East Coast Areas
Significant Progress Made in Post-Isabel Recovery Operations
Overview
Crews continue to make excellent progress on all fronts of the recovery effort. One example of the great work taking place is that of the Augusta Hot Shot crew, whose members were clearing 100 trees per hour on a section of the Battlefield Tour Road at Yorktown on Friday. The tour road is almost cleared, but still needs to be cleaned before it can be opened to the public. Hazard tree removal at the Jamestown Visitor Center began on Saturday and included taking a large tree off the Glass House bathroom. The Glass House was also evaluated for other repairs needed. Crews are also on site at Richmond NB, Peterburg NB and Fredericksville/Spotsylvania NMP, where they continue to make headway on removing fallen trees from roads. The work emphasis there will soon shift from road clearing to trail clearing.
A secure location to store and triage the Jamestown cultural artifact collection has been found, and staff began moving the objects on Saturday. They expect to have this task completed by early this week. The FMSS crew continues to track incident costs and assist parks with condition assessments. That work is expected to be completed by today.
The team's logistics section has been providing support for personnel assigned to the NPS hurricane recovery efforts and for personnel from interagency teams and other agencies who are supporting emergency services in the area. This incident team is providing food and lodging to an additional 350 people, and supporting the incident personnel staged at local facilities near Richmond, Fredericksburg and Petersburg.
There are now 185 people assigned to the incident. The incident costs to date are $563,546.
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.
- Shenandoah NP — On Friday, the park reopened additional sections of Skyline Drive and other facilities closed due to Hurricane Isabel. Skyline Drive was reopened from Thornton Gap at Route 211 (milepost 31.5) to Swift Run Gap at Route 33 (milepost 65.5). On Saturday morning, Skyline Drive reopened from Front Royal at milepost 0 to milepost 5 for daytime driving only. Byrd Visitor Center (milepost 51.0), including most interpretive programs at Big Meadows and Skyland, resumed normal operations on Friday morning; Big Meadows Campground and Big Meadows Lodge and Wayside also resumed operations. Dickey Ridge Visitor Center reopened for normal operations Saturday morning. Lewis Mountain, South River picnic area and Dickey Ridge picnic area remain closed due to hazardous trees, as do portions of Skyline Drive in the North District and the entire South District. The following trails have been cleared of storm debris and are recommended for hiking: Skyland Area: Passamaquaddy Trail, Millers Head Trail, Stony Man Nature Trail, Crescent Rock Trail, Betty's Rock Trail; Hawksbill Area: Lower Hawksbill Trail, Upper Hawksbill Trail, Salamander Trail; Big Meadows Area: Blackrock Trail, Story of the Forest Nature Trail, Dark Hollow Falls Trail (Note: significant flood impact to tread), Upper Rose River Road, Lewis Fall Trail, Horse Trails in Big Meadows area (Tanners Ridge to Fishers Gap);Old Rag Mountain: Ridge Trail, Saddle Trail. Additional facilities will be opened as conditions warrant. Park visitors are encouraged to call 540-999-3500 for additional information and updates regarding the status of the park or to check the park website at http://www.nps.gov/shen.
- Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania NMP — Park roads have been substantially cleared of trees. Park staff also attended to another matter of importance. As was previously noted, a falling tree disturbed a grave in the national cemetery. In a low-key, unpublicized ceremony on Thursday evening, park staff, an American Legion honor guard, a Virginia National Guard chaplain, and a handful of local residents gathered to re-close the grave of Private James Clarey of the 57th New York Infantry. Private Clarey, 32, was one of the first soldiers killed in the Battle of Fredericksburg. The ceremony was led by four of the park's military veterans — Mike Greenfield, Bob McGibbony, Keith Alexander, and Jim Williams — who collectively ensured that Private Clarey is once again at rest, with honor.
- Richmond NB — Major headway has been made on cleanup of trees throughout the park. The success made in this effort elicited a nice message to the superintendent from a park neighbor: "Thanks so much to you and your staff for taking these trees off my house and fence. I was out of town on business, and when I came home yesterday and saw the wonderful work Treetop Tree Service had done I was amazed and gratified. I have my house and property back! Now I can begin the normal clean-up everyone else is doing. Thank you, thank you!"
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; Karen Beck-Herzog, SHEN; Russ
Smith, Superintendent, FRSP; Cindy MacLeod, Superintendent, RICH.
Cape Lookout National Seashore (NC)
Cessna 150 Crashes in Park Marsh
A single-engine Cessna 150 crashed into a marsh on the sound side of
South Core Banks just after noon on Saturday, September 27th. The downed
aircraft was spotted from another plane and reported to the Coast Guard.
