- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Friday, July 12, 1996
- Date: Fri, 12 Jul 1996
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Friday, July 12, 1996
Broadcast: By 1000 ET
INCIDENTS
96-340 - East Coast Parks - Follow-up on Hurricane Bertha
Hurricane Bertha's overnight weakening and steady but slow approach to the
Carolina shoreline has led to standdowns and resumption of regular operations
to the south of the projected landfall, continued preparations and vigilance
in the hurricane warning area, and preparations for tropical storm conditions
to the north:
o Castillo de San Marcos/Fort Matanzas (Florida) - Park personnel
returned to work yesterday. Both areas were fully reopened by noon.
Boat operations to Fort Matanzas are to resume this morning.
o Fort Frederica (Georgia) - Some tropical force gusts and rain struck
the area yesterday afternoon, causing minor tree damage. All park
staff are on hand this morning for normal operations.
o FLETC (Georgia) - NPS staff at the Federal Law Enforcement Training
Center joined other agencies at the facility in evacuation preparations
on Wednesday. All students were contacted, and plans were prepared to
move them to the South Georgia College in Douglas, Georgia. Buses were
brought in and were ready to go when the evacuation was canceled at 7
p.m. Wednesday evening. Classes resumed yesterday.
o Fort Pulaski (Georgia) - All employees reported for normal duty
yesterday, and all visitor facilities were reopened by noon. Winds
gusted to over 30 mph Wednesday night and there were brief periods of
moderate to heavy rain. No significant damage occurred.
o Fort Sumter Group (South Carolina) - The center of the storm is
expected to strike the Carolina coastline just north of the fort. All
personnel have been released and the hurricane preparedness plan has
been implemented. All parks will likely remain closed throughout the
day. Winds are expected to reach 40 to 50 mph, with gusts to 60 mph,
by noon.
o Moores Creek (North Carolina) - The park is closed today in preparation
for the storm's arrival.
o Cape Hatteras Group (North Carolina) - Dare County issued a mandatory
evacuation for the northern part of the county yesterday afternoon.
All essential park employees, reentry teams and disaster recovery crews
have been moved to the Crabtree Ramada and Crabtree Marriott hotels in
Raleigh, North Carolina, about four hours west of the park. All other
employees have been released and have evacuated the area. Three
rangers will remain on Hatteras Island at Buxton Station during the
hurricane's passage.
o Sandy Hook Unit, Gateway (New Jersey) - The park began preparations
yesterday. Resource needs were identified, equipment was readied, and
information and a warning notice were disseminated to all residents and
cooperators regarding communications and access issues.
o Fire Island (New York) - Bertha is expected to pass about 100 miles
south of the park as a tropical storm on Saturday afternoon. Easterly
winds of up to 50 mph could cause erosion to the island's south shore,
and some overwash is possible.
[Ray Morris, CR/IC, FOFR; Chip Davis, SA, FLETC; Frank Mills, CR, Sandy Hook
Unit, GATE; John Tucker, FOSU and MOCR; Kent Cave, FOPU; C. Dale, CR/IC,
CASA/FOMA; Don Weir, CR, FIIS; Bob Woody, CI&VS, CAHA; Steve Smith, SEFDO]
96-354 - Yosemite (California) - Follow-up on Major Rock Slide
A large slab of rock from high on Glacier Point fell about 2,500 feet to the
Happy Isles area in Yosemite Valley at 7 p.m. on Wednesday July 10th,
striking the ground with explosive force. The blast of air from the rock
slide caused hundreds of trees in the Happy Isles area to fall. The fall
killed 20-year-old Emiliano Morales, of Montebelo, California, severely
injured two women, and caused relatively minor injuries to other visitors.
Morales was caught and pinned under a falling tree. A 17-year-old girl was
trapped under a tree, and her foot was severed. She was flown in an air
ambulance to Doctors Hospital in Modesto California, and went into surgery to
attempt to reattach the foot. Another four visitors remain missing or
unaccounted for. The natural process which caused the 300 to 400-foot-wide
granite arch to fall is known as exfoliation. The fall and associated wind
put so much dust in the air that it took an hour before it was possible to
see for more than 100 feet. The area of devastation caused by the rock fall
is about 50 acres in size; within it, trees are stacked eight to ten deep.
The debris and dust pile where the rocks hit the valley is estimated to be
about 50 feet deep. There's a foot and a half of pulverized dust on the
ground at the scene; the Upper Pines campground, located about a half mile
away, has between an inch and an inch and a half of dust on the ground. The
rock slide damaged the new Happy Isles Nature Center, destroyed a
concessioner snack stand, and took out an 18-inch water main, cutting off the
park's water system. The park will be able to pump needed water from
existing wells to make up the shortfall of water caused by the damage to the
main water system. Rocks are still falling on the area. About 200 emergency
services personnel continue to search for possible victims. Park staff are
being assisted by many other state and local agencies. It's expected that it
will take at least four more days to complete the search for victims. Don
Coelho and Hunter Sharp are incident commanders. [Hal Grovert, Acting
Superintendent, YOSE; Bob Andrews, CR, YOSE; PIO, IMT, YOSE]
96-355 - Glen Canyon (Arizona/Utah) - Multiple Sexual Assaults
J.R.C., 21, a local resident, committed at least seven separate
sexual assaults at Lone Rock Beach during the early morning hours of July
6th. His victims were small children, young girls and adult women. J.R.C.
