- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Friday, May 3, 1996
- Date: Fri, 3 May 1996
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Friday, May 3, 1996
Broadcast: By 1000 ET
INCIDENTS
96-180 - Hawaii Volcanoes (Hawaii) - Follow-up on MVA with Serious Injuries
J.N., 44, the passenger in the accident that occurred on Chain of
Craters Road on the afternoon of May 1st, died early on the morning of May
2nd. The driver, M.R., 76, has been transported to Honolulu for further
medical treatment. The road remained closed yesterday due to unsafe
conditions caused by accident debris, but was to reopen as soon as fire and
maintenance crews could clean up the area. [Jim Martin, Superintendent,
HAVO]
96-183 - Lake Mead (Nevada/Arizona) - Drug Arrest
On the evening of April 29th, Boulder City police notified the park of a semi
with a possible drunken driver southbound on U.S. 93. Rangers located and
stopped the truck near the Alan Bible visitor center. While attempting to
determine if the driver was driving under the influence (DUI), the rangers
discovered items normally associated with methamphetamine laboratories.
Further investigation led to the discovery of a complete methamphetamine lab
inside the trailer. The driver was arrested for DUI (alcohol and drugs),
possession of drug paraphernalia, and manufacturing drugs. Additional
charges are pending. Assistance was provided at the scene by Nevada highway
patrol and Las Vegas metro drug officers. [CRO, LAME]
FIRE ACTIVITY
NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II
LARGE FIRE SUMMARY
% Est
State Unit Fire IMT 5/2 5/3 Con Con
NM Santa Fe NF Dome T1 16,442 16,575 75 5/3
AZ Coronado NF Clark Peak T1 3,114 3,500 50 5/5
Slate T2 250 275 100 CND
Tonto NF Lone T1 57,000 61,250 75 5/4
Kaibab NF Bachelor -- 249 249 100 CND
State Butcher Mesa -- 100 115 40 5/2
CA Los Padres NF Grand -- 10,925 10,925 100 CND
San Diego RU Otay #121 -- 1,050 1,070 80 5/2
Heading Notes
Unit -- Agency = BIA area; NF = national forest; RU = CA state resource
or ranger unit; RD = state ranger district; District = BLM
district; NWR = USFWS wildlife refuge
Fire -- * = newly reported fire (on this report); Cx = complex; LSS =
limited suppression strategy; CSS = containment suppression
strategy
IMT -- T1 = Type 1; T2 = Type II; ST = State Team
% Con -- Percent of fire contained
Est Con -- Estimated containment date; NEC = no estimated date of
containment; CND = fully contained; NR = no report
FIRE NARRATIVES
Santa Fe NF/Bandelier NM - Additional information has been received on the
shelter deployment which took place on April 25th. At 5 p.m. that afternoon,
two engines with crews - one Forest Service (E5), one NPS from Bandelier
(E91) - were leaving St. Peters Dome lookout on a Forest Service road when
fire blocked the road at a place which was too narrow to allow them to turn
around. As the fire approached the engines, the crews ran up the road to a
picnic area and deployed their shelters. The fire passed by, and they were
out of their shelters by 5:50 p.m. E5 was in flames; E91 was virtually
untouched. One member of the E5 crew had no gloves on as he held his shelter
down and received minimal second degree burns to the back of his hands. The
initial report stating that two hand crews in the area also had to deploy
shelters was erroneous. The crews were in the same general area and were
forced to move to safety areas, but never had to deploy shelters. Involved
personnel were taken back to camp and met with a critical incident stress
debriefing team during the weekend. [Jim Carson, IO, BAND]
FIRES AND ACRES BURNED
NPS BIA BLM FWS States USFS Total
Number 0 13 4 0 132 13 162
Acres Burned 0 271 143 0 2,076 4,867 7,357
COMMITTED RESOURCES
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Federal 120 92 32 23 785
Non-federal 35 21 12 15 151
CURRENT SITUATION
Only minimal initial attack was reported in the Southwest yesterday.
Progress was made on the majority of large fires despite severe burning
conditions. Resource mobilization through NICC continued to be moderate.
NATIONAL OUTLOOK
A FIRE WEATHER WATCH has been posted for northwest Arizona due to winds and
low relative humidity. The potential for increased fire activity continues
due to persisting hot and dry conditions in the Southwest and southern
California.
[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 5/3]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
No submissions.
