The Morning Report for Wednesday, September 15, 2004

INCIDENTS

Haleakala National Park (HI)
Ranger Dies in Accident

Ranger Suzanne Roberts died yesterday while attempting to clear a rock fall in the park's Kipahulu District. The accident occurred between 10 and 11 a.m. along the Hana Road. Roberts, who was driving from the Kaupo District, stopped near the Ka'apahu area to remove rocks in the narrow road and was hit by another rock from the adjacent hillside. A witness who had followed the patrol car watched the incident. Roberts was transported by ambulance to the Hana Medical Center and was pronounced dead. Additional information will be posted as soon as it is available.
[Submitted by Don Reeser, Superintendent]

Southeast Region
Hurricane Ivan...and Tropical Storm Jeanne

Today's report summarizes preparations for the imminent arrival of Hurricane Ivan on the Gulf Coast and for Tropical Storm Jeanne in the Virgin Islands.

Along with park preparations, the National Park Service and kindred agencies have been working behind the scenes making preparations to respond quickly where and when needed. The emergency service coordinators from Southeast, National Capital and Northeast Regions and the Eastern IMT incident commanders have been conducting daily conference calls to coordinate a possible NPS response. Rick Brown's team is on standby. Daily conference calls are also being held between and among federal agencies in the Southeast, including the Fish and Wildlife Service, BIA, Forest Service, US Geological Service and representatives from the interagency command team that is assisting FEMA.

Here's the latest from the parks:

Gulf Islands NS — The park has been fully shutdown and evacuated. The Coast Guard was to conduct final flyovers of the off-shore islands on Tuesday afternoon to assure that they'd been fully evacuated and nobody had been left behind.

Jean Lafitte NHP&P — The park closed yesterday morning, as the National Weather Service has issued a hurricane warning for the Louisiana coast. The park's six sites are its French Quarter Visitor Center in New Orleans, Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery in Chalmette, the Barataria Preserve near Crown Point, the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center in Thibodaux, the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center in Eunice, and the Acadian Cultural Center in Lafayette. Park headquarters at 419 Decatur Street in New Orleans will also be closed. Weather conditions will be re-evaluated on Friday and a decision will be made about reopening any or all facilities on Saturday.

New Orleans Jazz NHP — The park has closed.

Biscayne NP — The incident command team yesterday decided to continue with a partial reopening of the park. Residents of the park's islands will be allowed to return to their homes and a limited number of boats will be returned to the park. Some shutters will remain in place due to windy conditions and in anticipation of possible severe weather associated with Tropical Storm Jeanne.

Big Cypress NP — The park has returned to normal operations.

Virgin Islands NP — Tropical Storm Jeanne is forecast to hit St. Thomas and St. John Islands. The incident command team (Steve Clark, IC) is beginning preparations for its arrival.
Reports from Ken Garvin, FMO, SERO; Dan Brown, Chief of Resource Education, JELA; Gary Bremen, BISC; Steve Clark, Chief Ranger, VIIS; Larry Belles, FMO, BICY.

Ozark National Scenic Riverways (MO)
Special Enforcement Operations on Current River

Three separate interagency law enforcement operations were completed along the upper Current River within the park this summer. These operations were conducted on three separate Saturdays in response to continuous problems and numerous complaints of inappropriate behavior on the river. Operations involved personnel from the park, Midwest Region's special event team, the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Missouri State Water Patrol. Covert and plainclothes officers spotted violations and uniformed contact teams issued citations and made arrests. A total of 134 citations were issued and four arrests were made. Violations included possession of a controlled substance, public intoxication, disorderly conduct, possession of alcohol by minors, possession of glass, littering and fireworks. By all accounts, the increased law enforcement presence has had a positive effect on that section of the Current River.
[Submitted by Kinsey Shilling, Chief Ranger]

Yosemite National Park (CA)
Assist in Marijuana Eradication

During an aerial reconnaissance flight on August 19th, park investigators spotted a marijuana garden in thick chaparral less than a mile from the boundary of the El Portal administrative site. The garden lay within the Stanislaus National Forest, which shares jurisdiction with Mariposa County at this location. A joint agency plan was put into effect that involved personnel from the park, the Mariposa County Sheriff's Office and the Stanislaus National Forest. On the morning of August 29th, park staff watching the site saw a man tending the garden. Personnel from all three agencies mobilized and raided the garden later that morning. Although they weren't able to apprehend the gardener, they destroyed 3,219 marijuana plants. Evidence collected at the scene indicated that the garden was being prepared for use on a larger scale for the 2005 growing season. A California Highway Patrol Helicopter provided air support for the mission by flying the plants out as sling-loads. Yosemite Fire assisted with the flights on the ground.
[Submitted by Steve Yu, Criminal Investigator]

