INCIDENTS

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Boston National Historical Park (MA)
Convention Event Coverage Continues with Few Incidents

The weather in Boston has been partly cloudy and unseasonably cool this week, and rain is forecast for today. The large multi-agency law enforcement presence — including many NPS rangers and US Park Police officers — has discouraged major disruptions of scheduled events thus far. There have been no traffic disruptions, due in large part to advance planning and effective communications.

On Monday, NPS law enforcement personnel assisted at the Old North Church as individuals attempted to disrupt planned events. They also assisted at the Museum of Afro-American History during a Black Congressional Caucus reception. There were no reported incidents. At Faneuil Hall, they were witness to a number of exchanges and physical altercations between demonstrators with conflicting views. US Park Police spokesman Sergeant Scott Fear has conducted several interviews with local broadcast media on the USPP participation in the event.

Several events took place yesterday:

5:00 to 9:30 a.m. — CBS Newspath broadcast live from the USS Constitution.

10:30 a.m. — The convention honored military veterans with "A Salute to Those Who Have Served and Sacrificed" at the Bunker Hill Monument. The program was sponsored by Lockheed Martin. The master of ceremonies for the program was Motion Picture Association of America President Jack Valenti. The speaking program included Senators Tom Daschle, Daniel Inouye and Max Cleland, and Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Charles Rangel. The keynote address was delivered by General Wesley Clark.

10:30 a.m. — There was a demonstration by Democrats for Life at Faneuil Hall. Law enforcement personnel report no incidents.

12:15 p.m. — There was a program featuring Senator George McGovern and Governor Michael Dukakis at the Old South Meeting House. The program was well attended and there were no reported incidents.

4:30 p.m. — CNN's public affairs program, "Crossfire," was broadcast from the Charlestown Navy Yard, as will be the case every afternoon during the convention.

[Submitted by Sean Hennessy, Public Affairs Specialist]

Dry Tortugas National Park (FL)
Cuban Refugees Land in Park

In the early morning hours of July 22nd, volunteers at Loggerhead Key heard a knock on their door. When they opened it, they found 35 Cuban refugees, ranging in age from four to about 65 years old. They'd been dropped off by a vessel at the southern end of the key in about four feet of water. The volunteers provided them with food, water and clothing until rangers could arrive from Garden Key. The rangers found all of them to be in good health. The Coast Guard was contacted and flew a Coast Guard officer and a Border Patrol officer to the site. The refugees were debriefed, then taken by patrol boats to M/V Fort Jefferson for transport to Key West. The park and boat staff found out that it was the four-year-old's birthday, and were able to get together a cake and candle and present it to her upon her arrival at Key West. She not only celebrated her birthday, but her first day of freedom in the United States. 

[Submitted by Willie Lopez]

Yosemite National Park (CA)
Rangers Assist County Sheriff in Arrest of Kidnapper

On the evening of July 21st, the Mariposa County Sheriff's Office asked for assistance in locating J.L., a fugitive wanted on a $500,000 warrant for the kidnapping of two women in Merced County. J.L., a Sureno gang member, had said that he would not be taken alive. The sheriff's office received information that J.L. was hiding in the Super 8 Hotel on Mariposa's main street, and was being supplied food, money and weapons by other gang members. Surveillance of the room was begun. A room entry that night was ruled out because the hotel and others nearby were fully occupied. The sheriff's office asked that Yosemite's Special Response Team (SRT) assist them in a joint operation to apprehend J.L. in the morning. Three other persons were in the room with J.L. In the morning, an escapee from the California Youth Authority and his juvenile girlfriend were both apprehended on the street when they were walking to a store at about 8:30 a.m.  The sheriff's office then began systematically evacuating the hotel by calling each room. The evacuation was completed in 30 minutes. Once the hotel was clear, squads from SRT and from the sheriff's Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) entered the hotel and established an inner perimeter in the hallway outside the second story room. A sheriff's office hostage negotiator then called the room and advised J.L. to surrender. J.L. tried to escape out the hotel window, but deputies on an adjacent roof confronted him and ordered him back into the room. J.L. then barricaded the door and told the negotiator that he was not coming out and that they were going to have to kill him. A woman still in the room initially told the negotiator that she was a hostage. It was later determined that she was J.L.'s girlfriend and would not leave. After four hours of negotiation, J.L. agreed to surrender. He was directed out of the room and was taken into custody at gunpoint by SRT and CIRT members in the hall. He was eventually transported back to Merced. The other three individuals are being charged with obstruction of justice and being under the influence of narcotics.
[Submitted by Jeff Sullivan, Special Agent]

Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River (NY,PA)
Drowning in Delaware River

M.M.-R., 22, and friends were walking and playing in shallow eddy water in the Delaware River near Kittatinny Campground in Minisink, New York, around 8 p.m. on July 23rd. As they moved along, they wandered into the deeper main current. Members of the group began to panic and struggled to get to the shoreline. Bystanders helped them, but noticed that M.M.-R. was missing. They called for help via 911, and rangers and local rescue units responded. M.M.-R.'s body was recovered around 9:40 p.m. by divers. M.M.-R. was a non-swimmer and was not wearing a life jacket. None of the members of the group had ever been swimming in a river. Rangers and state police are investigating.
[Submitted by Al Henry, Chief of Protection]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

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NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Preparedness Level 3

Initial attack was moderate in the Rockies yesterday and light elsewhere. NIFC reports that 222 new fires were caught by initial attack on Tuesday and that two others became large fires.

