INCIDENTS

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Cape Lookout National Seashore (NC)
Hurricane Alex

The park has implemented its storm weather evacuation plan in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Alex. The park was closed to visitors and all services were shutdown as of 5 p.m. yesterday afternoon, and will remain closed until further notice. The coast of North Carolina from Cape Lookout to Oregon Inlet is under a hurricane warning. High surf, rip currents and locally heavy rains are expected.
[Submitted by Wouter Ketel, Chief Ranger]

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (CA)
Operation No Grow

The problem of illegal marijuana cultivation in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks continues. This problem has been ongoing for the past several years and has resulted in damage to park resources and danger to park visitors and employees from armed growers. Over the past several weeks, rangers have taken a number of actions to deal with these illegal plantations:

July 13 — A team of ten park rangers led by special agent Eric Inman raided a garden in the East Fork drainage of the Kaweah River. The operation was aided by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who provided coverage on the nearby road to arrest any fleeing gardeners. The team removed 3,800 plants from five separate garden plots. No arrests were made.

July 26 — A team of fifteen park personnel, led jointly by Inman and restoration ecologist Athena Demetry, returned to the garden site and performed rehabilitation work. This included removing extensive irrigation equipment, removing trash and agricultural supplies, filling in and restoring the contours of the plant "bowls," and broadcasting brush that had been cut and piled by the growers.

July 29 — A team of eight rangers, led by Inman and assisted by ICE agents (with their Blackhawk helicopter), California Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) officers, and the DEA agents conducted a raid of a garden in the North Fork drainage of the Kaweah River. Over 500 plants were seized in this garden.

These actions are all part of the parks' Operation No Grow, which is focused on combating the problem of marijuana propagation. The parks are working closely with local, state, and federal agencies, including ICE, DEA, CAMP, USFS, BLM, the US Attorneys' Office and the Tulare County Sheriff's Office, to attack the problem on the ground and bring the cartels responsible for the growing to justice.
[Submitted by Gregg D. Fauth, Acting Chief Ranger]

Lassen Volcanic National Park (CA)
Rescue of Missing Hiker

On July 19th, rangers received a report that an elderly man was overdue from a hike in the southwest area of the park. A hasty search was begun at daylight the next day. Rangers Luke Hodgson and Allison O'Connor located C.P., injured and dehydrated, in a ravine south of Mill Creek Falls that afternoon. C.P. lost the trail near dusk the previous evening. At about the same time, he suffered from numerous sliding falls which deposited him downstream from the falls. Hodgson and O'Connor provided medical treatment and assisted C.P. to the trailhead.  C.P. is legally blind and had only a bottle of water and the park brochure with him. C.P. frequents National Park Service areas, has been the subject of searches in Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks, and refuses to carry the ten essentials or admit difficulty in locating the trail due to poor eyesight. 
[Submitted by John Roth, Chief Ranger]

Badlands National Park (SD)
EMS Rescue of Victim of Accidental Stabbing

On the morning of July 29th, ranger Tucker Amiotte was contacted by a scared and panicked visitor at the White River Ranger Station in the park's Stronghold District. She told him that her boy friend had accidentally stabbed himself with a large hunting knife and had possibly cut his femoral artery. Amiotte and B&U employee Mike Gebes immediately responded. Amiotte found the man lying on the floor of a recreational vehicle, his lower leg soaked in blood. Friends had already applied a tourniquet. Amiotte applied direct pressure to the wound, elevated the man's leg, and treated him for shock. A life flight helicopter was requested, but was unavailable, so ambulances from the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Rapid City were dispatched. Arriving paramedics began providing fluids through an intravenous line, then took the man to the Rapid City Regional Hospital for treatment. Upon investigation, it was learned that the man had been outside the park, cutting sage for a sun dance ceremony being performed on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He was working on a steep hillside when he fell and slid down the slope, accidentally stabbing himself with the knife he was using to cut the sage.   
[Submitted by Mark Gorman, District Ranger]

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (PA)
Fatal Fall Into Raymondskill Creek

T.C., 44, of Effort, Pennsylvania, was killed on Saturday afternoon when she slipped off a log and fell into Raymondskill Creek. According to friends who witnessed the accident, she was one of a group of six visitors who crossed the creek on a log that was about 30 feet above the water. Everyone else in the group crossed by straddling the log and sidling over, but T.C. attempted to walk across. She lost her balance, held onto the log for a moment with her hands, then lost her grip and fell into the creek below. The water was only about ten inches deep at that point and T.C. struck the rocks below the stream's surface. Her friends immediately pulled her out of the creek and reported later that she remained conscious for a short time. One member of the party hiked out to the trailhead and called 911. Park rangers, paramedics, and the Milford Fire Department rescue team responded immediately, arriving with a few minutes of the initial call. By the time the rescuers arrived, T.C. was unconscious and had stopped breathing. CPR was begun and a defibrillator unit was used at the scene, but T.C. never regained consciousness. The cause of death is presumed to be traumatic injury associated with the fall. The accident occurred in an area where there are no established trails. T.C. is survived by her husband and five children.      
[Submitted by Doyle Nelson, Deputy Superintendent]

