NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Tuesday, September 17, 1996

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

96-511 - C&O Canal (Maryland/D.C.) - Follow-up on Hurricane Fran

Approximately 90% of the park reopened to the public on Friday, September
13th, as a result of intensive efforts by the entire park staff.  The
standard for opening the towpath was lowered as a result of lessons learned
during the January flood; only those areas which poses serious threats to
life or property remain closed, pending additional short-term or long-term
repairs.  At present, the bridges and boardwalk on Olmsted Island and all
park campgrounds and hiker/biker campsites remain closed.  The contract to
desilt the canal and repair the towpath from Georgetown to Lock 5 and from
Lock 18 to Violette's Lock, the first major contract initiated to repair
January's damage, began on schedule on September 5th, and was resumed
following the brief delay caused by Hurricane Fran.  The work should be
completed by Christmas, which will permit the reopening of those two sections
to canal boat operations by next spring.  Detailed damage assessments are set
to begin later this week.  Repair and rehabilitation projects stemming from
those assessments will be incorporated into the January flood recovery plan. 
[Kevin FitzGerald, CV&RP, CHOH]

96-531 - Cape Hatteras (North Carolina) - Tornado

A tornado struck the Oregon Inlet campground at 4 a.m. this morning.  Ivey
Evans, a former NPS employee, received minor injuries when his camper was
demolished; Evans refused transportation to a hospital, however, and was
picked up by his son, who works in the area.  There were no other injuries,
and preliminary investigation indicates no damage to any facilities. 
Additional information to follow.  [Mike Anderson, Acting CR, CAHA; Steve
Smith, ACSO]

96-532 - Denali (Alaska) - Search and Rescue

Around noon on Friday, September 13th, rangers at the west end of the park
received a message broadcast on the park radio frequency saying: "Down at
Anderson Pass with injuries."  Repeated efforts to establish radio contact
and gain additional information were unsuccessful.  Rangers then contacted
ERA, Inc., a helicopter tour operator, to determine if they had any
helicopter in the area.  They advised that they did, and the rescue
coordination center at Elmendorf AFB subsequently confirmed that they'd
received emergency locator transmitter signals from that approximate
location.  A coordinated rescue effort was begun which involved an Air
National Guard C-130 and Pavehawk helicopter, ERA helicopters, NPS employees
and aircraft, and sundry medical personnel.  The downed helicopter was found
in the pass at 3 p.m.  The pilot and one passenger were okay, but a second
passenger had suffered possible back injuries.  All were evacuated.  Weather
at the time of the crash was marginal, with a low cloud ceiling and snow
showers.  The NTSB is investigating the accident.  [Jane Tranel, PIO, DENA]

                   [Additional reports pending...]

FIRE ACTIVITY

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II

The national preparedness level has dropped another step.  Preparedness Level
II is in effect when the following conditions are met: One geographic area
experiencing high fire danger.  Numerous Class A, B, and C fires occurring
and a potential exists for escapes to larger (project) fires.  Minimal
mobilization of resources from other geographic areas occurring.  The
potential exists for mobilizing additional resources from other geographic
areas. 

LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY 

                                                    Sun      Mon    %   Est
State      Unit              Fire/Incident   IMT    9/15     9/16  Con  Con

OR   Umpqua NF               Spring           T2  16,005   16,005   95  9/20

MT   Crow Agency             Sugar Beet       --     800      800  100  CND 

UT   Salt Lake District      Tabby Mountain   --   5,500    5,500  100  CND 

AK   Statewide               8 fires          -- 154,568  154,568   --  LPS

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

NUMBER OF NEW FIRES (FIVE DAY TREND) 

                    NPS    BIA      BLM     FWS    States   USFS     Total

Thursday, 9/12       2      2        11       1       97     61       174
Friday, 9/13         0     12        22       0       62    187       283
Saturday, 9/14       1      2         7       0       69     49       128
Sunday, 9/15         1     11         3       0       24     12        51
Monday, 9/16         0      4         3       0       37     10        54

TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FIVE DAY TREND) 

                  Crews     Engines    Helicopters    Airtankers   Overhead

Thursday, 9/12     152        207          70             3           985
Friday, 9/13       146        196          76             1         1,133
Saturday, 9/14      77         96          47             0           629
Sunday, 9/15        83         88          40             0           680
Monday, 9/16        44         45          34             0           475

FIRES AND ACRES BURNED

                          Year-to-date      Five-year average

Number of fires                 89,661                 61,053
Acres burned                 5,989,370              2,200,374

CURRENT SITUATION

Unseasonably cold and wet conditions are being reported over most of the
West.  As a result, there has been very little fire activity.

NATIONAL OUTLOOK

Cold and wet conditions are expected to persist through today.

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

National Wilderness Steering Committee Meeting - The National Wilderness
Steering Committee (NWSC) held it's second meeting in Seattle, Washington and
North Cascades National Park during the week of August 26th.  The NWSC was
established as a direct result of a 1993 wilderness report ("Wilderness Task
Force Report on Improving Wilderness Management in the National Park
Service") and the Director's personal commitment to bringing the NPS to the
forefront of wilderness management.  The committee is currently addressing
four major initiatives intended to meet the goals identified in the report. 
These include: 

     o development of an education and constituency-building strategy;
     o the improvement of NPS wilderness management accountability;
     o the development of Servicewide wilderness guidelines; and 
     o the development of a Servicewide wilderness training program.      

Anyone interested in the details and progress of NWSC efforts can keep posted
by contacting Wes Henry or Jim Walters.  A wilderness bulletin board was also
recently established and will soon post all information produced by the
committee.  Committee members are Judy Alderson, Dick Anderson, Bill Briggle,
Tim Cochran, Maureen Finnerty, Wes Henry, Craig Holmquist, Randy Jones, Doug
Morris, Uwe Nehring, Alan Schmierer, Ralph Tingey, Karen Wade, and Jim
Walters.  [Jim Walters, IMFA]

NPS-53, Special Park Uses Guideline - Copies of the draft revised NPS-53 are
still available to anyone interested in reviewing and commenting on the
guideline.  To obtain a copy of the guideline and companion procedures
workbook, send a cc:Mail message to Dennis Burnett at NP-WASO-POPS.  Type
NPS53 on the subject line; no text is needed.  Three files will be
automatically returned to you.  They are accompanied by a file entitled
README.1ST which gives full instructions on how to expand the two compressed
files.  All comments must be sent via cc:Mail to Dick S. Young at NP-COLO by
November 15th.  [Dick Young, RAD/WASO @ COLO]

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

EXCHANGE

No submissions.

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Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation and
support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.

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