A rescue ship responded, but was unable to reach the scene due to
shallow waters. The Coast Guard according contacted the Marine Corps'
Cherry Point facility, which dispatched a helicopter. The helicopter
rescued the plane's passenger, E.R., who had walked over to
the park. Pilot R.W. was lifted from the crash site by cable.
Both were taken to Carteret General Hospital, where they were treated
for minor injuries. According to R.W., they'd been in the air about 30
minutes and were flying at an altitude of 800 to 1,000 feet when the
engine quit. R.W. guided the Cessna down to the marsh, where it
flipped over. Both R.W. and E.R. were wearing seatbelts.
[Submitted by Barb Stewart, IO, Type 2 IMT]
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Special Event: Hot Rod Rally
On the weekend of September 12th, the neighboring city of Pigeon
Forge hosted the "Grand Rod Run," a hot rod rally which greatly impacts
all of roads in Sevier County, including those in the park. Several rod
runs are scheduled throughout the year in this area, but this event is
typically the largest of them and brings higher than usual visitation to
the county for the entire weekend. On Saturday night, following its
usual pattern, traffic came to a complete a standstill on US 441 from
Gatlinburg to Pigeon Forge. The five-mile section of the Foothills
Parkway Spur, which is within NPS jurisdiction, was the most affected by
this backup. It took vehicles on the road more than three hours to cover
the five-mile section from Gatlinburg to Pigeon Forge. Since the event
typically results in a number of traffic, drug, alcohol and disorderly
conduct violations, the park this year supplemented its staff with two
rangers from Blue Ridge and another two rangers from Shenandoah. On
Friday evening, the park conducted an interagency sobriety checkpoint on
the northbound spur near its Gatlinburg entrance. A total of nine
rangers and three Sevier County deputies operated the checkpoint from
11:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. the next morning. About 1200 cars were stopped
during that period. On Saturday evening, 15 rangers were assigned to
work the spur to manage the traffic backups. Four bicycle patrol rangers
and rangers on foot were employed; the rangers on bike proved to be
particularly effective in patrol and enforcement. Over the course of the
two-day event, rangers issued a total of 55 violations; there were six
DUI arrests, three arrests for heroin possession, two arrests for public
intoxication, 11 open container citations, and a variety of other cases,
including disorderly conduct, weapons violation and possession of
marijuana.
[Submitted by Rick Brown, District Ranger]
FIRE MANAGEMENT
Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Report - Sunday, September 28, 2003
Preparedness Level 3
Initial attack on Saturday was heavy in northern California, moderate in southern California, and light elsewhere. Only 37 new fires were reported, but three of them became large fires. One large fire was contained.
A Type 1 team and three Type 2 teams are committed to Hurricane Isabel recovery operations in North Carolina and Virginia.
Fire Danger
|
Day |
9/18 |
9/21 |
9/22 |
9/23 |
9/24 |
9/25 |
9/28 |
|
Arizona |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
California |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Colorado |
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 |
-- |
|
Nevada |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Oregon |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Utah |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
|
Washington |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
VX |
|
Wyoming |
-- |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX |
VX = Very high to extreme danger
National Resource Commitments
|
Day |
9/18 |
9/21 |
9/22 |
9/23 |
9/24 |
9/25 |
9/28 |
|
Crews |
196 |
182 |
168 |
153 |
153 |
148 |
209 |
|
Engines |
261 |
206 |
248 |
226 |
299 |
274 |
339 |
|
Helicopters |
70 |
64 |
55 |
60 |
52 |
53 |
102 |
|
Air Tankers |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Overhead |
2,174 |
2,719 |
2,736 |
2,676 |
2,654 |
1,052 |
1,625 |
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 |
Needles Fire Okanogan/Wenatchee NF |
18,800 |
39 |
UNK |
|
UT |
T2 |
Muir |
Cascade II Fire Uinta NF |
7,790 |
70 |
9/30 |
|
CA |
T2 |
Rios |
Kibbie Complex Yosemite NP |
6,840 |
78 |
10/2 |
|
NC |
T2 |
Wathen/ Pearson |
Hurricane Isabel |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
WA |
ST |
Berndt/ Baarspul |
Crystal Creek Fire Okanogan/Wenatchee NF |
600 |
0 |
10/18 |
|
CA |
ST |
Hawkins |
Canoe/Honeydew Fire Humboldt-Del Norte RU |
19,255 |
70 |
9/30 |
|
WA |
ST |
Johnson/ Barnett |
Isabel Fire Okanogan/Wenatchee NF |
2,020 |
10 |
UNK |
|
CA |
FUM |
Bonefeld |
Homers Nose 2 Sequoia-Kings NP |
230 |
30 |
9/29 |
|
CA |
FUM |
Bonefeld |
Kaweah-Kern Complex Sequoia-Kings NP |
6,880 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
AZ |
FUM |
Rath |
Poplar Complex Grand Canyon NP |
2,059 |
N/A |
N/A |
OPERATIONAL NOTES
Servicewide Training
Weekly Listing of Operations Training Opportunities
Operations Training Calendar
This calendar appears every Monday as an addendum to the Morning Report and a separate entry for InsideNPS. It is not meant to be replace the Learning Place; rather it is a quick summary of available training with links (as available) to relevant Learning Place pages. Please note:
- New and revised entries are in bold face.
