East Coast Areas
Hurricane Isabel Cleanup Operations Continue
Overview
Crews and other resources have been arriving at the Williamsburg ICP for JD Swed's Type 1 IMT since Wednesday, bringing the total number of personnel currently assigned to the incident to 131. Early work efforts are focused on orienting personnel to the operations, with a heavy emphasis on safety due to the increased hazards involved in tree removal operations, especially with vehicle traffic. Team members are also holding short training sessions on ICS for newly-arrived personnel, as there are many people coming to this incident with minimal previous exposure to the system. The FMSS team continues to compile and input facilities assessment information received from the 38 park units that sustained hurricane-related damage. The preliminary assessment has been 100% completed by the parks. The FMSS team members are going out to parks beginning today to conduct comprehensive condition assessments. Crews will continue work on clearing the Yorktown Battlefield tour road in Colonial NHP. Additional crews and other resources were dispatched yesterday to Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania NMP, Richmond NB and Petersburg NB to work on tree clearing and other cleanup operations.
Many employees working in the parks being managed in this incident are still without power at home. These same employees have been working for extended hours with little or no time off for over a week. A three-person Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) team was scheduled to arrive in Williamsburg yesterday. They will make arrangements to provide assistance to park employees dealing with incident-related stress
Rick Brown's Type 2 team, which is focusing on four sites in what's being called the North Carolina Seashore Area, is divided into two branches. The Outer Banks Group branch has four divisions — one for Wright Brothers and Fort Raleigh, one for Bodie Island, one for Hatteras Island, and one for Ocracoke Island; the Cape Lookout branch has two divisions — one for Core Banks and one for Portsmouth Village.
Principal problems confronting personnel on this operation have to do with the time and distances between locations and the amount of travel required. Operations are underway in all divisions.
Park Updates
The following reports were received from parks and regions over the past 24 hours. They are listed from south to north. This information either supplements or revises information previously reported; no effort is being made to recap earlier submissions with each new summary.
- North Carolina Seashore Area — Substantial progress has been made on repairs to docks and ramps at Cape Lookout, and more personnel are being committed to assist the park in its recovery efforts. Cape Lookout remains closed due to health and safety issues. Operations and planning staffs met with Cape Lookout staff yesterday on planning for upcoming operations. Wright Brothers reopened at noon on Thursday when public access was again permitted to the towns of Kittyhawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head. Fort Raleigh will reopen at noon today, but trails there remain closed until trees are cleared. The IMT turned management of that site over to the park yesterday. Cape Hatteras is also closed due to health and safety issues. Power remains out on Ocracoke Island and will not be restored for at least another two weeks. Hatteras Island is still isolated because of the new inlet that's divided the barrier island. Sewage systems are out in Buxton. The park is working with local communities to remove the sand that Isabel moved from beaches onto private property.
- Colonial NHP — Crews have made significant progress in their efforts to reopen portions of the park, though considerable work remains to be done. As of 9 a.m. Thursday, the entire length of the Colonial Parkway had been reopened, as had the Yorktown Battlefield Visitor Center. Historic Jamestowne, the hardest hit unit of the park, remained closed. Although the parkway is open to traffic, considerable cleanup work remains along the 23-mile scenic roadway; motorists will be dealing with alternating traffic patterns, speed limit reductions and 10 to 15-minute long road closures at times in the work zones. One division continues to salvage the artifacts and cultural objects from the Jamestown Visitor Center. The park's collection of over 600,000 artifacts related to the Jamestown colony is the most extensive of its kind on the East Coast and within the National Park Service. A majority of the artifacts, documents and other objects in the collection were underwater for some period of time. All items will need professional restoration treatment. A firm specializing in emergency salvage of archival items was contacted by the park last Friday and arrived on Saturday to begin work. Artifacts have all been removed from the once-flooded storage area and are currently being triaged, documented and boxed up for later shipment to a site or sites where restoration work will take place. Personnel involved in the salvage operation include curatorial specialists from the NER and NCR regions and staff of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA). APVA owns part of the Jamestown site and they administer the area jointly with the National Park Service. Twenty-four-hour security is being provided at the site until the collection has been removed.
