INCIDENTS

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Southeast Region
Hurricane Ivan Update

Here are today's updates on preparations for Hurricane Ivan:

Gulf Islands NS — The park began shutting down on the barrier islands in the Mississippi District yesterday. Boats are being moved inland and buildings are being prepared. The district's concessioner is also closing down.

Biscayne NP — The Convoy Point VC has opened, but island facilities will remain closed until further notice. Island residents will remain in their evacuation locations until Ivan has passed by. The majority of park boats remain in storage and storm shutters remain in place. Due to high winds from Ivan's periphery, boat operations have been suspended.

Everglades NP — Employees have been told to return to work today. The park reopened on Monday morning. Hurricane preparations are standing down.

Canaveral NS — Due to the hurricane's continued westerly track, the park's south district has reopened for normal operations. Downed utility lines in the north district were repaired over the weekend, and it will reopen this morning.

Reports from Ken Garvin, FMO, SERO; Bob Panko, IC, EVER; J.D. Lee, Chief Ranger, GUIS; Linda Canzanelli, Superintendent, BISC; Timothy Morgan, Chief Ranger, CANA.

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (AZ,UT)
Multiple Vehicles Burn in Parking Lot Fire

During the early morning hours of August 28th, park dispatch received a call from security employees at the Wahweap Lodge who reported that a motor home was on fire in the parking lot and that the fire was spreading to other vehicles.  Rangers Ben McKay, Kenny Barend, Shawn McNally and Eric Scott and maintenance employee Heath Beard responded with the park structural fire engine. When they got to the scene, they found that the motor home, three vehicles and a boat were fully involved.  Engines from Page and Big Water Fire Departments also responded and aided in suppression efforts. Initial indications that someone may have been inside the motor home were proven false after fire investigators from Coconino County Sheriff's Office arrived. The investigators determined that the fire started in the center of the motor home and possibly involved electrical systems and/or a propane leak. Lost were a 2001 Safari Motor Coach, a 2000 Cadillac Escalade, a 2000 Ford Expedition, two rental cars, a 1994 19-foot Maximum ski boat and trailer, and a second boat trailer. Several nearby vehicles received minor heat damage.  Preliminary damage estimate approximately $260,000. The investigation continues. Ranger Shawn McNally was IC.
[Submitted by Eric Scott, Subdistrict Ranger, Wahweap Subdistrict]

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (AZ,UT)
Fatal Aircraft Crash

Lee's Ferry rangers received a report of an aircraft going down about a mile south of the Marble Canyon airstrip at 11 a.m. on September 4th. A Classic Lifeguard helicopter was first on scene, followed by rangers and Coconino County SO officers. The bodies of T.R. and M.R., both 40, of Huntington Beach, California, were found near the wreckage. It appears that the accident occurred sometime before 6:30 p.m. the previous day. The aircraft was an experimental single-engine, two-seater built by the pilot. Evidence indicates that the engine was not running at the time of the crash, possibly because the plane ran out of gas. The R.s were on their way to Bullfrog, Utah, when the accident occurred. She was a safety engineer for Boeing Corporation. The sheriff's office and FAA are investigating.
[Submitted by Kerry Haut, Subdistrict Ranger, Lee's Ferry Subdistrict]

Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve (AK)
Rescue from Root Glacier

Shortly after noon on August 28th, H.P. of Barrington, Illinois, slipped while hiking on the Root Glacier and sustained injuries to her hip and wrist. Kennecott District DR Marshall Neeck and district interpreter Megan Brokaw responded. H.P. was immobilized with a full-body vacuum splint on a litter and treated for minor hypothermia. Neeck organized a volunteer group of local guides and residents of McCarthy to help carry her out. Due to the location of the accident, the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center was advised. They sent a Pavehawk helicopter and a C-130 support aircraft from the 210th Air Rescue Squadron. The best landing zone for the helicopter was on the glacier, so H.P. was carried back onto the ice for the evacuation. She was flown to Alaska Regional Hospital for treatment at 6 p.m. Due to the remote location, this was a relatively quick evacuation. The cooperative effort among local guides, residents and NPS staff was outstanding and resulted in a smoothly run incident. Neeck was IC. Alaska State Troopers retain jurisdiction over SAR's in the park, but routinely defer to park staff to handle remote emergencies.
[Submitted by Tom Betts, Acting Chief Ranger]

