New River Gorge National River (WV)
Annual Bridge Day Event
An estimated 125,000 people attended the 24th annual New River Gorge
Bridge Day, held on Saturday, October 18th. The event was coordinated
under a unified command system that involved 13 agencies, including the
West Virginia State Police, the West Virginia National Guard, the
Fayette County Sheriff's Department, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service,
and the National Park Service. This year's BASE jumping activities were
organized by Jason Bell and Bill Bird of Vertical Visions, who did an
excellent job of organizing the jumpers and establishing safety
protocols. This year, the 346 registered BASE jumpers made 836 jumps
from the New River Gorge Bridge during the event — believed to be
the highest number ever recorded on Bridge Day. Jumping was suspended
several time during the day for trains passing the landing zone, water
rescues/pickups, and for one jumper who became stuck in a tree adjacent
to the landing zone. The park's maintenance division tree crew removed
the jumper from the tree with the aid of a bucket truck. Through most of
the day, there was a BASE jumper going off the bridge approximately
every 30 seconds. In addition, there were several multiple-person jumps,
including one nine-way jump. All multiple-person jumps were coordinated
with the NPS rangers and water rescue personal. There were only four
BASE jumper injuries that required medical transport, with all of the
injured being treated and released the same day. Under the bridge, 295
rappellers made 557 rappels off the catwalk and 107 people went down a
highline traverse to the Fayette Station Road below. Overall, it was a
very successful event.
[Submitted by Gary Hartley, Chief Ranger]
Theodore Roosevelt National Park (ND)
Arrest of Armed Robber
Rangers Kane Seitz and Grant Geis assisted in a pursuit and capture
of an armed robbery suspect on the morning of October 21st. The pursuit
began around 10 a.m. when a North Dakota trooper spotted the vehicle
heading west on I-94 about an hour after the robbery occurred at a video
store in Bismarck. The rangers assisted in deploying road spikes on the
interstate as the suspect's vehicle approached at speeds around 90 mph.
After hitting the spikes, the driver abandoned his vehicle on the north
side of the interstate. He refused to obey officers' commands and began
walking toward the park's boundary, about 40 yards away. As he walked,
he tossed away a gun and taunted officers, telling them to shoot him.
When he reached the fence, he dropped a knife, then yelled to an officer
who'd taken a position behind the suspect's vehicle, telling him that
there was a bomb in the back seat. Setiz and Geis approached the man,
using a sheriff's patrol vehicle for cover. Meanwhile, the man climbed
the boundary fence, telling officers that he was going to climb up a
nearby butte and jump. As he began his climb, rangers and an officer
closed the distance and placed him under arrest. The man told officer
that he'd been robbing video stores for the last seven months in Ohio
and Idaho, traveling back and forth several times. He also said that
he'd camped in the park at least ten times during his trips. The gun was
found to be a painted pellet gun. Two more knives and another pellet gun
were found in his vehicle, along with a fake bomb with exposed wire and
a remote detonator. The lead investigator on the case subsequently found
a crude map in the vehicle which showed that he'd buried $9,0000
somewhere along a specific trail in the park's south unit. Geis and
Seitz received a faxed copy of the map and a copy of a note the suspect
had written regarding the buried money. A hasty search was made, but the
rangers determined that definitive information on the location of the
money would be required to find it.
[Submitted by Grant Geis,
District Ranger; Gary Kiramidjian, Chief Ranger]
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.
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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]
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]
January 27 — January 29: National Emergency Medical Services Conference, San Diego, CA. This training will provide participants with the latest updates on contemporary standards of pre-hospital patient care, instruction in the application of NPS EMS policy, and the coordination of EMS programs within the parks. Specific topics to be addressed include Director's Order 51, Reference Manual 51, the NPS EMS field manual, EMS program coordination, NPS national standard protocol development, the National Registry of EMT's, EMS data management, patient care reports, the NPS white card, medical-legal issues, and a presentation by the national NPS EMS medical advisor. An EMS medical advisor meeting will preceded the training conference — it will take place on the afternoon of January 25th and all day on the 26th. Nominations must be received by December 29th. For more information, contact Randy Coffman, Chief, Emergency Services, WASO at 202-513-7093. [Randy Coffman]
February
No entries.
March
March 1 — March 5: Wildland Fire Origin and Cause Determination (NWCG FI-210), FLETC, Glynco, GA. The FI-210 course is designed to provide the coursework portion of the task book requirements for red card certification as a Type III fire investigator (wildland fire cause and origin). The course is open to both commissioned law enforcement and non-commissioned fire and resource management employees who are interested in developing and/or refreshing skills in fire investigation. Fore more information, contact either John Carpenter at 912-267-2607 (John.Carpenter@associates.dhs.gov) or SA Alan Foster at 530-359-2108. [Alan Foster]
April
April 19 — April 23: Wildland Fire Origin and Cause Determination (NWCG FI-210), Colorado Springs, CO. The FI-210 course is designed to provide the coursework portion of the task book requirements for red card certification as a Type III fire investigator (wildland fire cause and origin). The course is open to both commissioned law enforcement and non-commissioned fire and resource management employees who are interested in developing and/or refreshing skills in fire investigation. Fore more information, contact either John Carpenter at 912-267-2607 (John.Carpenter@associates.dhs.gov) or SA Alan Foster at 530-359-2108. [Alan Foster]
May
May 10 — May 14: Wildland Fire Origin and Cause Determination (NWCG FI-210), Prescott, AZ. The FI-210 course is designed to provide the coursework portion of the task book requirements for red card certification as a Type III fire investigator (wildland fire cause and origin). The course is open to both commissioned law enforcement and non-commissioned fire and resource management employees who are interested in developing and/or refreshing skills in fire investigation. Fore more information, contact either John Carpenter at 912-267-2607 (John.Carpenter@associates.dhs.gov) or SA Alan Foster at 530-359-2108. [Alan Foster]
May 24 — May 28: Wildland Fire Origin and Cause Determination (NWCG FI-210), Redmond, OR. The FI-210 course is designed to provide the coursework portion of the task book requirements for red card certification as a Type III fire investigator (wildland fire cause and origin). The course is open to both commissioned law enforcement and non-commissioned fire and resource management employees who are interested in developing and/or refreshing skills in fire investigation. Fore more information, contact either John Carpenter at 912-267-2607 (John.Carpenter@associates.dhs.gov) or SA Alan Foster at 530-359-2108. [Alan Foster]
June
June 7 — June 11: Wildland Fire Origin and Cause Determination (NWCG FI-210), Missoula, MT. The FI-210 course is designed to provide the coursework portion of the task book requirements for red card certification as a Type III fire investigator (wildland fire cause and origin). The course is open to both commissioned law enforcement and non-commissioned fire and resource management employees who are interested in developing and/or refreshing skills in fire investigation. Fore more information, contact either John Carpenter at 912-267-2607 (John.Carpenter@associates.dhs.gov) or SA Alan Foster at 530-359-2108. [Alan Foster]
June 14 — June 18: Wildland Fire Origin and Cause Determination (NWCG FI-210), Boise, ID. The FI-210 course is designed to provide the coursework portion of the task book requirements for red card certification as a Type III fire investigator (wildland fire cause and origin). The course is open to both commissioned law enforcement and non-commissioned fire and resource management employees who are interested in developing and/or refreshing skills in fire investigation. Fore more information, contact either John Carpenter at 912-267-2607 (John.Carpenter@associates.dhs.gov) or SA Alan Foster at 530-359-2108. [Alan Foster]
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.