East Coast Areas
Update on Hurricane Recovery Operations
East Coast Areas
Follow-up on Hurricane Isabel
The following reports reflect the status of operations through Thursday.
Central IMT (Sherrie Collins)
Additional crews have been reassigned to clearing trees and debris from the Colonial Parkway that links Yorktown and Jamestown. One crew has already cleared about ten miles of one side of the road from Jamestown heading toward Yorktown; a second crew has begun clearing the roadside from Yorktown toward Jamestown.
The parkway is a beautiful road that offers drivers a variety of views — the James and York Rivers, tidal basins, and Virginia hardwoods. It's also the perfect road for a fall color tour and it's just now that trees are beginning to display their autumn splendor. In some ways, Hurricane Isabel has hastened the annual fall show since many of the downed trees and limbs are now turning color.
What Hurricane Isabel changed and rearranged in just a few hours, humans are spending days, weeks, and months cleaning up. The work is slow but steady. As crews work through the maze of trees, limbs, and vines, their progression becomes more evident with each passing day. Entire trees have been cut and removed. Roadsides are being cleared of all debris within ten feet of the road. This is painstaking work that requires coordination from law enforcement personnel, dump truck drivers, chainsaw operators, and brush clearing crews.
Incident commander Sherrie Collins has met with the superintendents of Richmond NB and Colonial NHP to finalize work commitments to be carried out under the direction of the Central IMT and recovery work that will be carried out by the park after the team departs.
Cleanup in the New Town section of Jamestown was to be completed by yesterday evening. Water has been pumped from the archeological site.
Removal of debris near Petersburg has been completed. Recovery
efforts there are estimated to take another nine days using currently
available equipment and personnel.
Clean-up efforts throughout Richmond NB continued, with the transition of crews on Wednesday. Significant work remains in the Fort Harrison area.
Five new Type 2 twenty-person crews began working on the incident on Wednesday. The Iowa #136 crew and Choctaw #135 are both from Fort Smith, Arkansas. Chickasaw #134 is based in Ada, Oklahoma, Caddo #133 hails from Hot Springs, Arkansas, and a variety of agencies contributed personnel to the Florida Interagency Crew #37.
There are 305 personnel currently assigned to the recovery effort. The cost to date is $5,116,045.
Pacific West IMT (Denny Ziemann)
Operations at Cape Lookout have been hampered by 24 hours of rain, but the wet weather is expected to abate over the next few days. Crews continue to clean up debris and to repair historic buildings and park infrastructure.
Four fishing shacks in the area north of Long Point were damaged beyond repair by the hurricane. Planning is now underway for their demolition and removal as soon as compliance and contracting can be arranged. Approximately 200 trees have been removed from the Portsmouth Village area. The water system has been repaired and the building cleaned in the Portsmouth visitor center. Materials have been ordered to repair two bridges in the Portsmouth area, the Wallace Channel dock pilings, and the Les & Sally dock pilings along with other emergency repair projects. The composting toilet at the lighthouse was temporarily repaired yesterday. Plans are ongoing to replace the light posts in the parking lot in front of the Harkers Island park headquarters and visitor center. The lights were destroyed on September 18th. Many abandoned vehicles have been uncovered and, along with the other hazardous debris, will need to be removed. The addition of a contracting officer to the IMT is expected to accelerate operations due to his increased ability to obtain needed supplies, services and equipment for the work crews.
LE ranger patrols have been increased in the park to ensure visitor safety and security of historic/hazardous areas and archeological artifacts that were washed up on the island during the storm surge.
East IMT (Bob Panko)
A natural resource assessment team was in the park yesterday to evaluate conditions and make recommendations. All operations in the park north of Hatteras Inlet transitioned to normal park supervision and chain of command on Thursday. The incident management team will continue to provide parkwide support, but the majority of operational activities managed by the team will be on Ocracoke. Ramp 23 was reopened yesterday. Ramp 49 is still flooded and closed. Debris is being cleared in the vicinity of Ramp 4 with the intention of opening the entire beach from Ramp 4 south to Oregon Inlet in time for a fishing tournament this weekend. The incident management team and park staff are developing a breech access plan, which will allow visitors to safely view the breech just south of Frisco. Numerous new overhead resources are currently arriving on scene.
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 (NEW site available to both NPS employees and the public): http://www.nps.gov/hurricane
- NPS IMT Web Page — Home page for NPS incident management teams: http://www.nps.gov/fire/allrisk/
Reports compiled from submission by Al Nash, IO, Central IMT; Shauna
Dyas, IO, Pacific West IMT; Michelle Fidler, IO, East IMT/Outer Banks
Group.
OPERATIONAL NOTES
Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Plan Conference /Wildland Fire 2004
Dates: 03/03/2004 - 03/05/2004
Location: Reno, Nevada
Wildland Fire 2004 will bring together fire service leaders at the local, state and federal levels to address a critical problem facing fire departments all over the world—the wildland/urban interface. Co-sponsored by the International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF), the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), the USDA Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior, the conference will consist of information-packed general sessions, breakout sessions, and more than 40,000 square feet of exhibits. Wildland Fire 2004 will also serve as the 2004 National Fire Plan Conference.