Grand Canyon National Park (AZ)
Search, Presumed Drowning

Just after midnight on Thursday, September 9th, park dispatch received a report of a missing person on the Colorado River. The reporting party, a trip leader for a commercial river company, told the dispatcher that one of his passengers was missing from the group's camp, and reported that another passenger had heard splashing and shouts for "help" coming from the river two hours previously.  The river crew took a boat out to assist, but were unable to locate anyone in distress. A check of the camp revealed that P.S., 48, of Newcastle, Washington, was missing. NPS personnel responded at daylight by park helicopter. A helicopter search was begun and a dive team from Glen Canyon NRA searched a large eddy and the point where P.S. had last been seen. The dive team was demobilized the following day after extensive searching. Search efforts are continuing, with daily reconnaissance flights 15 miles downriver from the point last seen.
[Submitted by Bil Vandergraff, Incident Commander]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

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NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Preparedness Level 2

Initial attack was again light everywhere. Two of the 117 newly-reported fires became large fires.

On September 12th, a firefighter was killed while working the Tuolumne Fire in the Stanislaus NF.

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported yesterday in Arizona, California, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.

Weather Forecast

Gusty north winds are expected over Northern California as high pressure builds north of the state. Generally dry weather is expected over most of the West except for some showers over the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies. Hurricane Ivan will be tracking northward across the Gulf of Mexico.

Warnings and Watches

A RED FLAG WARNING has been posted today for late tonight through Wednesday morning for the Sacramento Valley and surrounding mountains. This is for gusty north to northeast winds and lowering relative humidity levels with poor overnight relative humidity recovery.

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	9/13	9/14	% Con	Est Con
FL	FEMA	ACT	Mann	Hurricanes Frances/Ivan, Tallahassee	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FL	FEMA	T1	Kearney	Hurricanes Frances/Ivan, NAS Jacksonville	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FL	FEMA	T1	McCombs	Hurricanes Frances/Ivan, Atlanta, GA	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FL	FEMA	T1	Oltrogge	Hurricanes Frances/Ivan, Maxwell AFB, AL	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FL	FEMA	T1	Studebaker	Hurricanes Frances/Ivan, Marietta, GA	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FL	FEMA	T1	Vail	Hurricanes Frances/Ivan, Orlando	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FL	FEMA	T1	Whitney	Hurricanes Frances/Ivan, Marietta, GA	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
CA	USFS	T1	Gelobter	Tuolumne Fire, Stanislaus NF	600	590	30	9/17
CA	State	T1	Henson *	Old Highway Fire, Merced-Mariposa Unit	1,700	1,413	60	9/15
AZ	NPS	FUM	Bird	Marble-Jim Complex, Grand Canyon NP	1,370	1,370	N/A	N/A
CA	NPS	FUM	Weldon	Bluff Fire, Lassen Volcanic NP	3,304	3,304	N/A	N/A

* State team

National Resource Commitments

Day	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue
Date	9/8	9/9	9/10	9/11	9/12	9/13	9/14
Crews	152	144	110	47	22	87	143
Engines	335	350	217	65	48	202	286
Helicopters	49	51	36	26	14	28	42
Air Tankers	2	2	2	0	0	0	0
Overhead	851	733	1,234	922	213	352	485

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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Yellowstone National Park/Grand Teton National Park
Proposed Winter Use Rule Published

On September 7th, the NPS published a proposed rule in the Federal Register for temporary winter use management in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway.

This is a separate and distinct public review period and comment process from that of the Temporary Winter Use Plans Environment Assessment and draft Finding of No Significant Impact, both of which were released for 30-day public review on August 20, 2004. The proposed rule reflects the preferred alternative and draft Finding of No Significant Impact in the Temporary Winter Use Plans Environment Assessment and is a necessary step in the administrative process in order to implement the decision.

