RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
MORNING REPORT
Attention: Directorate
Regional and Park Chief Rangers, USPP, BIFC, FLETC
CC: RAD Information Net
Day/date: Thursday, June 20, 1991
INCIDENTS
91-227 - Shenandoah (Virginia) - Armed Confrontation
Late yesterday afternoon, rangers received a report that there
was a man with a gun at Big Meadows campground registration
station who said he was going to kill himself. When they
arrived at the scene, they found 52-year-old T.S. of
Piney Point, Maryland, sitting in his car; while talking with
him, T.S. grabbed a revolver from within his vehicle and
threatened to shoot himself. Crisis intervention personnel and
trained negotiators were brought to the scene to persuade
T.S. to give us his weapon and a Park Police SWAT team was
summoned. Rangers had evacuated some nearby campers when the
incident began; before the Park Police team arrived, however,
they decided to clear the rest of the campground. Just as this
effort was beginning a little after 10:00 p.m., Shepherd drove
his car out of the campground and headed north on Skyline Drive.
A roadblock was established by Park Police officers, and rangers
made a felony car stop at the roadblock. Negotiations were
begun and went on until a few minutes past midnight when
T.S. fired three shots, none of which hit anyone.
Negotiations were again resumed. At 5:05 a.m. this morning,
T.S. voluntarily gave himself up. He was not hurt, but one
of the dogs with him had been hit by one of the shots he'd fired
earlier. T.S. will undergo psychiatric evaluation. The
park will be filing several criminal charges against him.
Assisting the park were units from the U.S. Park Police,
Virginia State Police, Madison and Greene County Sheriffs
Departments, and regional SET and ARM teams and personnel from
several parks who were attending a law enforcement refresher in
Shenandoah. [Telephone report from Bob Reid, RAD/MARO, to Jack
Schamp, RAD/WASO, 6/19; telefaxed report from Larry Hakel, CR,
SHEN, 6/20]
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) FIRE SITUATION Preparedness Level I
2) FIRE SUMMARY
State Agency Area Fire 6/19 6/20 Status
CA CDF San Diego RU Barrett 1,650 1,650 CN 6/18
Riverside RU * Bautista 450 CN 6/20
NM USFS Gila NF * Georgetown 120 CN
NOTES:
Fires - Asterisk indicates newly reported fire (on this report).
T1 and T2 indicate assigned Type I and Type II Teams.
Status - The following abbreviations are employed:
* NR No report received * MS Modified suppression strategy
* CN Contained * MN Being monitored
* CL Controlled * None No estimate of containment
* CS Confinement strategy
3) FIRE ACTIVITY SUMMARY
Fires Acres
1991 (Year-to-date) 34,534 480,678
1990 (Year-to-date) 31,008 594,723
4) ANALYSIS - Initial attack activity is increasing slightly in
the West. Indices are rising in the Southwest and California.
5) PROGNOSIS - No resource shortages anticipated.
[Fire Management Situation Report, NIFCC Intelligence Section,
0600 MDT, 6/20; NICC Daily Situation Report, 1404 MDT, 6/19]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
No reports today.
STAFF STATUS
Division Chief: No leave or travel scheduled.
Branch of Resource & Visitor Protection: No leave or travel
scheduled.
Branch of Fire & Aviation: Hurd on AL (6/21); Botti on AL (6/17)
and at wildlife rehabilitation workshop, WRO, San Francisco, CA
(6/19-6/21); Farrel at structural fire training, Death Valley or
Lake Mead (6/17-6/18); Norum on AL (6/17-6/21); Gale on AL
(6/19-6/25).
Prepared by WASO Division of Ranger Activities
Telephone: FTS 268-4874/6039 or 202-208-4874/6039
Telefax: FTS 268-5977 or 202-208-5977
CompuServe: WASO-RANGER (Branch of R&VP); WASO-FIRE-WO (Branch of Fire)
SEAdog: 1/650