- Shenandoah NP — Power has been restored to most of the park, though most areas remain closed due to storm damage. On Friday, the Big Meadows area will open along with the remainder of the Skyline Drive in the Central District. On Saturday, the Old Rag Mountain and White Oak Canyon boundary operations will resume, and, hopefully, the northern most five miles of Skyline Drive, including the Dickey Ridge area, will reopen. A few of the high-use trails have been cleared, but most remain blocked with thousands of downed and hanging trees. With the peak October season beginning in two weeks, crews are working seven days a week in attempt to accomplish the following by October 10th: reopen the entire length of Skyline Drive; reopen a second campground; reopen an additional picnic area; clear several key fire roads; and clear several high-use trails in each district. Assisting park crews are volunteer crews from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club and possibly contractors in October. Formal damage assessments will begin next week as well.
- Prince William FP — The park is open. Oak Ridge campground reopened on Wednesday. Three contract crews are clearing priority areas; about eight miles of hiking trails and five miles of fire roads have been cleared so far.
- George Washington Memorial Parkway — Gravelly Point reopened yesterday; Fort Hunt will reopen on Saturday. A total of 741 trees fell in the park, and 3,250 feet of shoreline requires stabilization.
- Chesapeake and Ohio Canal NHP — The lower 166 miles of the towpath are now open. The rest of the trail is closed because of downed trees and towpath conditions. The visitor centers in Williamsport and Hancock will reopen by tomorrow. Assessment has revealed damage to one historic and three modern houses. About 635 downed trees have been counted so far; the total is expected to come to about 1,000 trees. The park has also determined that about 80,000 square feet of parking lots and roads have been damaged. Many access points remain underwater or closed by downed trees.
- Rock Creek Park — Over 300 trees with diameters of two feet or more fell in the park's developed areas. Silt and sediment removal will continue for the next several weeks. Repairs to the nature center should be completed by Saturday; the building has already reopened.
- Presidents Park — Cleanup continues. NPS crews are working with contract tree crews to remove downed trees and limbs.
- National Capital Park Central — Mitigation of flooding of the USPP District 1 facility is 85% complete; the headquarters building and annex are 50% complete. This operation, being done by a contractor, includes forced air drying of structures, disinfecting of surfaces, and salvaging of water damaged equipment and files. Once mitigation is completed, repair and rehab can begin. Park Police officers and park employees may be displaced during repair/rehab. A contract tree crew is working on hazard trees on Haines Point; NPS tree crews are handling the National Mall and memorials.
- National Capital Park East — Power has been restored to Greenbelt Park. A half mile of boardwalk at Indian Burial Ground and all the guardrails at Farmington Landing were washed away by high water. The park is still seeking office space for 20 USPP officers.
- NCRO — Power and phone service has been restored to the regional office. Normal operations have resumed.
- Harpers Ferry NHP — About 90% of the lower town has been reopened. Park staff put exhibits back up yesterday and facilities will soon be reopened.
- Monocacy NB — The park remains closed due to high water, but may reopen this weekend. Flood waters from Monday night's rains did not enter the visitor center as anticipated. A Public Health Service officer has visited the site and cleared the building for occupancy. Plans are to reopen it on Sunday.
- Catoctin MP — Camp Misty Mount will reopen today with six damaged cabins. The visitor center is open, and park headquarters is now fully functional despite roof leaks. About 22 miles of the 26 mile trail system have been assessed; about 155 downed trees have been found.
