- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Friday, June 13, 1997
- Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Friday, June 13, 1997
Broadcast: By 1000 ET
INCIDENTS
97-265 - Yellowstone NP (WY) - Boating Accident; Two Fatalities
On the morning of June 12th, the captain of an Amfac (park concession) boat
radioed that an overturned canoe had been found about a quarter mile from the
west shore of Yellowstone Lake near Rock Point and that he'd begun a search
of the area for its occupants. Rangers and other Amfac boats joined the
search shortly thereafter. The bodies of the canoe's occupants - two men
from Ohio, ages 41 and 49 - were found within 20 minutes. Both were wearing
life jackets. The water temperature at the location was 38 degrees
Fahrenheit. It appears that the two men had been in the water for an
extended period of time and died of hypothermia. Investigation revealed that
they had a backcountry permit for an extended camping trip on the lake, which
had begun on June 9th and was to end on June 19th. Circumstances suggest
that they were attempting to end their trip early on June 11th, and that they
capsized sometime during the afternoon, perhaps during a thunderstorm.
Family notifications and a follow-up investigation are underway. [Mike
Murray, ACR, YELL, 6/12]
97-266 - Curecanti NRA (CO) - MVA with Fatality and Multiple Injuries
Rangers from Curecanti and Black Canyon responded to a two-vehicle accident
with multiple injuries on U.S. 50 at Lake Fork bridge on the afternoon of
June 11th. A four-door sedan had crossed the double yellow line and struck a
van with 16 passengers head on. The driver of the sedan was airlifted from
the scene with severe head and chest injuries and was pronounced dead at the
hospital in Grand Junction. Nine people were transported by ambulance to
Gunnison Valley Hospital. Three were admitted in critical condition; the
remainder were treated for minor injuries, then taken into custody for the
Immigration and Naturalization Service. The responding rangers, who had just
finished an EMS orientation session with Gunnison EMS personnel, were first
on scene and provided EMS, traffic control, and assistance in establishing a
landing zone for the medevac helicopter. [Kinsey Shilling, DR, CURE, 6/12]
97-267 - Statue of Liberty NM (NY) - Special Event
On June 10th, New York city mayor Rudolph Guiliani's immigration committee
sponsored an event on Ellis Island which was attended by a dozen mayors and
about 1,500 invited guests. USPP officers from the Statue of Liberty and
Gateway provided security for the event, which received significant local
media attention. [Lt. John Lauro, USPP, STLI, 6/12]
FIRE ACTIVITY
NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II
LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY
Wed Thu % Est
State Unit Fire/Incident IMT 6/11 6/12 Con Con
*** No significant fires reported ***
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
Sunday, 6/8 0 1 3 2 17 8 31
Monday, 6/9 0 11 13 3 77 17 121
Tuesday, 6/10 1 5 13 1 35 24 79
Wednesday, 6/11 1 7 9 1 47 24 91
Thursday, 6/12 0 1 9 0 58 33 101
TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FIVE DAY TREND)
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Sunday, 6/8 4 0 1 0 0
Monday, 6/9 4 28 5 0 0
Tuesday, 6/10 10 42 11 10 9
Wednesday, 6/11 8 25 6 0 0
Thursday, 6/12 16 46 11 0 3
CURRENT SITUATION
No new large fires were reported yesterday. There was an increase in initial
attack in northern California and Alaska reported increased acreage on two
limited fires, but the rest of the U.S. was quiet. Units in southern
California, Arizona and New Mexico continue to report very high to extreme
fire indices. Significant fires are reported in Canada.
NICC has posted two FIRE WEATHER WATCHES - one for strong winds in the
central mountains of New Mexico, the other for strong winds, low humidity and
low fuel moisture for areas in Arizona at elevations between 2,000 and 6,500
feet.
[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 6/13]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
No submissions.
OPERATIONAL NOTES
Filming Permit Problem - Yellowstone NP has passed along a note regarding
problems they have had with a production company called Schara
Communications, which has refused to pay for staff assistance while filming
in the park. If you should have any contact with this company or
photographer Drew DeMack, please contact Stacy Churchwell at 307-344-2013 or
via cc:Mail at YELL Public Affairs. [Stacy Churchwell, YELL]
Regs/Jurisdiction Update - The following actions have recently taken place:
o 36 CFR Part 2: Minor corrections have been made to the package based on
comments received from the solicitor's office. The package will need to
go back to the solicitor for surnaming.
o 36 CFR Part 14 - Rights-of-Way: This proposed rule was signed by the
assistant secretary on November 13, 1996 and was approved by OMB. This
rulemaking is a complete revision of the interim regulations. It will
provide a process for the review, consideration and approval or denial
of requests for rights-of-ways across all areas of the National Park
System. This rule cannot be published in the Federal Register,
however, until a new "information collection" package is submitted to
OMB for approval. Ranger Activities is currently working on this
package.
o 36 CFR Part 3: The second meeting of the Part 3 work group was held on
the week of May 5th to continue the task of updating and rewriting
(where necessary) Part 3 of the CFR on boating and water use
activities. Any comments should be sent to Bob McKeever at Lake Mead
via cc:Mail or at 702-293-8939.
o 36 CFR 4.15: A proposed rule changing the seatbelt regulation (36 CFR
4.15) as a result of Executive Order 13043 has been developed and is
being reviewed by the solicitor. The NPS currently has regulations
requiring seat belt use by the operator and each front seat passenger
in states that do not have seatbelt laws or regulations. In states
with seatbelt laws, parks usually enforce the state statute. On April
16th, the president signed an executive order directing the NPS to
propose rules that require all occupants of motor vehicles whose seats
are equipped with seat belts or child restraint systems to use those
safety belts or child restraint devices at all times within park areas
when the vehicle is in motion. The proposed rule would not require
another traffic violation to occur before the vehicle may be stopped
for a seatbelt violation, as in the current regulation. The seatbelt
regulation in this rulemaking is intended to apply in all NPS areas.
o 36 CFR 7.96: The final rule for NCR parks concerning the Kennedy Center
and distribution of literature was signed by the acting assistant
secretary on June 3rd and should be published in the Federal Register
within a few days.
The following rules are still with the assistant secretary: 36 CFR Part 11,
arrowhead and parkscape symbols; 36 CFR Part 62, national natural landmarks;
36 CFR 7.9, zebra mussels at St. Croix NSR. [Dennis Burnett, RAD/WASO]
Magazine Article - U.S. News and World Report will run an article in its June
30th issue on accidents that occur in national parks and on how they can be
prevented. The magazine should be on news stands on June 23rd. [Jacqui
Handly, PA/WASO]
MEMORANDA
No submissions.
EXCHANGE
Visitor Satisfaction Assessment - As part of the GPRA requirement to measure
visitor satisfaction, Kennesaw Mountain NBP is attempting to come up with a
cost-effective and innovative way to retrieve such information. If you have
undertaken similar projects and can help by providing some ideas, contact
Katherine Collier-Brock via cc:Mail at KEMO Ranger Activities or write to her
attention at Kennesaw Mountain NBP, 900 Kennesaw Mountain Drive, Kennesaw, GA
30152.
* * * * *
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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