Eastern Areas
Update on Hurricane Ivan Recovery Operations
Today's updates on Hurricane Ivan recovery operations follows:
Gulf Islands NS — A delegation of authority to the
Eastern IMT (Rick Brown, IC) went into effect on Tuesday morning. All
park employees have been accounted for and an employee assistance
program is being operated within the incident management team. Employees
have suffered varying degrees of impact from the storm, ranging from
loss of home and all personal effects to minor damage. Eastern National
is working on the establishment of a donation account to help employees
get their personal lives back to some degree of normalcy. Staff assessed
damages to the Fort Pickens area and secured some law enforcement
supplies and evidence files. A few individuals and the Patrick fire
suppression team from Minnesota arrived on Tuesday and began the process
of clearing the area where crews will camp. One contractor arrived and
began assessing the cost of rebuilding the deck behind headquarters and
visitor center.
Note: NOAA has posted more than 1,300 aerial images of Gulf Coast
areas that bore the brunt of powerful Hurricane Ivan on its web page [http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/ivan/].
The regions photographed range from Gulf Port, Mississippi, to Fort
Walton Beach, Florida. The aerial photograph missions were conducted by
the NOAA Remote Sensing Division the day after Ivan made landfall on
September 17th and concluded on September 20th. In order to view these,
go to "Click here for imagery," then focus in on the appropriate area
using their maps.
Blue Ridge Parkway — Aided by a fourth consecutive day of
clear skies and mild temperatures, park maintenance crews yesterday
continued clearing trees downed by Tropical Storm Ivan and rock falls
left by the remnants of Hurricane Frances. The heavily traveled
Asheville corridor is now open. The Federal Highway Administration has
authorized Taylor and Murphy Construction Company to begin removal of
the large rockslide at mile 413, south of the Parkway intersection with
US 276 near Waynesville, and to construct an administrative road that
would let employees of Mt. Mitchell State Park drive around the slide
areas between that park and NC 80. Both projects are expected to be
completed within 30 days. The construction near Mt. Mitchell will not
open that section to the public, but clearing the slide at mile 413
would make it possible to open the parkway between Asheville and
Cherokee. Most visitor centers and concessioner lodges and restaurants
are now open or will be open again today. Exceptions are the Craggy
Gardens visitor center and the campground and concession facilities at
Crabtree Meadows. Campgrounds at Price Park, Linville Falls, Crabtree
Meadows, and Mt. Pisgah are currently closed, but trees are being
cleared and these facilities, excluding Linville Falls, may reopen by
the weekend. Updates will be issued. Those who have questions about
reservations or refunds for Price Park or Linville Falls campground
should contact ReserveUSA at www.ReserveUSA.com or call
877-444-6777. Electric service to park headquarters was restored late
Tuesday afternoon and employees who work at that office are on duty and
available by phone and email. This ends a five-day power and telephone
outage that hampered communications and forced members of the incident
command team, administration and other employees to work out of the
Pisgah District office at Oteen. The parkway is now open from mile 0 to
305 at Grandfather Mountain, mile 308 just south of US 221 at the
Linville community to mile 317 at Linville Falls, and from mile 325 just
south north of Spruce Pine to 334 at Little Switzerland. The road is
also open from 375 at Ox Creek just north of Asheville to mile 412 (US
276), and from 443 at US 23/74 near Waynesville to mile 469 at Cherokee.
Additional sections between Asheville and Mt. Mitchell State Park are
expected to open next week.
Delaware Water Gap NRA — The southern section of Route
209 was reopened yesterday. Federal Highway Administration engineers
evaluated the bridges at Tom's Creek and Dingmans Creek and determined
that both were still intact and sound. Although the rains that fell last
Friday and Saturday caused significant scouring and erosion around and
under the bridges, neither sustained damage sufficient to make them
unsafe. The entire length of the highway within the park is now open.
Substantial sections of River Road in Pennsylvania and Old Mine Road in
New Jersey remain closed and will not be reopened until trees and debris
are cleared and an engineering analysis is made of the south end of the
latter. A closer evaluation of historic Millbrook Village has revealed
sufficient damage to warrant cancellation of the popular Millbrook Days
festival, held each October. The river corridor also remains closed, as
the Delaware River continues to run high and fast and still carries
considerable amounts of debris. The river will remain closed until
further notice. A major cleanup operation is underway throughout the
park and will continue for some time to come. Most public use areas
— including picnic areas and boat ramps — accordingly remain
closed.
Reports from Peter Givens, IO, Incident Management Team, GUIS; Bill Halainen, IO, Incident Management Team, DEWA; Phil Noblitt, PIO, BLRI.
