NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Monday, October 6, 2014

INCIDENTS

Flight 93 NM

Fire Destroys Park Headquarters

A fast-moving fire swept through the headquarters of Flight 93 National Memorial on Friday afternoon, destroying three of the four buildings in the complex. Despite the severity of the blaze all employees were able to evacuate safely; one park employee, also a volunteer with the Somerset Volunteer Fire Department, sustained minor injuries while battling the blaze with fire extinguishers.

The buildings are located approximately two miles from the Flight 93 memorial plaza and the new visitor center currently under construction and neither of those sites was threatened or affected. Park operations remained unimpeded throughout the weekend.

The buildings served multiple functions for the operation of the memorial, including administrative offices for both park staff and the Friends of Flight 93, park library, conference facilities, and storage for a small portion of the park's curatorial collection. Park staff, with assistance from the Northeast Region Museum Emergency Response Team, have begun an inventory of the collection to determine specifically what was lost and what was saved.

Investigators with the National Park Service and Pennsylvania State Police have concluded the on-site portion of their investigation and have discovered no indication of arson or foul play in the fire. The investigation is ongoing; definitive findings, including the cause of the fire, are not expected for a matter of weeks. 

[Mike Litterst]

Yellowstone NP

Three Convicted Of Illegal Use Of Drones In Separate Incidents

Three cases regarding the illegal use of unmanned aircraft in Yellowstone National Park have resulted in three convictions.

D.C. of Molalla, Oregon, was charged with violating the ban after he flew his unmanned aircraft over the crowded Midway Geyser Basin and close to bison on August 19th. He pled guilty to the charge of violating a closure and was fined $1,000 plus court costs.

In late September, T.V.V. of the Netherlands entered a guilty plea in connection with an August 2nd incident in which his unmanned aircraft crashed into Grand Prismatic Spring.  He was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay over $2,200 in restitution. 

Earlier in September, A.M. of Germany pled guilty to charges arising from operating an unmanned aircraft which crashed into Yellowstone Lake near the West Thumb Marina back on July 18th.  A.M. was sentenced to a one year ban from the park, was placed on one year of unsupervised probation, and was ordered to pay over $1,600 in fines and restitution.

All three successfully prosecuted cases arose from well documented violations of the prohibition on the operation of unmanned aircraft in park along with other violations of park regulations or impacts to park resources.  

The regulation was enacted due to the conflict or impact with a variety of park uses, including disturbance of wildlife, impacts or damage to sensitive geothermal areas, and the creation of public safety hazards posed by their unregulated use.  The ban is contained in the 2014 update to the Superintendent's Compendium, which can be found online at  HYPERLINK "http://go.usa.gov/mzRV" http://go.usa.gov/mzRV.

In addition, Director Jarvis signed a policy memorandum in late June that directs superintendents nationwide to prohibit launching, landing, or operating unmanned aircraft on lands and waters administered by the National Park Service.

As these three instances illustrate, park rangers are enforcing the ban on unmanned aircraft operation in Yellowstone National Park.  Violators could be subject to a mandatory court appearance, confiscation of their unmanned aircraft, and if found guilty could be subject to fines and other penalties. 

[Al Nash, 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):

Fire and Aviation Management - Today the National Park Service begins the 92nd observance of Fire Prevention Week. This year's theme, “Working Smoke Alarms Save Lives: Test Yours Every Month,” stresses the benefits of ensuring your smoke alarms are maintained properly.

Office of Public Health - The Office of Public Health in the Washington Office has issued guidance to the field on the Ebola virus and on how to deal with it. Links are provided to related CDC informational webpages.

Park Facility Management Division - Several parks from Northeast, Southeast and Intermountain Regions have joined the Climate Friendly Parks program. Staffs from each of these parks have participated in three-day training workshops,.

Fire and Aviation Management - A small group of National Park Service employees based at the National Interagency Fire Center had the opportunity to attend the second annual Women and Leadership Conference in Boise, Idaho.

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).

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