Amistad National Recreation Area (TX)
Marijuana Seizure

On September 9th, a park visitor saw what he thought was camping equipment piled beneath a tree by the shoreline of Lake Amistad. He took a closer look, realized that the items were actually several large duffle bags packed with processed marijuana, and immediately contacted authorities. The duffle bags contained 150 individual cellophane-wrapped bricks that had a total weight of 618 pounds. The marijuana was found in one of the most popular areas for bank fishing in the park. The drugs were turned over to the DEA. Rangers will assist with the investigation.
[Submitted by Chief Ranger's Office]

Golden Gate National Recreation Area (CA)
Falling Fatality

On the afternoon of Friday, August 27th, park dispatch received a 911 call reporting that someone had fallen from a cliff near Bird Rock, a prominent geologic coastal feature in the Marin Headlands. Ranger Shannon Jay responded and found a girl sitting in a precarious position on top of a sea stack between Bird Rock and the coastal cliffs. Jay found that the injured victim, a 17-year-old boy from Watsonville, California, was lying below the girl among the rock outcroppings and surf. Jay and responding units determined a land rescue would be extremely difficult to effect. Jay accordingly requested a rescue helicopter and received assistance from Coast Guard air and water units. Ranger Daniel Camiccia used a cell phone to contact a 47-foot USCG cutter; the cutter in turn relayed information to a responding helicopter. A rescue swimmer was lowered to the victim, who was packaged and hoisted into the helicopter for transport to Stanford Medical Center. The girl was also rescued via helicopter and flown to waiting park personnel on Rodeo Beach. The boy succumbed to his injuries on August 31st. During the rescue, a large wildland fire was burning at nearby Fort Baker within Marin Headlands.
[Submitted by Kim Coast, Acting Operations Supervisor]

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (IN)
Drowning at West Beach

On the afternoon of September 12th, E.M., 22, was swimming with a female companion at West Beach. E.M.'s companion was cold and returned to the beach, leaving him to swim alone. She fell asleep there; when she awoke an hour later, she searched the shoreline but couldn't find E.M. anywhere. She then called 911 and reported him missing. Ten agencies responded and conducted searches of lake and land. E.M.'s body was found at 8:30 p.m. in five feet of water about 150 feet from the shore near the place where he was last seen swimming. E.M. was described as a fair swimmer. Winds were calm and there were few or no waves. There's no indication that either drugs or alcohol were involved. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is the lead agency in the death investigation.[Submitted by Chief Ranger's Office]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Preparedness Level 2

Initial attack was light on Tuesday; only 58 new fires were reported, including one new large fire in southern California. Another two large fires were contained.

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

Weather Forecast

Gusty northeast winds will continue over northern California. Cool, unsettled weather will also continue over the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies with dry weather over the rest of the West. Hurricane Ivan will move across the Gulf of Mexico with landfall expected Thursday morning.

Warnings and Watches

A RED FLAG WARNING has been posted today for low humidity and high northeast winds in California's El Dorado and Stanislaus National Forests and adjacent foothills through Wednesday morning.

A RED FLAG WARNING has been posted today for gusty north to east winds, low relative humidity levels, and poor overnight relative humidity recovery for the northern Sacramento Valley and eastern valley foothills, the northern Sierra west slope, and northern to eastern portions of the San Francisco Bay Area through midday Wednesday.

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	9/14	9/15	% 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	Vail	Hurricanes Frances/Ivan, Orlando	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
CA	USFS	T1	Gelobter	Tuolumne Fire, Stanislaus NF	590	700	70	9/17
CA	State	T1	Henson *	Old Highway Fire, Merced-Mariposa Unit	1,413	1,413	90	9/15

* State team

National Resource Commitments

Day	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed
Date	9/9	9/10	9/11	9/12	9/13	9/14	9/15

Crews	144	110	47	22	87	143	88
Engines	350	217	65	48	202	286	116
Helicopters	51	36	26	14	28	42	18
Air Tankers	2	2	0	0	0	0	0
Overhead	733	1,234	922	213	352	485	358

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

US Geological Survey
USGS Issues Alert of Landslide Dangers from Hurricane Ivan

The U.S. Geological Survey today is alerting state and federal agencies to the increased potential for landslides in the mountainous regions of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland due to anticipated heavy rainfall from Hurricane Ivan. Given the wet soil conditions we already have in many of these areas due to the heavy rain from recent Hurricane Frances, the risk of numerous, fast-moving landslides is significant. Residents in landslide-prone areas and anyone in mountainous areas should be aware of the warning signs and be prepared to move quickly. Intense rains have triggered landslides in the area before.

