Southeast Region
Hurricane Jeanne
The following reports were received through yesterday evening:
Everglades NP/Dry Tortugas NP — The park reopened to the public yesterday. All employees living in the Homestead area are back to work. Some employees in northern Miami-Dade County and other areas impacted by Hurricane Jeanne are assessing their situations and will return to work when circumstances permit. No damage has been reported, although there was some minor flooding in the Flamingo and Gulf Coast districts and there's some tree debris along park roads. Normal concession activities are in operation.
Biscayne NP — The hurricane made landfall just before midnight near Stuart, Florida. Winds of 25 to 40 mph were reported in the area. Convoy Point was checked and found to be undamaged so was reopened at 10 a.m. yesterday. As there are no longer any storms within the Atlantic or Caribbean threatening the region, the park planned to fully reopen by today. Boats are being returned from storage.
Canaveral NS — When Hurricane Jeanne arrived, the park was well along the way toward completing damage assessments and making repairs to facilities damaged by Hurricanes Charley and Frances. Now staff are dealing with considerable new damage. All park personnel have been accounted for and are safe, although stress levels seem somewhat understandably elevated.
- North District — The road into the park is clear of debris and downed power lines. All electrical power is out, but should be restored by today. All phone service is out. The boat ramp area is closed due to fallen power lines and exterior lights that are down across the parking lot. Three of the nine boardwalks are closed due to surf damage, but facilities there sustained no additional damage. About 150 feet of dune fencing is missing.
- South District — The Titusville Bridge is closed due to erosion along the causeway and county engineers are working on a damage assessment. Access to the district is either from Kennedy Space Center or State Road 3 from the town of Oak Hill. Electrical power and telephone service is on at all facilities. All 16 boardwalks received damages and are unsafe; at least four can be repaired and reopened within two to three days. The remainder will have to be dismantled and replaced. About a thousand feet of road between two parking areas is covered with sand and debris two feet deep. A section of natural dune was damaged by storm surge and there's overwash in numerous locations along Klondike Beach. Eight comfort station holding vaults were flooded and contaminated and will require pumping.
- Seminole Rest — The area remains closed due to downed trees, hazardous snags and flooding.
DeSoto NM — The visitor center and landscaped area reopened yesterday. The most extensive damage suffered was again to the main visitor center beach. A beach restoration project was underway this year, but all material has been lost. The beach has been closed and roped off for visitor safety. The park trail is moderately damaged and remains closed. The mangrove forest tidal canals have been buried in sand and have completely stopped functioning. The visitor center sustained some minor flooding.
Blue Ridge Parkway — Park campgrounds in North Carolina and the Rocky Knob and Otter Creek campgrounds in Virginia were closed yesterday as the remnants of Jeanne approached the region. Most of the parkway between milepost 317 at Linville Falls and mile 469 at Cherokee was also closed. Exempted from this closure were segments from mile 325 to 344, which provides access to the Little Switzerland community, the heavily traveled Asheville corridor from the Folk Art Center to US 25 (Hendersonville Road), and mile 402 to 412 from NC Highway 151 to US 276, which provides access to the Pisgah Inn and restaurant. These sections were to remain open as conditions permitted. Closed sections of the road and campgrounds will be assessed today. Concessioner-operated lodges and restaurants, the Northwest Trading Post at Glendale Springs, the Museum of North Carolina Minerals at Spruce Pine, and the Folk Art Center at Asheville all remained open. Jeanne was expected to bring sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph and gusts at high elevations of up to 60 mph. Heavy rain was also expected. The National Weather Service issued a flood watch and high wind warning for western North Carolina, and the governor yesterday declared a state of emergency for the area from Asheville east to Raleigh. Maintenance crews have been working extended hours and over the weekend to make campground repairs and clear tree falls from Ivan. Most sections of the parkway, excluding those closed by rock and mudslides, should reopen this week if Jeanne does not create substantial additional damage.
Cape Hatteras NS — The park reported heavy visitation on the weekend. Heavy surf, extreme high tides and overwash forced the closure of Pole Road on Hatteras Spit and the closure of Oregon Inlet Spit at high tide due to its narrow beaches. Closures were expected to continue through today.
From reports by Ken Garvin, FMO, SERO; Mark Hardgrove, Deputy
Superintendent, CAHA; Rick Clark, Plans Chief, IMT, and Gary Bremen,
PIO, BISC; Charlie Fenwick, Superintendent, DESO; Steve Hurd, IC, IMT,
EVER; Bruce W. Rosel, Maintenance Mechanic Foreman, CANA; Phil Noblitt,
PAO, BLRI.