entered the tents and RVs while the occupants were sleeping to commit the
crimes. Campers were alerted when a ten-year-old girl woke her mother,
crying and saying a man had been touching her. J.R.C. was seen entering a
nearby tent and captured by several campers, who in turn alerted park
rangers. J.R.C. was arrested and taken to a jail in Kanab, Utah. [David
Sandbakken, LES, GLCA]
96-356 - Glen Canyon (Arizona/Utah) - Rape
On the evening of July 6th, a 36-year-old woman was walking down the Burr
Trail following a dispute with her husband when two men in their 20s drove up
in a vehicle, stopped and raped her. An investigation is underway. Numerous
leads are being pursued, and a description of the vehicle has been broadcast
to all area law enforcement agencies. [Jim Houseman, CI, GLCA]
96-357 - Lake Chelan (Washington) - Rescue
On the afternoon of July 5th, a 13-year-old girl fell into the Stehekin River
while on a commercial rafting trip. The raft flipped over after colliding
with a log jam, and all eight occupants were swept under the debris. Two
rafters were pulled up through the logs to safety and five others emerged
down river from the log jam. The girl, however, was pinned about two feet
under the surface of the river. A rafting guide from a second boat was able
to free her after she spent about five minutes under water. Two nurses on
board the second raft started CPR when they could detect neither pulse nor
respirations. Park emergency personnel were summoned and assisted with CPR
and transportation of the patient. Advanced life support paramedics arrived
at Stehekin by air from Chelan after about an hour. The girl was flown out
by medical helicopter to Chelan, where she was placed in a critical care unit
for two days. She recovered fully and was released from the hospital after
four days. [Greg Moss, DR, Stehekin District, LACH]
96-358 - Grand Canyon (Arizona) - Rescue
Rangers received a report of an overdue hiker in the Cottonwood Canyon area
of the park on July 6th. The hiker had reportedly run out of water the
previous day and had opted to hike the two-and-a-half miles to the Colorado
to replenish his supplies. He was spotted by air in the steep and narrow
lower portion of the canyon. A short-haul extraction was ruled out because
the canyon was too narrow for safe rotor clearance, so park medic Sypher and
VIP EMT Vogelzang hiked into the rugged and exposed area. They found that
the hiker had fallen 30 feet onto solid rock earlier that day and was
suffering from multiple injuries and extreme dehydration. Daytime
temperatures exceeded 110 degrees, affecting both the rescues and the
patient. Five rescuers stayed with the victim overnight, using their own
water supplies to rehydrate and cool the patient. Two of the rangers
required IV therapy to stay hydrated. Rangers Herring and Vandzura
accordingly made a dangerous night hike to the river for additional water.
Early on July 7th, a motorized Achilles boat was flown to a beach helispot
downstream from the confluence of Cottonwood Canyon and the Colorado River.
Rescuers also flew in a water pump to wet down the beach area to keep flying
sand from fowling the helicopter's turbine engines. Additional rescue
personnel were flown to the helispot, then ferried to the confluence, where
they disembarked and hiked to the scene. A sawyer team was flown in to clear
a path through the brush to allow room for a litter carry to the confluence.
The patient was transported from the path around a 30-foot vertical pour-off
and to the river by a short haul operation, then flown to a hospital in
Flagstaff and treated for a punctured lung, two broken ribs and a fractured
heel. This interagency effort involved support from Arizona DPS and Kaibab
National Forest staff; a total of 51 people and three helicopters were
committed to the incident. [CRO, GRCA]
96-359 - Olympic (Washington) - Climbing Fatality
Late on the evening of July 7th, the park received a 911 call from D.B.,
who'd just hiked out from the Royal Basin area. D.B. reported that
his climbing partner, Darren Kitchen, 24, an English national, had fallen
from the Mt. Deception summit. Kitchen was within 300 feet of the summit
when the rock or snow that he was standing on gave way. He slid about 300
feet and was unable to self-arrest with his ice axe before falling into a
rock scree slope at a high rate of speed. D.B. was unable to climb down to
Kitchen's location. He attempted to get a response from Kitchen for some
time; when he failed to do so, he hiked out. It took him four-and-a-half
hours to reach is vehicle and drive to a phone. Since no helicopter was
available at the time and since Kitchen had very likely died in the fall, it
was determined that a night rescue would not be attempted. Park personnel
flew to the site the next morning and found Kitchen's body. He had succumbed
from major trauma. [Larry Nickey, OLYM]
96-360 - Columbia Cascades SSO (Washington) - Demonstration
A First Amendment demonstration took place in front of the Jackson Federal
Building in Seattle on the afternoon of July 10th. The purpose of the
demonstration, sponsored by the Seattle Lesbian Resource Center, was to voice
concerns regarding a perceived increase in hatred and intolerance toward
lesbians and gays. Specifically mentioned were the recent deaths of the two
lesbian women in Shenandoah on June 1st. About 40 people attended the event.