The slope of the land, the type of geology, ground saturation, and rainfall intensity and duration all play major roles in triggering landslides. During the inland passage of Hurricane Frances through mountainous western North Carolina, many areas received between 10 and 16 inches of rainfall over 24 hours, which triggered at least 20 isolated landslides that blocked highways and damaged or destroyed houses. Currently, a Quantitative Precipitation Forecast by NOAA/NWS forecasts up to about 11 inches of rainfall within the future 4-5 day period (48 hours) of September 17 to 19 through the southern/central parts of Appalachian Mountains. If rainfall intensity-duration exceeds this predicted value, then more numerous landslides could occur in mountainous areas along the projected path of the storm in the States of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland.

Landslides are powerful. People living in these areas should be aware of the danger during severe weather and be ready to act if the situation warrants. Advice for residents in affected areas:

Before the storm:

Become familiar with the land around you. Learn whether landslides have occurred in your area. Slopes where landslides have occurred in the past are likely to experience them in the future.
Watch the patterns of storm-water drainage on slopes near your home, and note especially the places where runoff water converges, increasing flow over soil-covered slopes. Watch the hillsides around your home for any signs of land movement, such as small landslides or debris flows or progressively tilting trees.
Contact your local authorities to learn about the emergency-response and evacuation plans for your area and develop your own emergency plans for your family and business.

During the storm:

Stay alert and stay awake. Many landslide fatalities occur when people are sleeping. Listen to a radio for warnings of intense rainfall. Be aware that intense short bursts of rain may be particularly dangerous, especially after longer periods of heavy rainfall and damp weather.
If you are in areas susceptible to landslides, consider leaving if it is safe to do so. Remember that driving during an intense storm can itself be hazardous.
Listen for any unusual sounds that might indicate moving debris, such as trees cracking or boulders knocking together. A trickle of flowing or falling mud or debris may precede larger flows. If you are near a stream or channel, be alert for any sudden increase or decrease in water flow and for a change from clear to muddy water. Such changes may indicate landslide activity upstream, so be prepared to move quickly. Don't delay. Save yourself, not your belongings.
Be especially alert when driving. Embankments along roadsides are particularly susceptible to landslides. Watch the road for collapsed pavement, mud, fallen rocks, and other indications of possible debris flows. Never drive across a flooded road.

For more information, visit the following websites:

Debris-Flow Hazards in the United States:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-176-97/fs-176-97.html

Landslide Hazards:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-0071-00/
Debris-Flow Hazards in the Blue Ridge of Virginia:
http://landslides.usgs.gov/html_files/nlic/blueridge.htm

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Intermountain Region
Arches Chief Ranger Jim Webster to Retire

Jim Webster, chief ranger at Arches National Park has announced his retirement effective October 3rd. During his 28-year career with the National Park Service, Jim has moved through the ranks from student intern, volunteer, and seasonal ranger at Yosemite NP, Glen Canyon NRA, Everglades NP and Colorado NM to permanent park ranger assignments at Gulf Islands NS, St. Croix NSR, Whiskeytown NRA and Crater Lake NP. He has served as Chief Ranger at Arches NP since 1990. Jim has also served as Acting Superintendent at Arches NP and Natural Bridges, Hovenweep and Oregon Caves National Monuments. In his 14 years at Arches Jim helped develop the Visitor Experience and Resource Protection planning process; collaborated on the Arches National Park Expansion Act of 1998; served as incident commander when the Olympic Torch made its Utah debut at Delicate Arch for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics; and built partnerships with local law enforcement and emergency services agencies. He is also engaged in community affairs in Moab, UT, serving as an organizing and/or founding member for several community, public school and non-profit organizations. In addition, Jim serves on the Board of Directors of a family-run corporation, Webster's Pharmacy, Inc. in Altadena, CA. Jim will remain in Moab, Utah after retirement, with his wife Vicki (Southeast Utah Group Museum Curator), and 14-year old son Sam. Their daughter, Sally, recently began her freshman year at Grinnell College in Iowa. Jim will work locally in the private sector while continuing his community service work, and hopes to find more time to enjoy Moab's abundant natural resources and recreational opportunities. Jim is a life member of the Association of National Park Rangers and the NPS Employee and Alumni Association. Reflecting back on his career, Jim said, "It's been a pleasure and privilege working in some of this country's most wonderful places. I've had the joy of befriending some truly great people who work for the NPS, its partners, and neighbors." A retirement party will be held for Jim on October 9, 2004 in Moab. If you would like to attend, or to contribute messages of congratulations (or an appropriate photo or "roast"), please contact laura_joss@nps.gov. Congratulations, Jim!
[Submitted by Laura Joss, laura_joss@nps.gov, 435-719-2100]

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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.