Summary of Resource Commitment (through 9/24)
The following are preliminary figures and will be revised and refined in future editions. The objective is to provide a general overview of resource commitments, not definitive numbers.
|
Locale |
Type of Resource |
NPS |
Other Federal |
Private |
County |
State |
Total |
|
T1/VA |
Overhead |
81 |
25 |
3 |
2 |
111 | |
|
Crews |
1 (20) |
20 | |||||
|
T2/NC |
Overhead |
169 |
2 |
171 | |||
|
Crews |
|||||||
|
NCR |
Overhead |
||||||
|
Crews |
8 (3) |
24 | |||||
Additional Information
- NPS Interactive Map Center — Select maps of parks affected by the hurricane: http://maps2.itc.nps.gov/nps/parkatlas/jsp/atlas.jsp
- Hurricane Photo Gallery — Photos showing impacts of hurricane on parks and recovery efforts: http://inside.nps.gov/people/hurricane/
- NPS IMT Web Page — Home page for NPS incident management teams: http://www.nps.gov/fire/allrisk/
Reports compiled from submissions by Kris Fister, IO, Type 1 IMT;
Barb Stewart, IO, Type 2 IMT; Karl Merchant, Plans Chief, Type 2 IMT;
Dave Lattimore, Plans Chief, Type 1 IMT; Don Boucher, NCRO; Zeke
Seabright, NCR Communications Center; Clay Jordan, IC, Type 3 IMT, SHEN;
Bob Martin, Regional Chief Ranger, NERO; Cindy McLeod, Superintendent,
RICH; Mike Litterst, PIO, COLO.
Yellowstone National Park (ID,MT,WY)
Felony Weapons Possession Conviction
S.S.W. was sentenced in federal district court to 46 months
in custody on August 29th after being convicted of being a felon in
possession of a firearm (18 USC 922g). S.S.W. was arrested on October 14,
2002, after an investigation revealed that he'd shot an elk illegally
within the park. The investigation was covered jointly by Yellowstone
and Grand Teton rangers, Teton County deputies, and Department of Fish
and Game officers. Rick Mossman, chief ranger at Wind Cave and former
SDR for the park's Snake River Subdistrict, conducted a significant
amount of the investigative work and was instrumental in obtaining the
felony conviction. This prosecution was part of the Department of
Justice's "Project Safe Neighborhoods" initiative (www.psn.gov/), which targets prosecution
of gun crime offenders. Many of these offenders have engaged in criminal
activity while being in possession of a firearm, as has proven to be the
case with several narcotics and wildlife violations that have occurred
within Yellowstone.
[Submitted by Brian Smith, Supervisory Special
Agent]
Ocmulgee National Monument (GA)
Special Event: Ocmulgee Indian Celebration
The twelfth annual Ocmulgee Indian Celebration was held over the
weekend of Friday, September 19th, to Sunday, September 21st. About
26,000 people attended the event, including over 4,000 fourth-graders
who attended "school day" on Friday. More than 200 Native Americans from
as far away as Arizona and New Mexico participated in this year's event
as storytellers, musicians, dancers, artists, craftspeople and historic
demonstrators. About 750 people attended the R. Carlos Nakai and Joanne
Shenandoah concert, which was held in conjunction with the celebration.
Rangers and staff from Andersonville, Kennesaw Mountain, Chattahoochee,
Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rock Creek and Southeast Regional
Office provided assistance to the park along with local deputies,
volunteers, and members of the Ocmulgee National Monument Association.
[Submitted by Jim David, Superintendent]
FIRE MANAGEMENT
Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Report - Thursday, September 25, 2003
Preparedness Level 3
Initial attack was moderate in northern California on Wednesday and light elsewhere. Forty-two new fires were reported; all were caught by initial attack.
A Type 1 team and three Type 2 teams are committed to Hurricane Isabel recovery operations in North Carolina and Virginia.
