RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
MORNING REPORT
Attention: Directorate
Regional and Park Chief Rangers, USPP, BIFC, FLETC
CC: RAD Information Net
Day/date: Friday, August 16, 1991
INCIDENTS
91-405 - Glacier Bay (Alaska) - Air Crash with Six Fatalities
On the evening of August 14th, a chartered Haines Airways Piper
Cherokee with six people on board crashed northeast of Excursion
Inlet just outside of the park. There were no survivors. The
victims were:
B.J., IV, 28, of Haines, Alaska, a seasonal ranger at Glacier Bay
who was on his first season as an NPS employee. R.H.E., 28, a boat
captain for Glacier Bay Lodge and the son of B.E., the superintendent
of Redwood National Park. K.S., 23, of Idaho Springs, Colorado, a
Glacier Bay Lodge employee. S.W., 23, a Glacier Bay Lodge employee.
L.M., 35, of Haines, Alaska, a Glacier Bay Lodge employee. B.S.,
the Haines Airways pilot.
The Cherokee was one of two aircraft which had been charted by
offduty employees for a trip to Haines. The other aircraft left
first and arrived safely. When the Cherokee failed to arrive, a
hasty search was begun by fixed-wing aircraft. The downed plane
was located yesterday morning by park employees on board a
Temsco helicopter. State troopers were in the process of
recovering the bodies yesterday afternoon. The weather was
foggy and cloudy, and helicopter access to the site was
intermittent. The crash occurred at the 3,800-foot elevation of
a steep mountain at the southern edge of the Chilkat Range.
[Telefax from John Quinley, Public Affairs, ARO, 8/15]
91-406 - Cape Cod (Massachusetts) - Rangers and Visitor Injured
A 30-foot wooden mast employed in living history demonstrations
of Lyle gun rescues at the Old Harbor Lifesaving Station broke
and fell yesterday morning, injuring seasonal rangers Ray
Bartlett and Dan Sullivan and 10yearold visitor Ronald Reinstein.
The three were in a crow's nest on the mast at the time of the
accident. They were taken by ambulance to a local hospital; the
extent of their injuries is not yet known. Additional
information will be provided in Monday's morning report.
[Telephone report from Tony Bonano, CR, CACO, 8/15]
91-407 - Olympic (Washington) - Car Clouts
Two cars in the Fairholm campground were broken into around 5:00
a.m. on the morning of August 14th. The thief or thieves took
$250 in cash and a VISA card from one car and $20 from the
second car. Entry apparently was made through the wing windows
on at least one of the cars. It's not known if the breakins are
local in nature or whether car clouter(s) are moving through the
area. [SEAdog message from Mike Blankenship, RAD/PNRO, 8/14]
91-408 - Lassen Volcanic (California) - Lightning Injury
E.R., 41, of Oakland, California, was struck by lightning
while on Lassen Park Trail around 4:30 p.m. on the afternoon of
the 14th. E.R. was transported to a Mercy Air Ambulance
helicopter, and transported to a local hospital. He is being
treated for exit wounds on the bottom of his feet, perforated
ear drums, broken ribs, miscellaneous burns and lacerations, and
singed hair. [Dutch Ackart, LAVO, via CompuServe message from
Herb Gercke, RAD/WRO, 8/15]
91-409 - Crater Lake (Oregon) - Rescue
On August 9th, a golden retriever fell 300 feet down into the
Crater Lake caldera. The dog's owner descended down a rotten
vertical wall and about 200 feet of a steep talus slope in an
attempt to save the dog. Responding rangers rappelled into the
caldera, provided the dog's owner with a harness and helmet,
then belayed him back up to the rim. As efforts were begun to
secure the dog to a litter and raise her to the top, she died,
presumably of internal injuries. The dog, which was not leashed
or under restraint, had chased a ground squirrel to the caldera
edge and gone over. This was the fourth incident involving dogs
going over the edge in recent months. [Camden Brewster, CRLA,
via CompuServe message from Diane Wisley, RAD/PNRO, 8/15]
91-308 - Olympic (Washington) - Followup on Oil Spill
Negligible amounts of oil were recovered by skimmers on
