NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Wednesday, May 13, 1998

                        *** NOTICE ***

All flags are to lowered to half staff on Friday, May 15, 1998, in
commemoration of National Peace Officers' Memorial Day.  Flags will return to
full staff on the morning of Saturday, May 16.

INCIDENTS

97-705 - Delaware Water Gap NRA (NJ/PA) - Follow-up: Fraud Convictions

On April 9th, Hess Environmental Laboratories was sentenced to pay $5.5
million in restitution to 415 victims - including the park and Tobyhanna Army
Depot - for various instances of environmental testing fraud, which the firm
was convicted of earlier in the year.  W.H., Jr., a former
president of the company, has also been indicted on four charges, including
conspiracy to defraud the United States, false statements, mail fraud, and
violations of the Clean Water Act.  [Einar Olsen, RCR, NCRO, 5/12]

98-10 - Everglades NP (FL) - Follow-up: Aircraft Accident

Around 10 p.m. on January 2nd, S.M., 20, of Miami made a forced
landing in the park's wilderness area.  He and passenger Tony Navarro were
returning to Miami from a flight to Key West in a rented Cessna 150 when the
engine stopped.  S.M. said that Navarro pointed out that both fuel gauges
were reading empty, but added that he had flown fewer than three hours when
that happened.  The airplane landed right side up about four miles southwest
of the South Florida Natural Resource Center and was subsequently removed by
helicopter.  S.M. submitted a report to the FAA the next day stating that
the landing had occurred because of bullet holes in the Cessna's wing which
had pierced the gas tank and let the fuel out; in other words, that he'd been
shot down.  The FBI was notified because of the grave nature of S.M.'s
assertion and the agency's jurisdiction over damage to aircraft.  Ranger Ben
Morgan visited the crash scene on January 3rd; he confirmed the holes in the
wing, but noted that their size matched that of a long bolt from a lock on
board the plane.  He advised the FBI evidence response team which examined
the Cessna on January 9th.  They determined that the holes in the wing had
not penetrated the tank, but sent the evidence to their national lab for
analysis.  FBI agents interviewed S.M. on January 15th.  When confronted
with the evidence, S.M. confessed to making the holes with the bolt, but
subsequently recanted this confession in an interview with the FAA,
contending that the holes were in the wing before the accident.  The FBI has
charged S.M. with deliberately damaging the aircraft (18 USC 1001) and
with making false statements and is working on an indictment.  The FAA made
an administrative determination that the cause of the crash was fuel
starvation.  If S.M. hadn't made his allegation, the incident would
probably have resulted in minimal administrative action by the FAA.  [Phil
Selleck, LES, EVER, 5/11]

98-200 - Yosemite NP (CA) - Rescue

On May 11th, rangers received a report of an injured climber who was 1,200
feet up the Royal Arches route in Yosemite Valley.  Nine members of the
Valley SAR team ascended the route to the climber, who had taken a sliding,
70-foot leader fall, struck a ledge, and severely shattered his left ankle. 
He was stabilized by a team paramedic, placed in a litter and lowered to the
ground during a six-hour operation that took place in wind, rain and very
cold temperatures.  The victim was taken by ambulance to the park clinic,
then transferred to a hospital in Modesto for surgery.  [Evan Jones, IC,
YOSE, 5/12]

98-201 - Biscayne NP (FL) - Drug Recovery

During the first week of May, park visitors assisted rangers and drug
enforcement officers on two occasions by identifying smuggled packages of
drugs.  On May 5th, boaters found a package containing 70 pounds of marijuana
valued at $150,000 and turned it over to rangers.  On May 9th, a visitor
kayaking along the mangrove shoreline discovered a parcel and also turned it
in.  The parcel contained 27.8 kilos (62 pounds) of cocaine with an estimated
value of $500,000.  The cocaine was turned over to Customs agents for
disposition.  [Steve Stinnett, PR, BISC, 5/11]

                 [Additional reports pending...]

FIRE ACTIVITY

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II

LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY 

                                                     Mon     Tue     %   Est
State      Unit              Fire/Incident   IMT     5/10    5/11   Con  Con

FL   Florida NFs             Boogy Jordan     --      675      675   90  5/12
TX   State                   Camp Wood Hill   --    5,000    5,000   50  5/13
     State                 * Davis            --        -    2,000  100  CND

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
IMT       T1 = Type I; 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

NUMBER OF NEW FIRES (FOUR DAY TREND) 

                    NPS    BIA      BLM     FWS    States   USFS     Total

Saturday, 5/9        0      0         0       0       11      2        13
Sunday, 5/10         1      0         0       0        5     16        22
Monday, 5/11         1     22         0       0       39      6        68
Tuesday, 5/12        0      0         0       0       18      5        23

TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FOUR DAY TREND) 

                  Crews     Engines    Helicopters    Airtankers   Overhead

Saturday, 5/9        8         15           1             0            10
Sunday, 5/10        11         18           1             0            10
Monday, 5/11         6          5           8             0             9
Tuesday, 5/12        8         33          11             0            36

CURRENT SITUATION

Only minor initial attack activity was reported yesterday.  Very high and
extreme fire indices were reported in Minnesota, Texas, New Mexico and
Arizona.  

NICC has posted a FIRE WEATHER WATCH for gusty southwest winds in New Mexico.

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 5/13]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No entries.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Background Investigations - ALL law enforcement commissioned employees MUST
have an appropriate background investigation, regardless of the 6c
designation (or lack of 6c designation) of their position.  The comptroller
for the National Park Service recently ruled that parks may use the
designated WASO Ranger Activities account to pay for the appropriate
background investigation (SBI, BI, LBI) required for ANY commissioned law
enforcement employee.  This means parks may now use the central account to
pay for background investigations for seasonal park rangers, even if they
choose not to use the new Ranger Careers pre-designated 6c benchmark seasonal
park ranger position descriptions.  Please continue to coordinate all
background investigations through your regional law enforcement specialists. 
[Bill Sanders, RAD/WASO]

MEMORANDA

No entries.

EXCHANGE

No entries.

                        *  *  *  *  *

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
pertaining to receipt of 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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