INCIDENTS

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San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park (CA)
Death of Employee

Andy Caceres, the park's nighttime security guard for almost 20 years, suffered a heart attack while on duty on the evening of August 26th. Park Police officers and park staff responded; CPR was begun and an AED was employed in efforts to revive him. He was rushed to Cal Pacific Hospital, where he passed away. Andy is survived by his wife and two children.
[Submitted by Kate Richardson, Superintendent]

Petersburg National Battlefield (VA)
Tornado/High Winds Cause Damage to Park

At 1 p.m. yesterday afternoon, what was evidently a tornado touched down in the park's City Point Unit. There were no injuries, but an as yet not fully determined amount of damage was inflicted on buildings and vegetation. A 1916 Sears & Roebuck shed behind the Bonnacord building — reportedly one of the first of its kind available from the Sears catalogue — was completely destroyed. Appomattox Manor suffered some damage when four heavy cast iron columns supporting the west facing porch were blown down. One column slammed so hard against the side of the manor that it broke through the building's wooden siding; another was thrown off its base and onto the walkway below. Quick action by maintenance staff in shoring up the sagging porch roof prevented further damage to the historic structure. No artifacts in the manor were harmed, and no other damage occurred to the building's interior. Many trees, shrubs and signs were blown down or uprooted, including a historic boxwood tree that was a wedding gift to the Eppes family from Brandon Plantation in 1870. Two huge trees fell on either side of General Grant's cabin, just barely missing the structure. Windows were blown out of the Naldara building and the carriage house. All windows have been boarded up and secured. A newly rebuilt wooden staircase, destroyed by Hurricane Isabel last September, was partially destroyed again. Heavy rains were still falling at the time of the report, causing bluff erosion, particularly along the north and west facing side of the peninsula.
[Submitted by Bob Kirby, Superintendent]

Mesa Verde National Park (CO)
Attempted Homicide

On the morning of August 26th, rangers were called to a domestic dispute at Morefield campground. The reporting party told rangers that a 40-year-old woman who was on the medication Prozac had "rammed" a car into her husband's pickup. The husband, G.G., also told the rangers that she had a loaded firearm in the car. While rangers were en route, she left the campground and continued southbound further into the park. The vehicle and driver were subsequently found at the Moccasin Mesa turnoff and a felony vehicle stop was made. The driver, B.G., refused to comply with the instructions of the ranger who first arrived on scene and had her at gunpoint. B.G. refused to make her hands visible and repeatedly screamed at the ranger to go ahead and shoot her and save her the trouble of doing so. The ranger attempted to talk to her and calm her down, but with no success. B.G. was finally talked into getting out of the car. Although she didn't have a weapon in her hands, she continued asking the ranger to shoot her, saying that she did not care if she died. Other rangers arrived on scene and assisted with negotiations. After further attempts to make B.G. comply with instructions, an opportunity presented itself whereby the first ranger on scene was able to move to the front of his vehicle, run at B.G. without her seeing him, then tackle her and take her to the ground. The other rangers quickly assisted and B.G. was subdued and taken into custody. Neither she nor the rangers were injured. A loaded .22 caliber pistol was found underneath the driver's seat in B.G.'s car. Investigation revealed that B.G. had attempted to run over her husband on two occasions. On one of these occasions, she backed her vehicle into his pickup, which was carrying their two children, ages four and nine. B.G. also told her husband that she was going to kill him, the kids and then herself. She was taken to Mercy Medical Center for medical and psychiatric evaluation and screened positive for methamphetamine. She was charged with attempted murder, felony menacing, assault with a dangerous weapon, and resisting a federal officer.
[Submitted by Jessie Farias, Jr., Acting Chief Ranger]