Haleakala National Park (HI)
Suzi Roberts Remembered at Ceremony
Niau kololani ka helena, hunan a maka i ke
aouli. (Silently and quickly she departed, to hide her eyes in the
sky). Hawaiian Proverb
Family, friends, and coworkers gathered this past Sunday to celebrate
the life of park ranger Susan "Suzi" Roberts, who was killed earlier the
previous week in a rock fall accident along Hana Highway at Alalele. The
brief ceremony occurred at Hamoa Bay along the Hana coast. It was a
favorite spot for Suzi. The gathering offered laughter, tears,
chants, and prayers in memory of a fallen friend and family member, and
ended with flowers released into the surf. Her father, Jim Roberts, said
that the family was amazed by the number of people who came to the
informal ceremony and the aloha offered by the people of Hana and her
friends. "It shows what kind of person Suzi was to have touched so many
people during such a short time here in Maui," he said. Flags flew at
half-staff this past week throughout the National Park System to honor
Suzi. Additional services will take place later in the week in
Winter Park, Colorado, near Rocky Mountain National Park. Suzi worked
for ten years as a seasonal ranger at Rocky Mountain before coming to
Maui in April of this year. The family has requested that any donations
be sent in Suzi's name to the Student Conservation Association, National
Park Program, PO Box 550, Charlestown, New Hampshire 03603-0550 (phone:
603-543-1700, fax: 603-543-1828), or to any national park. Cards or
remembrances may be sent to Roberts Family, c/o Haleakala National Park,
PO Box 369, Makawao, HI 96768.
[Submitted by Dominic
Cardea]
Yellowstone National Park (ID,MT,WY)
Visitor Gored by Bull Elk
A park visitor who approached a bull elk too closely this past
weekend was gored by the animal. The incident happened on Sunday morning
near the Terrace Grill in Mammoth Hot Springs. A 60-year old man
from Texas walked to within ten feet of the elk. He took a flash
photograph of the animal, then turned his back on the bull and began to
walk away. The startled bull put his head down and charged the visitor,
who turned back toward the elk just in time to be struck head on by the
antlers. He received some cuts and bruises to his head, hands and chest.
A park employee charged by the same bull while leaving a building Sunday
evening was bruised and strained some muscles. The elk also damaged six
cars in the Mammoth Hot Springs area Sunday, adding to the six he had
previously attacked. Total damage to the vehicles caused by this one
bull elk has been estimated at $12,000 to $15,000. Because this overly
aggressive bull was threatening the health and safety of visitors and
employees, park managers decided to tranquilize the animal and remove
his antlers. Transporting the animal to a distant location was ruled out
because over-stressed animals can choke to death on regurgitated food.
Even when successfully relocated, past history has shown elk shortly
return to their original location. Elk congregate at Mammoth Hot Springs
and many other developed areas in the park at during the fall mating
season. The large, muscular bulls bugle and display their massive
antlers to intimidate other bulls and impress herds of cow elk. Despite
their often-docile appearance, elk are unpredictable, wild animals. They
can run much faster than people can. Both cows and bulls can be very
excitable and dangerous at this time of year. Sharpened tines on
the large antlers of mature bulls are very effective weapons when
wielded by animals weighing an average of 700 pounds. They may mock
fight with trees or vehicles, spar with other rivals, or chase
unsuspecting visitors who stray too closely.
FIRE MANAGEMENT
NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Thursday, September 23, 2004
Preparedness Level 2
Initial attack remains light everywhere. Very high to extreme fire indices were reported yesterday in Arizona, California, Nebraska and Nevada.
Weather Forecast
Lighter winds are expected in southern California but it will remain hot with very low humidity over the inland areas. Elsewhere, high pressure is building over the West for generally warm and dry weather.
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 |
9/22 |
9/23 |
% Con |
Est Con |
|
FL |
FEMA |
ACT |
Ribar |
Hurricanes Frances/Ivan, Orlando |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
GA |
FEMA |
ACT |
Williams-Rhodes |
Hurricane Ivan, Atlanta |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
FL |
FEMA |
T1 |
Anderson |
Hurricane Ivan, Milton |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
FL |
FEMA |
T1 |
Bennett |
Hurricane Ivan, Pensacola |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
FL |
FEMA |
T1 |
Ferguson |
Hurricane Ivan, Eglin AFB |
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 |
|
AL |
FEMA |
T1 |
Lohrey |
Hurricane Ivan, Baldwin County |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
AL |
FEMA |
T1 |
Sexton |
Hurricanes Frances/Ivan, Maxwell AFB |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
FL |
FEMA |
T1 |
Vail |
Hurricanes Frances/Ivan, Orlando |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
AL |
FEMA |
T1 |
Wilcock |
Hurricane Ivan, Escambia County |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
FL |
FEMA |
T2 # |
Beauchamp |
Hurricane Ivan |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
FL |
FEMA |
T2 # |
Hill |
Hurricane Ivan |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
FL |
FEMA |
T2 @ |
Houseman |
Hurricane Ivan, NAS Jacksonville |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
FL |
FEMA |
T2 # |
Jones |
Hurricane Ivan |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
FL |
FEMA |
T2 # |
Koehler |
Hurricane Ivan, Lakeland |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
@ North Carolina state team
# Florida state team
National Resource Commitments
| Day |
Fri |
Sat |
Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
|
Date |
9/17 |
9/18 |
9/19 |
9/20 |
9/21 |
9/22 |
9/23 |
|
|
|||||||
|
Crews |
52 |
48 |
37 |
11 |
7 |
38 |
20 |
|
Engines |
70 |
69 |
58 |
40 |
19 |
13 |
12 |
|
Helicopters |
13 |
17 |
8 |
6 |
7 |
6 |
4 |
|
Air Tankers |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Overhead |
942 |
290 |
609 |
76 |
94 |
854 |
659 |
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.