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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Wednesday, August 6, 2014 INCIDENTS Grand Teton NP Two Fires Suppressed In Jackson Lake Lodge Grand Teton engine companies, with support from two Jackson Hole Fire and EMS stations, responded to two fires and two alarms within Jackson Lake Lodge within four days. On the evening of Thursday, July 30th, a flash fire broke out when a server opened the door of a “hot box” designed to keep food warm during catering events. While lodge personnel attempted to extinguish the fire with water, the building alarm activated and the building was evacuated. The fire was contained to the hot box and responding
engine companies checked the building to ensure that no other ignition
had occurred. Investigation revealed that the seals on the hot box had
failed, allowing pyrolysis to create off-gassing from the fiberglass
insulation. The gases that had built up inside the hot box had been
instantly ignited by open sterno flames in the bottom of the box when
the server opened the door. Around 2:30 p.m. on the afternoon of Sunday, August 3rd, alarms were activated in the Jackson Lake Lodge by smoke coming from HVAC vents in the Explorers Room, a large conference room capable of hosting more than 400 people. Responding units included engines, an ambulance and a truck company. During an extended search of more than two hours, teams followed the smoke back to a heat exchanger in the HVAC system, where charred debris from an unknown source was found in the heating system. The facility was reopened to the public at 5 p.m. There were also two fire alarms on August 3rd. One occurred in the morning, when an unknown individual pulled a fire alarm box on the rear deck of the Jackson Lake Lodge; the other occurred during the HVAC incident when an alarm activated in the Jackson Lake Lodge employee laundry for an unknown cause. The effective responses to these incidents came about through cross training between the park and Jackson Hole Fire/EMS and Teton County, including weekly fire meetings, EMS refreshers, in-service opportunities, and county-wide emergency drills. [Patrick W. Hattaway, North District Ranger] Lake Mead NRA Bodies Of Two Drowning Victims Found Two bodies have been recovered in areas where two men disappeared while swimming on July 20th. On the afternoon of August 1st, park dispatch received a call from a visitor who reported seeing a body floating on Lake Mohave. Responding rangers recovered the body of an adult male from the Nevada shoreline. A 53-year-old Las Vegas man was reported missing near that location on July 20th after jumping off his boat to go swimming. He was not wearing a lifejacket. On August 4th, volunteers from Earth Resource Group employing advanced underwater detection equipment found a body 340 feet underwater near Lake Mead's Boulder Islands. Rangers and state game wardens recovered it. A 25-year-old Las Vegas man was reported missing in this area after going swimming without a lifejacket on July 20th. Both incidents are under investigation. [Christie Vanover, Public Affairs Officer] OTHER NEWS The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers): Lake Roosevelt NRA - Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area and a park partner, the Grand Coulee Rotary Club, have launched a program whereby visitors who don't have lifejackets can get loaners for use while on the lake. Today's Almanac - Today's weather notes and remembrances from National Park Service history. Hurricane Iselle continues to track toward Hawaii, with Hurricane Julio following right behind. The former is expected to reach the islands tomorrow, the latter on Saturday. [Available only in InsideNPS] Badlands NP - Eight high school students participated in the third year of Badlands National Park's Tribal Youth Intern Program. This competitive program trains today's youth to become tomorrow's leaders in natural resources, park management, and related fields. Interpretation and Education Division - A toolkit is now available that provides materials to help parks implement the national MOU signed last month between the Service and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Office of Risk Management - Commander Mike Quinn, a commissioned officer with the US Public Health Service, has been selected to lead the occupational safety and health program in the Office of Risk Management. To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites: NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/ The Morning Report is 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@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov). --- ### --- |