OPERATIONAL NOTES
Hazardous Materials Training - National Park Service employees must deal with
hazardous materials and/or chemicals as part of their normal daily duties,
but many have little awareness of their potential hazards and have little or
no spill response training. A partnership with established in 1993 between
the hazardous materials and waste enforcement unit in the old North Atlantic
regional office and the Public Health Service to deal with these training
shortfalls, and has since been expanded through support from the Washington
Office. A three-day-long training course has been established and targeted
toward NPS maintenance and law enforcement personnel. The course, which
meets OSHA requirements found in 29 CFR 1910.210, consists of several
components. NPS personnel who require hazard communication training need to
attend just the first four hours of the first training day; those who need
only eight hours of awareness level training need only attend the first day,
as is the case for those who are already certified as 24-hour spill
responders and need just their eight-hour annual refresher; those who attend
the full 24-hour training course will be certified as emergency small spill
first responders. The program has been highly successful, and the demand for
this training has escalated. Almost 250 law enforcement and maintenance
employees have been trained to date. Representatives from many other
federal, state and local agencies have also attended. There's no tuition for
the course, and each student receives about $200 in training manuals and
references. Training courses will be held this month in Minneapolis (May 7-
9) and at Big Horn Canyon (May 28-30). Training will be conducted in the
future in the Northeast and Southeast field areas. For further information,
contact Alan Schroeder, USPHS, or Hank Brightman, environmental protection
specialist, at 617-223-5222. [Jerry Johnson, USPHS, WASO]
Uniform Program Update - Over the past two years, the Servicewide uniform
committee and the Service's uniform program manager have been working on the
development or alteration of several uniform components. Details on these
actions have been transmitted monthly to park uniform program coordinators
for dissemination to all uniformed employees. These monthly updates are now
being incorporated into regular updates in the Morning Report, beginning with
this one. The following actions were taken based on field recommendations;
development has been predicated on information received through a Servicewide
needs assessment disseminated to all areas in 1994, field reviews at several
maintenance employee and ranger conferences, and several rounds of field
tests by employees:
o Fleece jacket - A dark green fleece jacket is now available from the
uniform contractor for both Class A and Class B uniformed employees.
Flyers were mailed to all parks on May 1st. The jacket, which is made
from recycled polyester fibers, has zippered handwarmer pockets,
concealed badge and name tag reinforcements, and rib knitting at the
waist and cuffs. Please note that Class A uniformed personnel MUST
wear badges and name tags on the jacket. The reinforcements have been
placed inside the jacket to provide support and indicate proper
position. The men's lot number is 50501, women's is 50502, price is
$63.50. See the flyer for size scales.
o Gaiters - Gaiters have been redesigned and now come in two sizes. The
flyer also contains information on them. They are made from 100%
Taslan nylon Goretex with urethane coated cordura on the lower panels.
The lot number (both genders) is 210, price is $44.95. See the flyer
for size scales.
o Outerwear - The redesigned outerwear components are in the final stages
of development. They will NOT be available this fiscal year, however.
See previous uniform program reports for details.
o Rain/wind pants - The pants have been redesigned to better accommodate
law enforcement equipment. The final design is almost complete, but it
is not yet certain when it will be possible to introduce them into the
uniform program.
o Packable rain/wind pants and jacket - The original model from Helly
Hansen being considered for the program did not fare as well in field
tests as had been hoped. Rangers in the North Cascades and Sequoia-
Kings Canyon are testing new models from Helly Hansen made from a
waterproof and breathable fabric.
o Backcountry shorts - Samples of a NEW short for backcountry use made by
Extrasport and used by the Forest Service are being reviewed. Further
action is pending.
o Frontcountry shorts - The shorts CURRENTLY in the program will soon be
replaced by a new, more attractive and contemporary model. Details
will appear here as soon as they are available.
o Ball cap - The ball cap is being redesigned to remove foam and to
change the shape into more of a true ball cap.
o Washable Class A summer pants - Two rounds of field tests have been
completed on Class A summer pants in washable fabric. Both reviews
were very positive. The contractor is acquiring final samples for
Service approval. These will probably not be available this summer.
Further updates will appear here on a regular basis. [Bill Halainen,
Servicewide Uniform Committee Chair, DEWA]
MEMORANDA
No submissions.
EXCHANGE
Cloud Seeding Effects - Theodore Roosevelt is interested in hearing from any
parks that have had experience in commenting on the effects - whether
positive or negative - of weather modification on park ecosystems. They
recently discovered that surrounding communities have been seeding clouds
with silver iodide since the 1960s in order to enhance rainfall and decrease
hail damage. They feel that this process has obvious implications on natural
processes, but are attempting to determine if there's a correlation between
frequency of seeding and the significance of impacts. If you can help,
please contact resource management specialist Roger Andrascik at THRO
Resource Management at NP-THRO or 701-623-4466.
OBSERVATIONS
Today's "Observation" was submitted by someone who didn't put her or his name
on the actual document. Thanks, though...
"One hundred years from now, as people look back on our use of this
continent, we shall not be praised for our reckless use of its oil, nor the
weakening of our watershed values through overgrazing, nor the loss of our
forests: we shall be heartily damned for all these things. But we may take
comfort in the knowledge that we shall certainly be thanked for the national
parks."
Ray Lyman Wilbur, Secretary of the
Interior, 1931
Distribution of the Morning Report is through a mailing list managed by park,
office and/or field area cc:Mail hub coordinators. Please address requests
for the Morning Report to your servicing hub coordinator.
Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation and
support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.
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