The proposed winter use rule provides for a wide range of appropriate winter recreational opportunities including strictly limited and regulated snowmobile use while carrying out the National Park Service's mission to protect the natural and cultural resources of the three parks.

The rule implementing a temporary winter use management plan would allow 720 snowmobiles per day in Yellowstone led by commercial guides. This is below the historic use levels in the park and is somewhat lower than the level of access allowed during the last half of the 2003-2004 winter season. Commercial guides would not be required for the 140 snowmobiles per day allowed in Grand Teton National Park. Snowmobiles operating in Yellowstone would be allowed only on roads prepared for snowmobile and snowcoach use, which are a portion of the same roads used for summer access in the park. All snowmobiles entering the parks would be required to be four-stroke machines that meet the cleaner, quieter "Best Available Technology" standards.

Operating under a temporary winter use management plan for up to three years would give visitors, employees and residents of the park's gateway communities the information they want and need to plan for the near term in order to minimize economic impacts on gateway communities. It would also provide the National Park Service the opportunity to gather additional, real-time data to be used preparing permanent regulations for winter use in the parks.

The proposed Winter Use Rule is available for review online at http://www.nps.gov/yell/winteruse-ea/ .

Comments can be submittued using an online form at this web address or by mail to Winter Use Proposed Rule, Yellowstone National Park, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190. Comments must be received by midnight on October 7, 2004.

At the conclusion of the 30-day review period, the National Park Service will review public comments and incorporate changes to the rule as appropriate. A final rule will be published in the Federal Register in late October or early November to guide winter use management of the parks for up to three years beginning with 2004-2005 winter season.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

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Lake Meredith National Recreation Area (TX)
GS-9 Law Enforcement Ranger

The park is seeking a GS-9 law enforcement ranger. The announcement opened on August 31st and closes on September 18th. Duties include patrols via boat on a 10,000 acre lake and via Polaris ATV's and individually-assigned four wheel drive patrol units on 46,000 acres of land, including two off-road vehicle areas. Rangers are responsible for protecting about 750 ARPA sites and an important cultural area (Alibates Flint Quarries NM) and enforcing federal and state laws in the heavily visited recreation area (over a million visits per year). The park records over 450 case incidents annually, with an average of 250 citations, dozens of custodial arrests and several felony investigations per year. Rangers also have the opportunity to work closely with resource management, and may have collateral duty assignments in defensive tactics, firearms, search and rescue, marine enforcement, diving, water safety and hunting. Contact chief ranger Bill Briggs for additional information.
[Submitted by Bill Briggs, Chief Ranger]

Cape Cod National Seashore (MA)
Dennis St. Aubin Retires

Supervisory ranger Dennis St. Aubin retired on September 10th. His 35 1/2 year career was dedicated to serving the public and protecting park resources at Cape Cod National Seashore.  Over the years, he performed a variety of different duties and held a number of different resource and visitor protection positions. Dennis was a graduate of the Yosemite Horse School and supervised the park's  horse patrol program for 12 years.  He also oversaw the shorebird management operation and headed the initial environmental management program at Cape Cod. Dennis has intimate knowledge of the natural and cultural history of the area and his family origins date back to the Mayflower. He is a remarkable storyteller and well respected by employees and the local community. Dennis was an active member of the North Atlantic Regional dive team that recorded and researched submerged cultural resources at both Cape Cod and the North Atlantic Region, including surveying the U.S.S. Constitution. He was a member of the North Atlantic Regional special event team that provided security at an array of events - Presidential visits, tall ship visits, and the bicentennial at Minute Man National Park.  Dennis was the incident commander on numerous marine mammal strandings and other emergency incidents.  Perhaps, his most significant impact has been in supervising and mentoring numerous new employees, including many who have gone on to become permanent park service employees.  Today, many of those individuals serve as supervisors, district rangers, and chief rangers across the National Park System.  Dennis St. Aubin's wealth of knowledge and experience will be sorely missed.
[Submitted by Steve Prokop, 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.