Wednesday, March 3, 2004
(Exhibit Hall open 11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.)
8:00 a.m. − 10:00 a.m.: Opening General Session
10:15 a.m. − 11:15 a.m.: Breakout Sessions
11:15 a.m. − 1:00 p.m.: Lunch/Exhibits
1:00 p.m. − 2:00 p.m.: Breakout Sessions
2:30 p.m. − 3:30 p.m.: Breakout Sessions
4:00 p.m. − 7:00 p.m.: Welcome Reception in Exhibit Hall
Thursday, March 4, 2004
(Exhibit Hall open 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.)
8:00 a.m. − 10:00 a.m.: General Session
10:15 a.m. − 11:15 a.m.: Breakout Sessions
11:15 a.m. − 2:00 p.m.: Lunch/Exhibits
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.: Breakout Sessions
3:30 p.m. − 4:30 p.m.: Breakout Sessions
Friday, March 5, 2004
(Exhibit Hall closed)
8:00 a.m. − 9:00 a.m.: Breakout Sessions
9:00 a.m. − Noon: Closing General Session
[Submitted by your Regional Fire Management Officer] More Information...
Director/Deputy Directors
Joint Ventures: Partners in Stewardship Conference
The Joint Ventures: Partners in Stewardship Conference will be held in Los Angeles from Tuesday, November 18th, to Thursday, November 20th.
Only a few days are left until October 15th, when the special lower rates for hotel rooms expire.
For additional information on the conference, click on "More Information" below.
More Information...
Rocky Mountain National Park (CO)
Discovery Channel Show Features Rescue in Park
A new series on the Discovery Channel called "Vital Scan" has its world premiere tonight. The series focuses on dramatic recreations of extraordinary stories of traumatic injury, rescue and recovery.
On Friday, October 17th, the second episode will focus on an incident that occurred at Rocky Mountain NP.
On July 21, 2002, Craig DeMartino, a climber from Loveland, fell 90 feet on the Whiteman Route on Sundance Buttress on Lumpy Ridge. He suffered serious injuries, including a broken back, broken ankles and internal injuries. The show features a number of NPS folks and follows DeMartino'' ongoing therapy and recovery.
The program airs at 10 p.m. Eastern, but will likely appear at different times in different areas. Check your local listings.
[Submitted by Kyle Patterson]
PARKS AND PEOPLE
Fire Island National Seashore (NY)
Passing of Billy Flanagan
William Mark (Billy) Flanagan III passed away September 13th.
Billy began his career as a WG-3 laborer on April 27, 1986, working on a wide variety of maintenance assignments at Fire Island National Seashore. He learned his lessons well, and as a result was promoted to carpenter WG-8 soon after, building boardwalks island-wide. He performed so well on these tasks that he acquired the nickname of "Billy Boardwalk" a title he held proudly even after he was promoted to Occupational Health and Safety Officer about five years ago.
Under his direction Fire Island's safety program was recognized as one of the finest in the Service. He received the 2001 NER Regional Director's Safety Award and the 2002 Director's Award for Safety Management.
He was very involved early on in the Association of National Park Maintenance Employees ( ANPME), serving as Vice President for many years with the association, as well as being a charter member.
Billy always looked at any challenge as an opportunity, and he travelled far and wide in his career for training opportunities to broaden his career horizons and to overcome any challenges he met in his day to day duties and assignments.
It was this attitude about challenges that served him so well the past several years, and enabled him to experience strong personal growth even as he fought his illness. Even in retirement he kept close ties with his NPS family, and he will be missed by all that knew him.
[Submitted by Barry Sullivan, Assistant Superintendent]
Devils Tower National Monument (WY)
GS-1101-7 Fee and Revenue Business Manager
Dates: 10/02/2003 - 10/23/2003
Devils Tower National Monument currently has an opening for a GS-1101-7 Fee and Revenue Business Manager. The position is permanent full time. Duties include managing the fee collection program including one staffed entrance station, two honor system collection sites, supervising three to four seasonal visitor use assistants, remittance and deposit procedures, deposit tracking and reconciliation, and fee collection technology management. Selectee will be involved with the management of the fee demonstration program and associated projects and may be assigned other interpretive or administrative duties in the off season. Please see USAJobs #IMDE-03-95. Dual career possibilities may exist. Contact Scott Brown, Chief of Visitor & Resource Protection with questions 307-467-5283x21.
[Submitted by Scott Brown, scott_brown@nps.gov, 307-467-5283x21]
Devils Tower National Monument (WY)
GS-341-9/11 Administrative Officer
Dates: 10/02/2003 - 10/23/2003
Devils Tower is recruiting for a GS-341-9/11 Administrative Officer (Chief of Administration) announcement #IMDE-03-94. The incumbent is responsible for budget formulation and execution of base funds, recreation fees, and other fees; administers a local personnel management program including job recruitment; plans, coordinates, and executes a procurement and contracting program; serves as the park information technology manager; and coordinates the annual requirements for performance management (Government Performance Results Act). Dual career possibilities may exist. Contact Lisa Eckert, Superintendent with questions 307-467-5283x13.
[Submitted by Lisa Eckert, 307-467-5283x13]
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.