Susan will provide safety and occupational health direction, guidance, and support services to regional risk managers, superintendents, managers, and employees in all regions of the National Park Service. This includes providing management consultation, technical support, training and investigation in matters related to NPS employee health and safety initiatives.
She will serve as the NPS program manager for the Safety Management Information System, the NPS team lead for trending and analyzing employee injuries and illnesses, and as the RM 50B content editor and primary point-of-contact for the Service for the policy. Susan will have a role in the investigation process for all serious accident investigations and she will oversee the employee intern program and the employee safety awards program.
Prior to her NCR work, Susan worked for the American Red Cross as their environmental, health and safety program manager, and served as the safety manager in the risk management division for the county government in Fairfax County, Virginia, where she managed the county's comprehensive occupational safety and health program.
Susan holds a bachelor of science degree in health and safety education and a master of science degree in safety studies, both from West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. Susan, her husband and two children live in Northern Virginia.
[Submitted by Sara B. Newman, Acting Chief]
NPS serious incident submission standards can be found at the following web site:
http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id;=8728&lv;=2&pgid;=3504
All reports should now be submitted via this automated system.