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Alaska, Arizona, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.

Weather Forecast

A departing cold front moving through the Great Lakes states will keep breezy and cool conditions in place over the northern Rockies. The front will also bring showers to northern Minnesota. South and east of the front, conditions will continue to be warm and dry with slightly cooler temperatures for southern California. In Alaska, low pressure will bring welcome showers and cooler temperatures to the east-central portions of the state.

Warnings and Watches

No warnings or watches have been issued for today.

NPS Fires

For a brief supplemental narrative on each fire, click on the bar with the arrow. Internal NPS readers can link directly to full reports on each fire by clicking on the notepad icon; public readers of the Morning Report can obtain similar information by going to http://www.nps.gov/fire/news

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National/State Team Commitments

Newly listed fires (on this report) appear below in boldface. Changes in the status of a fire (type of team, change from a fire to a complex, etc.) are also noted in boldface.

Fires are sorted by type of team; teams are listed in alphabetical order within each type by the IC's last name.

State	Agency	Team	IC	Fire and Location	7/27	7/28	% Con	Est Con
AK	State	1	Anderson	Boundary Fire, Fairbanks Area	498,075	498,075	25	UNK
WA	USFS	1	Lohrey	Pot Peak Complex, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	15,090	15,386	50	UNK
NV	USGS	1	Sexton	Robbers Fire, Humboldt-Toiyabe NF	1,500	1,500	20	UNK
AK	State	2	Bateman	Taylor Complex, Tok Area Forestry	865,430	865,430	15	UNK
WA	State	2	Berndt/ Andring	Lauderdale Fire, DNR/Southeast	250	250	90	7/28
AK	BLM	2	Furlong/ Gormley	Central Complex, Upper Yukon Zone	252,700	252,700	0	UNK
OR	BIA	2	West #	Log Springs Fire, Warm Springs Agency	2,500	4,575	25	UNK
CA	NPS	FU	Cook	Meadow Complex, Yosemite NP	4,634	4,815	N/A	N/A
MN	NPS	FU	Hall	Section 33 Fire, Voyageurs NP	400	675	N/A	N/A

# Oregon Department of Forestry IMT

National Resource Commitments

Day	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed
Date	7/22	7/23	7/24	7/25	7/26	7/27	7/28
Crews	257	230	216	--	212	243	270
Engines	587	384	269	--	357	428	385
Helicopters	91	82	79	--	103	89	99
Air Tankers	2	0	0	--	1	0	0
Overhead	2,134	1,734	1,850	--	1,495	1,701	1,720

Further Information

This report is meant to present just highlights of the current fire situation. Two other NIFC sites provide much greater detail:

Full NIFC Situation Report (PDF file) — http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf
National Fire News — http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html

Information on NPS Fire and Aviation Management (FAM) and on park fires can be found at:

FAM — http://www.nps.gov/fire
Park fires — http://www.nps.gov/fire/news

OPERATIONAL NOTES

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NPS Office at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
Online and TelNet Flying Armed Training Offered

In order to assist those who may be anticipating travelling for security assignments, NPS-LETC has posted a "flying armed" review training presentation on its website at http://inside.nps.gov/programs/programcustommenu.cfm?menuid=2697&div=61&prog=604. Supervisors are encouraged to provide this refresher training to all who have previously completed the full flying armed course to ensure compliance with TSA policies.

NPS-LETC will put on a full flying armed course via a TelNet broadcast as soon as possible, if demand exists. TSA requires this course for officers to fly armed. Prime candidates for this training are commissioned park rangers, both seasonal and permanant, and special agents who have not previously completed the course. Parks with TelNet satellite access will be able to access this course free. Chief rangers with staff in need of this training contact Greg_Jackson@nps.gov with the number of those needing the class, and preferred days of the week for training.
[Submitted by Greg Jackson, Lead Instructor, 912-280-5252]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

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Visitor and Resource Protection
VRP Welcomes Two New Division Chiefs

Rick Potts has been named the new National Wilderness Program Manager.  Rick has been a resource and program manager for the NPS for the past 20 years, most recently serving as the NPS liaison and instructor at the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center.  Rick reports to his new position in Washington this week. 

Don Usher has been selected as the new supervisory park manager (Superintendent) for the NPS unit at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC).  Much of Don's career in the NPS was spent as a helicopter pilot and officer for the United States Park Police. He has served as the basic training program manager at FLETC since 1998. He also worked in the training management and legal divisions at FLETC, as well as with the US Forest Service.  Don will transition into his new position mid-August.

"I'm absolutely delighted to have Rick and Don on board as members of our Visitor and Resource Protection management team here in Washington," said Karen Taylor-Goodrich, Associate Director, Visitor and Resource Protection.  "They are talented and experienced professionals, and will be tremendous assets to their respective programs."
[Submitted by Debee Schwarz, 202-513-7123]

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.