- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Friday, August 2, 1996
- Date: Fri, 2 Aug 1996
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Friday, August 2, 1996
Broadcast: By 1000 ET
INCIDENTS
96-418 - Sequoia-Kings Canyon (California) - Follow-up on Search for Ranger
The search continues for seasonal backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson, who has
not been seen or heard from since Saturday, July 20th. As of Wednesday, no
significant clues had been found. The search continued yesterday with 15
search teams, including helicopters and numerous dog teams. [Annie
Esperanza, Plans Chief, Morgenson SAR Incident, SEKI]
96-427 - Gettysburg (Pennsylvania) - Death of Employee
John Andrews, 43, interpretive operations center supervisor, died of a heart
attack yesterday evening. John had been with the Service for 21 years, and
had worked previously at Assateague Island and Colonial. He was responsible
for overseeing interpretive services and the licensed battlefield guide
program at Gettysburg. He leaves his wife, Debby, and his children, Molly,
16, and Jonathan, 11. No details are yet available on services. They will
be provided as soon as they are known. [Brion Fitzgerald, Chief of
Interpretation and Visitor Protection, GETT]
96-428 - Joshua Tree (California) - Credit Card Fraud Arrest
In early May, a park employee used her government VISA card to make several
authorized purchases at local stores. The June billing statement, however,
also showed several fraudulent charges. Government credit card fraud
investigators were notified, but declined to pursue the case because the
fraudulent purchases had been made by phone. An in-park investigation was
accordingly conducted; two search warrants were subsequently executed and
crucial evidence was seized, including the employee's credit card number,
computer programs, and packaging from the programs with the employee's name
on it. The suspect, R.B., was located and interviewed later that
evening and confessed to taking the two credit card numbers while he was
employed as a cashier at the local WalMart. R.B. was arrested and charged
with six felony counts of access card theft through the state court system.
[Todd Swain, CI, JOTR]
[Additional reports pending...]
FIRE ACTIVITY
NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level III
LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY
% Est
State Unit Fire/Incident IMT 7/31 8/2 Con Con
OR Deschutes NF Jefferson T1 3,648 3,648 95 8/2
Vale District Bogus Creek -- 20,000 57,000 10 NEC
Burns District Buzzard -- 500 5,000 100 CND
* Kiger -- - 250 0 NEC
WA Umatilla NF * Tallow Tail T2 - 60 0 NEC
Spokane District * Appaloosa -- - 220 100 CND
UT Salt Lake District * Lime -- - 1,200 0 NEC
* South of Delle -- - 1,200 0 8/2
* Timpie -- - 150 0 NEC
State * Silver Creek -- - 100 0 NEC
* Camp Floyd -- - 2,500 0 NEC
ID Boise District * Yote Butte -- - 1,500 10 8/2
* Dorsey Creek -- - 1,000 100 CND
SoCent Idaho District * Walcott Lake -- - 6,000 60 8/2
* East Salmon Dam -- - 400 80 8/2
CA Seq.-Kings Canyon NP Castle Cx -- 1,390 1,390 NR NEC
Sequoia NF * Borel T1 - 800 0 NEC
Madera-Mariposa RU * Stumpfield -- - 700 0 NEC
* Cotton -- - 1,000 100 CND
San Diego RU * Barrett -- - 750 80 8/1
San Bernadino RU * Pioneer -- - 150 90 8/2
Sonoma RU * Cavedale -- - 2,098 70 8/2
MT State Wolf -- 350 350 100 CND
AK Statewide 24 fires -- 472,413 458,305 -- NSS
GA NPS - Atlanta Area Olympics 96 T2 - - - -
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
FIRE/INCIDENT NARRATIVES
Olympics 96 Incident, Atlanta Area Parks - Reports pending and will appear
tomorrow.
NUMBER OF NEW FIRES (THREE DAY TREND)
NPS BIA BLM FWS States USFS Total
Monday, 7/29 6 8 19 0 129 49 211
Tuesday, 7/30 0 8 69 0 77 190 344
Thursday, 8/1 1 14 85 1 87 134 322
TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (THREE DAY TREND)
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Monday, 7/29 182 197 64 5 955
Tuesday, 7/30 151 279 62 8 563
Thursday, 8/1 213 536 64 24 717
CURRENT SITUATION
Lightning which struck across much of the West yesterday started numerous
fires in the eastern Great Basin, Northwest, and the Rockies. Mobilization
of resources through NICC increased.
NATIONAL OUTLOOK
NICC has issued a RED FLAG WARNING for a dry and windy cold front for
southwest Oregon, much of southern Idaho, and southwest Wyoming, and has
posted FIRE WEATHER WATCHES for dry thunderstorms with strong winds and low
humidity in Montana east of the Continental Divide and for strong winds, hot
temperatures and low humidity in south central and northeast Wyoming.
Fire activity is expected to increase because of the above.
[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 8/2; Cheri Anderson, IO, Olympics
96 Incident, 8/1]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Saint Croix (Wisconsin/Minnesota) - Zebra Mussel Update
The park so far remains uninfested with zebra mussels, and no reproducing
populations of zebra mussels have been detected on the rivers' substrate.
Monitoring dives conducted in June and July detected a total of two vessels
with adult zebra mussels attached to their trim-tabs. The vessels, located
at marinas on the riverway, had made trips into the Mississippi River, which
is infested with zebra mussels. These boats were removed from the river for
decontamination purposes at the owners expense, as per Minnesota state
regulations which prohibit the transport of zebra mussels from infested
waters to non-infested waters. Last week, a Corps of Engineers permit for
levee work on the lower St. Croix was issued which allowed overland transport
of three decontaminated barges and other equipment to the work site on the
St. Croix, rather than upstream travel from the Mississippi into the St.
Croix. This was done in order to further protect the St. Croix from zebra
mussel inoculation. The NPS is proposing to amend its boating regulations to
include authority to regulate access to NPS waters by individuals and vessels
which have recently operated in waters infested with injurious non-indigenous
aquatic plant and animal species. The purposed rules were published in the
Federal Register on June 24th. Written comments will be accepted through
August 23rd. [Sue Jennings, SACN]
OPERATIONAL NOTES
Reports pending.
MEMORANDA
No submissions.
EXCHANGE
No submissions.
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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