- Submissions for other training courses should conform to the style used here.
- Please include the URL to the web sites where readers can obtain the requisite forms and/or find out additional information about the training course. If a URL is not specifically listed, the announcement can likely be found on the Learning Place, the NPS training page found at http://www.nps.gov/training/announcements/index.doc.
- Closing dates for applications are underscored.
**********************************************************************************************
October
October 27 — October 30: Annual LE Refresher Training, Lake Mead NRA, NV. The park will host a 32-hour LE in-service training session oriented toward supervisory personnel which will include "Leadership Through Understanding Behavioral Diversity," a two-day session presented by the FLETC Management Institute. Dr. Kevin Gilmartin will present a one-day lecture on law enforcement management and supervision issues. Day four will cover required elements, including policy review and legal updates. Tuition is $150 per person. To register or for additional information, contact LES Glen Anderson at 702-293-8945 no later than October 17th. [Kevin Hendricks, LAME]
November
November 3 — November 6: Annual LE Refresher Training for Supervisors, Asheville, NC. The chief rangers of Shenandoah, Great Smokies and Blue Ridge, working with the NPS office at FLETC, are offering a refresher program designed to assist first and second line supervisors in providing leadership in law enforcement. A total of 28 creditable hours will be offered. For a copy of the announcement, go to http://www.nps.gov/training/announcements/index.doc. The announcement closes on October 1st. [Wiley Golden, NPS/FLETC]
November 19 — March 23: Basic LE Training (NPRI-402), FLETC, Glynco, GA. For a copy of the announcement, go to http://www.nps.gov/training/announcements/index.doc. The announcement closes on October 16th. [Wiley Golden, NPS/FLETC]
December
December 1 — December 12: Physical Security Training (PSTP-402), FLETC, Glynco, GA. For a copy of the announcement, go to http://www.nps.gov/training/announcements/index.doc. The announcement closes on October 28th. [Wiley Golden, NPS/FLETC]
December 2 — December 11: Basic Law Enforcement Supervisor Training (BLESTP-401), FLETC, Glynco, GA. For a copy of the announcement, go to http://www.nps.gov/training/announcements/index.doc. The announcement closes on October 28th. [Wiley Golden, NPS/FLETC]
December 2 — December 18: Law Enforcement Control Tactics Instructor Training (LECTITP-401), FLETC, Glynco, GA. For a copy of the announcement, go to http://www.nps.gov/training/announcements/index.doc. The announcement closes on October 23rd. [Wiley Golden, NPS/FLETC]
January
January 14 — May 8: National Park Ranger Basic Law Enforcement Training (NPRI-403), FLETC, Glynco, GA. For a copy of the announcement, go to http://www.nps.gov/training/announcements/index.doc. The announcement closes on November 16th. [Wiley Golden, NPS/FLETC]
January 26 — January 30: Law Enforcement for Managers (LEM-401), FLETC, Glynco, GA. For a copy of the announcement, go to http://www.nps.gov/training/announcements/index.doc. The announcement closes on December 12th. [Wiley Golden, NPS/FLETC]
PARKS AND PEOPLE
Pinnacles National Monument (CA)
Supervisory Park Ranger, GS-11
Dates: 09/23/2003 - 10/13/2003
The individual selected for this position will be responsible for managing the park's protection operation to include: law enforcement, technical rock rescue and climbing program, EMS, SAR, cave management, and fee collection operations. Pinnacles is the newest release site for the endangered California Condor and a vitally important site for the reintroduction of the California Red-Legged Frog. This position will be involved in managing the protection operation for these two nationally significant species.
In the near future duties may also include management of a 150+ site campground. Over half of the park's 24,000+ acres are designated wilderness. Supervisory responsibilities include five permanent and up to 4 seasonal rangers. The announcement for this position, PGSO-03-108-MMP is now open on USAJOBS. Control No. 121213. This is a permanent full-time commissioned position, designated as secondary-administrative under 6C and is a required occupancy position. Applications must be postmarked by the closing date, October 13, 2003.
[Submitted by Lori Frusetta, Human Resources Officer, lori_frusetta@nps.gov, 831-389-4485x227] More Information...
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.