Badlands National Park (SD)
Shoplifting Arrests

Rangers were contacted by the manager of the Cedar Pass Lodge on August 12th and informed that a number of people believed to have been involved in a string of shoplifting incidents earlier this year were currently in the building. As rangers arrived on scene, lodge manager Jenny Brown came running out of the building and pointed to a gray-colored sedan that was just leaving the parking lot. She said that she recognized several of the people in the car, including a pregnant woman with a nine-month-old baby. Rangers followed the car, observed a number of traffic and equipment violations, and stopped it. They obtained consent from driver B.Q. to search the inside of the car; just as the search was about to begin, B.Q. pushed one of the rangers aside and began to straighten a blanket in the back seat. As he did so, he revealed two hand-carved wooden flutes, which rangers immediately recognized as the type of flutes that were sold at the lodge and as being similar to ones that had been stolen earlier in the year. The flutes were seized and several people were taken into custody. A search of the vehicle led to the discovery of evidence of illegal drug use. During the ensuring interviews, rangers learned that Suzette Between Lodges stole the flutes from the lodge while two relatives served as lookouts and B.Q. made a minor purchase at the counter. Between Lodges used her nine-month-old baby to help conceal the flutes and distract other employees in the lodge. During her initial appearance, Between Lodges, who is four months pregnant with twins, tested positive for marijuana. The federal judge reviewing the case became extremely concerned for the safety and welfare of the unborn twins and ordered Between Lodges to be held in federal custody until her drug test returned negative for illegal drugs. It's expected that she will be held for nearly 30 days, as she admitted to smoking marijuana the day before her arrest. Earlier this year, the Cedar Pass Lodge was hit by a series of thefts, including two hand-carved wooden flutes and more than $1,400 in jewelry. Between Lodges identified other suspects connected to a local ring that uses a group of four to six people to rush into the gift shop and distract sales clerks while others commit the thefts. Between Lodges said that the stolen items were then taken to local powwows and sun dance ceremonies and sold.
[Submitted by Mark Gorman, District Ranger]

Gulf Islands National Seashore (FL,MS)
Pursuit of Stolen Vehicle Culminates in Two Arrests

Rangers David Fox and Jay Drinkwater received a notice to be on the lookout for a truck that had just been stolen near the park around 11 p.m. on Friday, August 13th. Fox saw the vehicle enter the park and followed it until he and Drinkwater were able to make a stop at a roadside parking lot. The driver failed to obey their directions, and, after a brief stop, fled at speeds in excess of 90 mph. The rangers chased him, but broke off for safety reasons when he reached a highly populated area. Shortly thereafter, the driver failed to make it through a turn and crashed into a ditch. The driver and passenger bailed out and fled. A perimeter was established and a county helicopter and canine unit were brought in to assist. Ranger Ryan Parr also joined the group. Parr, Fox, Drinkwater and the dog and handler followed a scent trail to a nearby residence. The homeowner said that a woman had been allowed to use the phone to call for a ride and that she was still there. She was taken into custody without incident and identified the driver. A check on him showed that he was considered armed and dangerous and was wanted for a parole violation in Texas. The owner of the stolen truck was brought to the scene and identified the woman as the person who stole it. Fox arrested her for vehicle theft and took her to the county jail. Several hours later, a deputy who had been working the perimeter saw a suspicious vehicle matching one that she had seen leaving the area where the crash had occurred. She stopped it for an expired registration and identified the passenger as the wanted man. He was arrested without incident. Fox prepared a warrant affidavit for the driver for reckless driving while fleeing a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence. Escambia County deputies prepared warrant affidavits for both individuals for the theft of the truck.

 
[Submitted by J.D. Lee, Chief Ranger]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

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NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Preparedness Level 2

Initial attack was again light on Monday. There were 107 newly-reported fires, 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 conditions will prevail as a front moves in from the north.

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	8/30	8/31	% Con	Est Con
WA	USFS	2	Berndt/ Andring *	Fischer Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	16,439	16,439	100	CND
AK	State	2	Blume	Camp Creek Fire, Delta Area	173,000	173,940	40	9/30
AK	State	2	Kurth	Taylor Highway Complex, Tok Area Forestry	1,267,566	1,288,985	NR	UNK

* State incident management team

National Resource Commitments

Day	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue
Date	8/25	8/26	8/27	8/28	8/29	8/30	8/31
Crews	185	146	134	127	57	87	70
Engines	233	174	200	155	126	108	132
Helicopters	62	57	45	45	31	45	47
Air Tankers	0	6	0	0	0	0	0
Overhead	1,552	1,338	1,335	1,055	747	829	661

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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Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (HI)
New Communications Center Dedicated

The new Pacific Area Communication Center, which will serve hundreds of national park employees, volunteers, and partners in eight national parks on four islands was dedicated this past Friday.
The center is staffed by six dispatchers and will soon be a 24-hour, seven day a week operation. It utilizes state of the art technology, including fiber optic connections, special routers, and high tech radios that transmit and receive voice-over IP (internet protocol) data packets. This innovative technology interconnects all the Hawaii island national parks to a single radio dispatch system.

The new Pacific Area Communication Center was dedicated to the memory of ranger Steve Makuakane-Jarrell who died while on duty at Kaloko-Honokohau on December 12, 1999

His wife, ranger Joni Mae Makuakane, attended with her family. Steve's mother-in-law, Kahu Violet Makuakane, deliveredr the blessing:

"May this Pacific Area Communication Center honor the memory of Steve Renard Makuakane-Jarrell, child of God."
[Submitted by Mardie Lane]

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.