Gulf Islands National Seashore (FL,MS)
Update on Hurricane Ivan Recovery
Progress continues in the cleanup of the Naval Live Oaks area. The
focus is now turning to stabilization and assessment of historic
resources on Santa Rosa Island in the area of Fort Pickens. Two crews
arrived over the weekend with specific skills in deploying tarps on
steep, odd-shaped structures and with rope and rapelling skills that
will assure safer work conditions on site. Cultural assessment teams
spent the weekend documenting damage to historic resources and will work
with park staff to enter damage assessments into FMSS.
The critical incident stress team reports 63 personal meetings with
park staff, an additional six telephone conversations, and 27 re-visits
with employees. The team traveled to the Mississippi District on Monday
for discussions with park staff in those areas less affected by the
storm.
An evacuation plan was in effect for possible impacts from Hurricane
Jeanne, but the storm stayed east of the Pensacola area.
Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency are now on-site,
surveying park lands for hazardous materials and arranging for
removal.
Media interest has been focused mainly on the devastation to
businesses and personal lives in the area, but is now beginning to turn
toward interest in park resources. A media trip out to Santa Rosa
Island will probably take place later in the week.
[Submitted by
Peter Givens, IO, Eastern IMT]
FIRE MANAGEMENT
NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Preparedness Level 2
Initial attack activity was light nationally, with 130 new fires reported. One new large fire was reported in the Southwest. One large fire was contained in the western Great Basin. Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Arizona, California, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon and Utah.
Presidential disaster declarations have been issued and are in effect for Hurricane Frances in Florida; for Hurricane Ivan in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi; and for Hurricane Jeanne in Florida.
Weather Forecast
An upper low over California will help trigger thunderstorms from the Sierra eastward across the Great Basin to the Rockies. Thunderstorms are also expected in the Southwest.
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
{||inc|http://data2.itc.nps.gov/fire/includes/bill_table.cfm||}
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 |
9/24 |
9/28 |
% Con |
Est Con |
|
FL |
FEMA |
ACT |
Ribar |
Hurricane Response, Orlando |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
FL |
FEMA |
T1 |
Anderson |
Hurricane Response, Milton |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
FL |
FEMA |
T1 |
Bennett |
Hurricane Response, Saufley Field NAS |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
GA |
FEMA |
T1 |
Frye |
Staged, Atlanta, GA |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
GA |
FEMA |
T1 |
Hart |
Staged, Atlanta, GA |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
GA |
FEMA |
T1 |
Kearney |
Staged, Marietta, GA |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
AL |
FEMA |
T1 |
Lohrey |
Hurricane Response, Baldwin County |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
AL |
FEMA |
T1 |
Sexton |
Hurricane Response, Maxwell AFB |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
AL |
FEMA |
T1 |
Wilcock |
Hurricane Response |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
FL |
FEMA |
T2 * |
Cline |
Hurricane Response, Saufley Field NAS |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
FL |
FEMA |
T2 @ |
Houseman |
Hurricane Response, NAS Jacksonville |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
@ North Carolina state team
* Georgia state team
National Resource Commitments
| Day |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
|
Date |
9/22 |
9/23 |
9/24 |
9/25 |
9/26 |
9/27 |
9/28 |
|
|
|||||||
|
Crews |
38 |
20 |
43 |
87 |
89 |
40 |
38 |
|
Engines |
13 |
12 |
60 |
69 |
72 |
39 |
56 |
|
Helicopters |
6 |
4 |
7 |
20 |
13 |
10 |
10 |
|
Air Tankers |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Overhead |
854 |
659 |
677 |
913 |
883 |
809 |
740 |
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
PARKS AND PEOPLE
Office of Human Resources
Mary Plumley Selected as New Human Resources Chief
Mary Plumley has been named the Service's new chief of Human Resource Operations. Mary spent the last two years with the FAA HR Regional Office in Seattle, Washington. Prior to the FAA, she held the position of chief, administrative services, for the Census Bureau Seattle Regional Decennial Office. In addition, she worked for NOAA in Boulder, Colorado, for several years, performing all functions of HR as a generalist HR specialist. She arrives with a broad background in HR as well as other administrative functions. She has a bachelors degree in business management from Colorado State University, with additional coursework above the bachelors level. She is looking forward to meeting the new challenges of our NPS HR operations environment.
[Submitted by Kenya Jackson, Kenya_jackson@nps.gov, 202 354-1993]
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.