INCIDENTS

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Big Cypress National Preserve (FL)
Helicopter Goes Down in Park

Dr. J.K. was flying his 1988 McDonnell Douglas 500E on a personal flight from Miami to Fort Meyers around 6:30 a.m. on the morning of August 19th when he heard a popping noise and lost control of the helicopter at an altitude of about 500 feet. The helicopter then crashed into trees in the very rugged Western Raccoon Point area of the park. J.K. called his wife via cell phone and told her that he'd crashed and that he thought he'd suffered a back injury and possibly some broken ribs. The signal was then lost. His location was given to authorities alternatively as either 60 miles southeast or 60 miles east of the regional airport at Fort Meyers. Searchers from Lee County initially looked to the east of the airport, and park staff were not involved. Just before 8 a.m., however, the Broward County Sheriff's Office called the park and asked for a search of Big Cypress. ICS was put into effect and the Collier County Sheriff's Office was asked to assist. When the park's helicopter became airborne, the crew discovered that there were already many aircraft searching the area, none of whom had checked in through the incident management team. Attempts to establish command and control of search aircraft proved fruitless. A spotter in a Collier County SO helicopter located the downed McDonnell Douglas around noon. When the park's helicopter arrived, there were eight helicopters circling or hovering at various altitudes in the area. The park helicopter landed in an area of short cypress trees; a park EMT, a fire and aviation ranger and a Collier County lieutenant then hiked about a half mile through dense cypress and standing water to the crash site. They found that J.K. wasn't with the helicopter. A hasty search of the area was conducted, but no sign of J.K. was found. Utilizing a series of radio relays, helicopters in the area were asked by the NPS on-scene commander to spiral out from the crash site to search for J.K., presuming him to be either on foot or down. Within 30 minutes, he was found about two miles north of the crash site, attempting to walk out. He was flown to Lee County Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released. After the operation concluded, park staff learned that a Miami-Dade County rescue helicopter had heli-rappelled officers into the scene prior to the arrival of the park helicopter. When they found that the pilot was gone, they left the area, neglecting to inform the incident management team that they'd been there. The park and Collier County SO will jointly host a meeting with involved rescuers to discuss the use of ICS in joint operations.
[Submitted by Ed Clark, Chief Ranger]

Dry Tortugas National Park (FL)
Eastern IMT Completes Assignment to Park

The NPS Eastern Incident Management Team (Bob Panko, IC) will transfer command of the incident back to Dry Tortugas and Everglades National Parks today. The assignment was shortened by two days in accordance with the hurricane contingency plan written shortly after the team arrived. The plan calls for the team's early release if another significant hurricane came to threaten the area. With the upgrading of Hurricane Frances to a category 4 storm on Saturday, a possible projected track through south Florida, and issues associated with local evacuation plans, the team's timetable was moved up. The team completed all delegated projects on both Garden and Loggerhead Keys pertaining to minimization of further damages to cultural resources from additional tropical storm systems this hurricane season.  The only exception is the nailing down of new decking on the dock at Loggerhead Key. The materials were delivered to the Island Sunday, however, and have been stored away. The team will leave Garden Key today and be demobilized by this evening. The electrician who has worked with the team has been reassigned to Dry Tortugas to assist the park in completing repairs identified on the priority task list. Agencies assisting during the incident have been the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, the Key West Fire Department and The Nature Conservancy. Accomplishments on Garden Key, site of Fort Jefferson and the park's campground, include: assessing the main dock, pumping out the holding tank for the composting toilets, breaking down and hauling away the debris from the damaged finger docks, and cleaning up the Parade Grounds and campground. The park-wide electrical infrastructure was assessed. At Loggerhead Key, the brick column was removed and a temporary column to support the porch roof was installed, shutters and doors were reinstalled on the boathouse, and the powerhouse roof was given temporary protection with tarps.

[Submitted by Barb Stewart, IO, Eastern IMT]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

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NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Monday, August 30, 2004

Preparedness Level 2

The preparedness level has done down one step. Preparedness Level 3 drops to Preparedness Level 2 when all large fires are contained. Initial attack resources are again available. Geographic area crew availability is at or above the 50% level. No red flag conditions are forecast for the next 24 hours and large fire areas are expected to receive wetting showers with associated higher humidity and lower temperatures.

Initial attack was light on Sunday — 98 new fires were reported, three of which became large fires.

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported yesterday in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

Weather Forecast

High pressure will continue to build into the western states, allowing hot and dry conditions to persist through the day. In Alaska, mostly cloudy sky conditions will prevail as a front moves in from the north. This will result in rain showers over east and central sections 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/Incident and Location	8/26	8/30	% Con	Est Con
WA	USFS	2	Berndt/ Andring *	Fischer Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	16,439	16,439	95	UNK
AK	State	2	Blume	Camp Creek Fire, Delta Area	173,000	173,940	40	9/30
WA	USFS	2	Jennings/ Perry *	Pot Peak Complex, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	47,470	47,470	90	UNK
AK	State	2	Kurth	Taylor Highway Complex, Tok Area Forestry	1,267,442	1,275,566	NR	UNK

* State incident management team

National Resource Commitments

Day	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon
Date	8/24	8/25	8/26	8/27	8/28	8/29	8/30
Crews	189	185	146	134	127	57	87
Engines	246	233	174	200	155	126	108
Helicopters	74	62	57	45	45	31	45
Air Tankers	0	0	6	0	0	0	0
Overhead	1,982	1,552	1,338	1,335	1,055	---	829

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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Servicewide
Correction to Training Calendar Entry

The dates for the following course have been revised and corrected. They were incorrect in Friday's Morning Report. The error was at this end, not the fault of the park.

October 4 — October 8

Law Enforcement Supervisor Refresher Training, Grand Canyon NP, Arizona.

The park is hosting a 40-hour LE in-service training designed specifically for LE and emergency services supervisors. Topics covered will include leadership through understanding behavioral diversity, situational leadership, work-related stress, ethics and values, and an LE supervisors' lessons learned forum. The training is presented by the FLETC Management Institute and IMR law enforcement and human resources staff. Tuition is $150. To register or for more information, contact South Rim shift supervisor Karyl Yeston at 928-638-7805 by September 24th.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

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Pinnacles National Monument (CA)
Detail for GS-7 or GS- 9 LE Ranger

Dates: 08/27/2004 - 09/26/2004

Pinnacles National Monument is seeking interested applicants for a detail opportunity as a GS-7 or 9 field protection ranger. The emphasis will be on patrol of visitor use and park backcountry areas.  The protection operation encompasses law enforcement, EMS, wildland fire, and SAR.  There are many opportunities to interface with a variety of resource issues including the release and protection of condors, wilderness, over flight issues, and ARPA.  Travel, lodging, per diem, and base 8 pay will be paid by Pinnacles National Monument.  The length of the detail will be from one to four months.  This may be filled with one person or several people for shorter periods.  If you are interested in pursuing such a detail, contact Protection Operations Supervisor Dana Sullivan at 831-389-4485 ext. 237 for more information on the position.
[Submitted by Dana Sullivan, dana_sullivan@nps.gov, (831)389-4485 ext. 237]

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.