Wednesday; leakage from the sunken ship continues at the same
rate. One skimmer came across three areas of heavy slick with a
black granular consistency. A threeinch suction hose has been
lowered to the wreck, and the Canadian Coast Guard is attempting
to employ the ROV submersible to place it through a porthole and
into the remaining oil. Fog prevented cleanup crews from
working in most park areas, but slingloading operations took
place at Coastie Head and 775, 60pound bags of oil and oiled
debris were removed. [Telefax from Michael Smithson,
Information Officer, Tenyo Maru ICS Team, 8/13]
91-384 - Mount Rainier (Washington) - Followup on MVA with Two
Fatalities
On the afternoon of August 7th, a motor vehicle accident
occurred one mile east of Backbone Ridge overlook in which two
of the passengers in a 1972 VW hatchback were killed and two
others were seriously injured. Both injured parties are now
listed in stable condition and are expected to survive. From
the evidence at the scene, it appears that the vehicle went off
theroad due to driver inattention. There was a break in the
trees on the right side of the road with a view of the valley
below. It appears that the driver may have looked to the right
and accidentally turned his wheel the way he was looking. [Bill
Larson, MORA, via SEAdog message from Mike Blankenship, RAD/PNRO,
8/13]
91-396 - Coronado (Arizona) - Followup on Significant Vandalism
T.S., 18, of Sierra Vista, Arizona, B.B., 19,
of Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and a juvenile were taken into
custody by rangers for the $4,000 in vandalism done to the
picnic ramada at Montezuma Pass on August 12th. T.S. and
B.B. were taken before a state judge and admitted their guilt.
They were released to their parents and banned from the park
until after a pending trial and subsequent sentencing. The
juvenile has not yet been charged. [Ed Lopez, CR, CORO, via
CompuServe message from Herb Gercke, RAD/WRO, 8/15]
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) ACTIVITY LEVEL Planning Level II
2) FIRE SUMMARY
State Agency Area Fire 8/15 8/16 Status
ID USFS Salmon NF Kitchen T1 1,000 1,790 NEC
Cabin 110 110 CN
* Wagonhammer 300 CN 8/16
Payette NF Rush Creek 300 300 NEC
BLM Shoshone Dist. Morrow 250 250 CN
MI NPS Isle Royale NP First 7 7 NEC
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 NEC No estimate of containment
CS Confinement strategy DM Demobed
3) 1990/1991 COMPARATIVE ACTIVITY SUMMARY
Fires Acres
1990 (Year-to-date) 45,703 3,573,557
1991 (Year-to-date) 58,332 1,922,220
1990-1991 (% difference) + 28% 46%
4) FIRE ACTIVITY 239 fires for 2,380 acres reported in the past
24 hours.
5) FIRE NARRATIVES
Isle Royale (Michigan) - The fire was contained Wednesday
afternoon and crews hoped to have it fully controlled yesterday.
Heavy equipment was ferried to the fire by a USFS helicopter on
Wednesday, and hoses and pumps were subsequently employed on hot
spots.
6) ANALYSIS - Fire dangers dropped yesterday within the North
Zone, Nevada and southern Idaho as the remnants of Tropical
Storm Hilda passed over the area. Many areas in the northern
Rockies continue to report very high fire dangers. New fires
were reported in central Idaho.
7) PROGNOSIS - No resource shortages expected.
[Fire Management Situation Report, NIFCC Intelligence Section,
8/16; briefing on Isle Royale fire from Bruce Weber, PA, ISRO,
8/15]
STAFF STATUS
Division Chief (Acting): No leave or travel scheduled.
Branch of Resource & Visitor Protection: Coffey on annual leave
(8/12-8/16); Schamp at semiautomatic weapon evaluation task force
meeting, Arlington, VA (8/13-8/15); Marriott in SER (8/13-8/15).
Branch of Fire & Aviation: Bristol at computer specialist
management information meeting, Seattle, WA (8/12-8/14); Norum on
trip to approve research sites, Fairbanks, AK (8/16-8/26); Botti
at Western Region budget formulation meeting, San Francisco, CA
(8/13-8/14); Erskine on annual leave (8/12-8/16); Broyles on
annual leave (8/1-28/14).
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