The organizers presented a written proclamation addressed to the NPS, FBI and
attorney general Janet Reno. CCSSO public affairs officer Nancy Stromsem
received the proclamation on behalf of the NPS, made a brief statement, then
answered questions along with CCSSO law enforcement specialist Dan Walters.
No unusual incidents occurred during the demonstration. [Dan Walters, LES,
CCSSO]
96-361 - Wrangell-St. Elias (Alaska) - Rescue
Seven kayakers from Massachusetts, ranging in age from 10 to 38, were rescued
uninjured by rangers on the morning of Thursday, July 11th, after spending a
cold night along the Chitina River. The kayakers had started their trip on
Wednesday evening near the face of Chitina Glacier. Within three miles, two
had capsized and the occupants and their gear were strung along the banks of
the river. Occupants of the third kayak kept it upright, but could not
return to help the others in the party. One member of the group carried a
personal locator beacon and activated it around midnight. The Air Force RCC
(rescue coordination center) picked up the signal and notified the park the
next morning. Rangers Jim Hannah and Tim Saskowsky flew out of Gulkana on a
contract helicopter at 4:30 a.m. and located the kayakers shortly thereafter.
By noon, all had been shuttled to a nearby airstrip, then flown out of the
park on Sunday. [John Quinley, PAO, AFDO]
[Additional reports pending...]
FIRE ACTIVITY
NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level III
LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY
% Est
State Unit Fire/Incident IMT 7/11 7/12 Con Con
UT State Sorenson Cx T1 44,473 44,473 100 CND
Salt Lake District Davis Knoll Cx T1 38,140 38,140 100 CND
Cedar City District Rock Corral -- 480 480 50 7/13
Richfield District * Gilson Mtn. Cx T2 - 1,200 0 NEC
OR Deschutes NF Jefferson T2 300 750 30 7/14
Burns District Burnt Flat -- 5,000 5,000 100 CND
Vale District Gin Basin -- 1,700 1,700 100 CND
WA State * Old Lyle -- - 200 50 7/12
CO Dinosaur NM * Zanobia T2 - 1,000 0 NEC
NV Ely District * Garden -- - 2,500 10 7/12
Winnemucca District * Rebel Creek -- - 400 15 7/13
CA Angeles NF * Gorge -- - 500 0 NEC
Sequoia NF * Willow -- - 300 100 CND
AZ AZ Strip District Jump Canyon -- 350 350 100 CND
AK Statewide 32 LSS fires -- 380,470 384,770 -- --
NM Mescalero Agency Chino Well Flood T1 - - - -
CA Yosemite NP * Rockslide -- - - - -
NC East Coast * Hurricane Bertha -- - - - -
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; LPS = limited
protection status
INCIDENT HIGHLIGHTS
Dinosaur NM - The Zanobia fire was started by lightning and was originally
burning in a prescription. The fire intensity increased yesterday, and the
fire made several runs last night. A type II incident management team, eight
crews and a type II helicopter were ordered last night and should arrive
today.
FIRES AND ACRES BURNED
NPS BIA BLM FWS States USFS Total
Number 8 12 38 0 84 57 199
Acres Burned 1 23 1,623 0 5,226 1,925 8,798
COMMITTED RESOURCES
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Federal 142 178 62 6 571
Non-federal 26 23 3 0 122
CURRENT SITUATION
Initial attack continued yesterday in most areas of the West. Large fires
increased in southern California, the Great Basin and the Rockies. Resource
mobilization through NICC was steady. FEMA has asked the Forest Service to
establish, manage and operate a receiving and distribution center at Fort
Bragg, North Carolina, in support of their efforts to provide assistance
following the passage of Hurricane Bertha.
NATIONAL OUTLOOK
Fire activity is expected to continue in many Western areas due to hot and
dry conditions and continuing thunderstorms.
[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 7/12]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
No submissions.
OPERATIONAL NOTES
No submissions.
MEMORANDA
No submissions.
EXCHANGE
Free Medical Supplies - Zion recently ordered 20 multidose vials of
Recombivax HB to inoculate personnel against hepatitis B. The military
misread the order and sent the park 200 vials, worth over $20,000. The
military has decided that the park can keep the extra 180 vials, as it would
be too expensive to return to them. Parks needing the vaccine should contact
Pat Buccello at 801-772-3018 or via cc:Mail. Parks will need to send account
numbers to cover shipping and small coolers with chemical ice parks that can
be frozen.
OBSERVATIONS
"This is the legacy I would like to leave behind: I would like to have
stopped the ridicule about the conservation of snails, lichens, and fungi,
and instead moved the debate to which ecosystems are the most recoverable and
how we can save them, making room for them and ourselves."
Mollie Beattie, Director, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, 1993-1996,
who died last month
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.
--- ### ---