Fire Danger
|
Day |
9/17 |
9/18 |
9/21 |
9/22 |
9/23 |
9/24 |
9/25 |
|
Arizona |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
California |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Colorado |
VX |
VX |
VX |
-- |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Hawaii |
VX |
VX |
-- |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Idaho |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Montana |
VX |
VX |
-- |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Nevada |
-- |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Oregon |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Utah |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Wyoming |
VX |
-- |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX = Very high to extreme danger
National Resource Commitments
|
Day |
9/17 |
9/18 |
9/21 |
9/22 |
9/23 |
9/24 |
9/25 |
|
Crews |
216 |
196 |
182 |
168 |
153 |
153 |
148 |
|
Engines |
318 |
261 |
206 |
248 |
226 |
299 |
274 |
|
Helicopters |
83 |
70 |
64 |
55 |
60 |
52 |
53 |
|
Air Tankers |
0 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
Overhead |
2,153 |
2,174 |
2,719 |
2,736 |
2,676 |
2,654 |
1,052 |
National Team Commitments
Teams are listed alphabetically by type. New team commitments or changes in teams (as of this report) are indicated in bold face.
|
State |
Type Team |
Team IC |
Fire/Location |
Acres |
Percent Contain |
Est Full Contain |
|
VA |
T1 |
Ferguson |
Hurricane Isabel |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
NC |
T2 |
Collins/ Col. Holt/ Hendricks |
Hurricane Isabel |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
NC |
T2 |
Custer |
Hurricane Isabel |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
WA |
T2 |
Furlong |
Needle Fire Okanogan/Wenatchee NF |
18,070 |
39 |
UNK |
|
OR |
T2 |
Hoff |
B&B Complex Deschutes NF |
90,769 |
97 |
UNK |
|
UT |
T2 |
Muir |
Cascade Fire Uinta NF |
3,000 |
5 |
UNK |
|
NC |
T2 |
Wathen/ Pearson |
Hurricane Isabel |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
CA |
ST |
Hawkins |
Canoe/Honeydew Fire Humboldt-Del Norte RU |
14,804 |
60 |
9/30 |
PARKS AND PEOPLE
Pinnacles National Monument (CA)
Passing of Ranger Andrew Artz
Ranger Andrew Artz died of respiratory illness complications at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital in Hollister, California, yesterday. Andy most recently served as a law enforcement ranger at Pinnacles along with his wife Wendy. Over the course of his career. he worked as a ranger at Mount Rainier NP, Devil's Tower NM, Great Basin NP, Petrified Forest NP, Olympic NP, Independence NHP, and Organ Pipe Cactus NM. Andy will be remembered as a true NPS ranger — diverse in skills, broad in knowledge, and possessing complete dedication to friends, co-workers, and public service. His compassion and friendship will be greatly missed by all who knew him. A memorial service to celebrate Andy's time with us will be held at 10 a.m. on Sunday, September 28th, on the east side of Pinnacles National Monument. Cards and letters may be sent to his family through his wife, Wendy Artz, at 5000 Hwy 146, Paicines, CA 95043. Donations may be made to Doctors Without Borders (1-888-392-0392), or the Hollister Animal Shelter (831-636-4320). For more information on the memorial service, contact supervisory ranger Neal Labrie at 831-389-4485 x 237. [Cicely Muldoon, Superintendent]
[Submitted by Cicely Muldoon, Superintendent]
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park (CA)
Human Resources Specialist, GS-0201-11
Dates: 09/25/2003 - 10/08/2003
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park currently has a vacancy announcement on USAJobs: Human Resources Specialist, GS-0201-11, announcement # PGSO-03-107-MPP, closing date - October 8, 2003.
In the near future SAFR will be announcing these other positions:
Supervisory Facility Operations Specialist - GS-1640-13
Business Managment Analyst, GS-1101-12
Museum Collections Manager, GS-12
Volunteer Coordinator, GS-0301-09.
[Submitted by Jeanne Haugh, Administrative Officer, jeanne_haugh@nps.gov, 415 561-7010]
Submission standards for the Morning Report can be found on the left side of the front page of InsideNPS. All reports should be submitted via email to Bill Halainen at Delaware Water Gap NRA, with a copy to your regional office and a copy to Dennis Burnett in Division of Law Enforcement and Emergency Services, WASO.
Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement and Emergency Services, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.