INCIDENTS

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Death Valley National Park (CA)
Park Remains Closed Due to Flash Floods

The park, which was closed on Monday following major flooding from all-night rains that killed at least two people, will remain closed until further notice. Here are some particulars:

• All roads and the park's airport are closed. Substantial amounts of debris cover several sections of Highway 190 within the park. Many other sections of the road were broken up and carried away in water and mud flows.
• The floods broke the water main to a two million gallon tank at Furnace Creek. Maintenance crews have located at least two breaks in the line and have begun the long process of making repairs. Once fixed, it will take 24 hours to fill the tank via gravity feed, plus time to test the water system.
• Power has been restored and phones are now working.

Work crews and equipment from Lake Mead NRA and Mojave NP are assisting the park's staff. Also assisting are the California Highway Patrol, California Department of Transportation, Southern California Edison, the Inyo County Sheriff's Office, and Xanterra Parks and Resorts, Inc. (operator of Furnace creek and Stovepipe Wells visitor services). Superintendent J.T. Reynolds had this to say about the closure: "The safety of visitors and employees is our primary concern. We regret having to take this closure action but it is necessary while critical infrastructure is repaired." For a story on this incident, please see yesterday's USA Today by clicking on "More Information" below.
[Submitted by Holly Bundock, Public Affairs, Pacific West Regional Office; Roxanne Dey, Public Affairs, Lake Mead NRA] More Information...

FIRE MANAGEMENT

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NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Preparedness Level 3

Initial attack was moderate in the Northwest yesterday and light elsewhere, with a total of 199 new fires reported. Five became large fires.

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

Weather Forecast

High pressure will be building along the Pacific Northwest coast as a low pressure system moves slowly across Utah. Most thunderstorm activity will extend from Montana and Idaho down to Arizona and New Mexico. High pressure will continue over Alaska.

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/Incident and Location	8/17	8/18	% Con	Est Con
WA	USFS	1	Anderson	Fischer Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	6,564	8,519	30	UNK
AK	BLM	1	Frye	Central Complex, Upper Yukon Zone	320,000	324,000	20	UNK
FL	FEMA	1	Ferguson	Hurricane Charley recovery	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
CA	USFS	1	Gelobter	Deep Fire, Sequoia NF	3,222	3,143	100	CND
CA	State	1	Lutts *	French Fire, Shasta-Trinity Unit	9,050	9,623	30	8/20
ID	USFS	2	Broyles	Bear Spring Fire, Salmon-Challis NF	930	930	45	8/23
WA	USFS	2	Furlong/ Gormley	Pot Peak Complex, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	47,390	47,470	85	UNK
AK	State	2	Jandt	Taylor Highway Complex, Tok Area Forestry	1,136,929	1,152,093	NR	UNK
WA	USFS	2	Johnson #	Mebee Pass Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	238	790	15	UNK
WA	USFS	2	Larsen	Dirty Face Peak Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	171	295	35	8/22
OR	USFS	2	Paul	Grassy Fire, Fremont NF	4,700	4,700	80	8/19
OR	NPS	2	West	Bybee Complex, Crater Lake NP	135	135	50	8/21
ID	USFS	2	Whalen	North Star Butte Fire, Payette NF	1,000	1,030	30	8/22
ID	USFS	FU	Cones	Porter Fire, Salmon-Challis NF	2,911	2,911	N/A	N/A
WA	USFS	FU	Cook	Freezeout Complex, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	791	826	17	UNK
OR	USFS	FU	Hall	Jim White Ridge, Wallowa-Whitman NF	-----	521	N/A	N/A
OR	USFS	FU	Hall	Hazel 2, Wallowa-Whitman NF	-----	345	N/A	N/A
WA	USFS	FU	Weldon	Rattlesnake Peak Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	750	775	N/A	N/A

* California state CDF IMT

# Washington state IMT

National Resource Commitments

Day	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed
Date	8/12	8/13	8/14	8/15	8/16	8/17	8/18
Crews	229	234	317	530	314	438	325
Engines	487	497	648	709	741	741	711
Helicopters	142	110	128	150	144	174	160
Air Tankers	2	4	0	0	0	1	3
Overhead	1,456	1,342	1,658	2,257	2,030	2,360	2,529

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

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.