Valley Forge National Historical Park (PA)
Arrest for Lewdness Leads to Deportation

While conducting a plainclothes operation, ranger Duane Buck encountered a man later identified as R.A. acting suspiciously in a parking lot on Inner Line Drive. R.A. entered the woods and subsequently indecently exposed himself to Buck. Rangers were called and R.A. was placed under arrest for disorderly conduct and open lewdness. Investigation into R.A.'s background found that he was in the country illegally. A plea agreement was made to the open lewdness charges in federal magistrate's court and R.A. was turned over to the Philadelphia Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) team. As part of the plea agreement, R.A. will be deported from the United States.
[Submitted by Duane Buck, Protection Ranger]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

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NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Tuesday, August 3, 2004

Preparedness Level 3

Initial attack yesterday was heavy in the Northwest, moderate in the western Great Basin and northern California, and light elsewhere. Eight of the 309 newly-reported fires escaped initial attack and became large fires. Seven other large fires were contained.

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

Weather Forecast

A weakening low pressure system will move across the western portion of the Northern Rockies today. The storm will provide the trigger for thunderstorms from northeast Oregon eastward into the Dakotas. Thunderstorms will also occur from Arizona north into the Eastern Great Basin and Rocky Mountain Areas. California, Washington and western portions of the Great Basin will mainly be dry. However, cooler temperatures will be working their way into the Northwest. Along the East Coast, tropical storm Alex will bring strong wind and heavy rains to the Outer Banks. In eastern Alaska, partly cloudy sky conditions will prevail underneath building

high pressure.

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	8/2	8/3	% Con	Est Con
UT	USFS	1	Martin	Hawkins Fire, Dixie NF	34,370	35,190	15	8/6
WA	USFS	1	Lohrey	Pot Peak Complex, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	38,060	38,980	60	UNK
WA	State	2	Berndt/ Andring #	Mill Canyon Fire, Northeast Washington	-----	1,000	0	UNK
WA	USFS	2	Jennings/ Perry #	Freezeout Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	356	380	17	UNK
WA	State	2	Johnson/ Barnett #	Elk Heights Fire, Southeast Washington	370	358	90	UNK
AK	State	2	Morcom	Boundary Fire, Fairbanks Area	503,362	503,362	35	UNK
WA	BIA	2	Reed/ Holloway	Elmer City Fire, Colville Agency	1,927	1,927	100	CND
UT	USFS	2	Suwyn	Red Bull Fire, Unita NF	1,781	1,781	75	8/3
CA	USFS	2	Szczepanik	Sims Fire, Six Rivers NF	4,030	4,030	100	CND
OR	BIA	2	West	Log Springs Fire, Warm Springs Agency	13,539	13,539	80	8/4
WA	USFS	FU	Bonefeld	Rattlesnake Peak Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	373	500	N/A	N/A
UT	USFS	FU	Cones	Westside Complex, Dixie NF	4,480	4,800	N/A	N/A
CA	NPS	FU	Cook	Meadow Complex, Yosemite NP	5,176	5,176	N/A	N/A
MN	NPS	FU	Hall	Section 33 Fire, Voyageurs NP	1,400	1,400	N/A	N/A

# Washington State IMT

National Resource Commitments

Day	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue
Date	7/28	7/29	7/30	7/31	8/1	8/2	8/3
Crews	270	267	236	214	209	227	229
Engines	385	396	377	339	471	453	477
Helicopters	99	102	93	108	92	113	102
Air Tankers	0	1	0	0	1	1	0
Overhead	1,720	979	1,856	1,646	1,458	1,608	1,848

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

PARKS AND PEOPLE

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Colonial National Historical Park (VA)
GS-9 Protection Ranger

Colonial NHP, located in the tidewater area of southeast Virginia, is currently recruiting to fill a GS-9 law enforcement ranger position. The park consists of approximately 10,000 acres, including the Yorktown Battlefield, the last battle of the Revolutionary War; Jamestown Island, the site of the first permanent English settlement in the U.S.; and the 23-mile-long Colonial Parkway. Duties include mostly frontcountry law enforcement activities, with a high number of incidents involving traffic enforcement, drugs/alcohol, ARPA and natural resource violations. The Williamsburg area is a major tourist attraction, including historic sites and Busch Gardens. Atlantic Ocean beaches are within an hour's driving time. The cost of living is reasonable, with a variety of homes available for purchase depending upon your price range. Schools are good to excellent. Numerous colleges are within commuting distance. The vacancy announcement will be out shortly, but the park will also consider a lateral transfer. If you are interested please contact me at 757-898-2425.[Submitted by Tom Nash, Chief Ranger]

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.