INCIDENTS

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Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (CA)
Death of Wildland Firefighter Dan Holmes

Wildland firefighter Daniel Holmes, 26, of  Bellingham, Washington, was killed on Saturday when he was hit by a falling dead tree on the Grant West Prescribed Fire in Kings Canyon National Park.

The accident occurred shortly after operations began at 11 a.m. on Saturday, October 2nd. With four acres ignited, the top of a 100-foot white fir tree unexpectedly fell where firefighters were working, striking Holmes. Approximately 20 firefighters witnessed the accident and provided immediate medical assistance. Holmes was carried to a waiting ambulance by his fellow crewmembers, but passed away while being transported to a Lifeflight helicopter landing zone in the park.  Daniel never regained consciousness after the accident and was pronounced dead by the Lifeflight medical crew.

A three-person accident investigation team is now in the park. Teams like this one are routinely dispatched for the Department of the Interior following serious accidents. Over the next few days, they will complete a standard investigation, interviewing witnesses and gathering documentation.

"The National Park Service is heartbroken over this loss," said Superintendent Richard H. Martin. "My two priorities now are providing help for Daniel's family and supporting our park family here at Sequoia and Kings Canyon."

Holmes was a crewmember on the Arrowhead Hotshots, an elite firefighting crew that responds to large fires across the country. The National Park Service has two such crews: Arrowhead Hotshots at Kings Canyon and Alpine Hotshots at Rocky Mountain National Park. For more information about the crew, go to www.arrowheadhotshots.org.

Additional details on services will appear as soon as available.
[Submitted by Jody Lyle]

Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve (AK)
Hypothermic Hiker and Partner Rescued

On Thursday September 16th, Kennecott District DR Marshall Neeck received a report of overdue hikers from G.G., a local air taxi operator. On the previous Monday, G.G. had flown R.B., 29, and D.E., 27, to a remote airstrip high on the Chitistone River. They planned to hike across the plateau to the Nizina River drainage, where he would pick them up at another remote strip on Wednesday.

The area was hit by a strong storm that dumped up to two feet of snow on the plateau on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, G.G. flew to the pickup point, but found no sign of R.B. and D.E. Low clouds and continuing storms impeded his efforts to find them by air. He tried again on Thursday, but had no luck so returned to McCarthy and reported the pair overdue.

Neeck flew out to the area with another air taxi operator and soon located the couple, who were on route and heading toward their destination. Since they seemed to be moving along okay and gave no indications of any problems, rangers decided to monitor their progress, then pick them up at the airport.

Chitina Area ranger/pilot Rich Richotte flew over the couple later in the afternoon. He noted that they hadn't made much progress and were now waving frantically at the aircraft. Due to the deteriorating weather, their location, and his knowledge of the route, Richotte recommended immediate evacuation by helicopter. Within 90 minutes, an Astar helicopter from Valdez with Neeck on board arrived on scene.

Neeck found that R.B. was hypothermic due to a fall she had taken into a creek. All of her clothes were wet and her sleeping bag was completely soaked. Neeck treated her for hypothermia, then evacuated the couple to McCarthy. Neither was prepared for the winter weather. They were out of food and fuel and were unable to start a fire due to the heavy rain and snow. Temperatures were in the 20s and the weather was deteriorating. If R.B. had stayed out another night, she would likely have become severely hypothermic.

Tom Betts was incident commander for the search, which was managed together with Alaska state troopers.[Submitted by Tom Betts, Acting Chief Ranger/Pilot]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

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NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Monday, October 4, 2004

Preparedness Level 2

There were only 45 new starts yesterday, none of which escaped initial attack. Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in California, Nebraska and Nevada.

Weather Forecast

High pressure will cause warm and dry conditions to continue over the West today. Some thunderstorms will be possible in the afternoon heating over Colorado, New Mexico and northern Texas. There is also a slight chance of thunderstorms over the California Sierra Crest. Elsewhere, conditions will be dry with temperatures well above normal for this time of year.

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	9/30	10/4	% Con	Est Con
FL	FEMA	ACT	Zimmer	Hurricane Response, Orlando	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FL	FEMA	T1	Frye	Hurricane Response, NAS Jacksonville	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FL	FEMA	T1	Hart	Hurricane Response, Saufley Field NAS	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FL	FEMA	T1	Kearney	Hurricane Response, Martin County	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FL	FEMA	T2 @	Jones	Hurricane Recovery, Polk County	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
AL	FEMA	T2	Mullenix	Hurricane Response, Brewton	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
FL	NPS	T2	Wissinger	Hurricane Response, Gulf Islands NS	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

@ Florida state team

# NPS team

National Resource Commitments

Day	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon
Date	9/28	9/29	9/30	10/1	10/2	10/3	10/4
Crews	38	42	32	31	8	14	17
Engines	56	56	46	24	11	12	2
Helicopters	10	14	12	14	6	3	3
Air Tankers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Overhead	740	777	874	844	3 *	618	625

* Actual number from report.

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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Risk Management Division
Respiratory Protection: Breathing a Little Easier in the Workplace

Dates: 10/12/2004 - 10/13/2004
Times: 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST
Location: TelNPS Station mearest to your location

This workshop is designed to enable park leadership, safety officers and supervisors to understand how to properly implement a program to evaluate and control your employee exposure to respiratory hazards in the workplace.

At the conclusion of the workshop you will be able to:

1. Identify the twelve program elements in Respiratory Protection Program (RPP).
2. List the responsibilities of an RPP Administrator (RPPA).
3. Access the textual and human resources available to an RPPA and to Supervisors involved in an RPP.
4. Describe in basic terms the human respiratory system, its normal function and protective mechanisms.
5. Explain the basic concepts, principals, and procedures involved in assessing worker exposure to respiratory hazards.
6. Explain how to reduce respiratory hazards through engineering and administrative control measures.
7. Recognize limitations of certain types of respirators in selecting proper respirators for the job site.
8. Demonstrate how to correctly test, use, service and store respirators of different types.
9. Describe the requirements for voluntary respirator use.
10. List the requirements for medical evaluations and follow-up medical examinations.
11. Explain the RPP's employee training requirements.
12. Describe record keeping requirements within the RPP.
13. Explain when and how to conduct an RPP evaluation.

 

To register, log on to My Learning Manager http://mylearning.nps.gov.  At the welcome page, enter "respirator" in the search box, click on the Catalog Item, View Events, and Apply.

You can also click on Learning Categories, select Risk Management, Public Health and Safety (RSK), click on the Catalog Item, View Events, and Apply.

For new users, click on the Help button on the welcome screen.  Password instructions are available as a Help Topic.  Don't forget to edit your profile and select your supervisor after you log on."
[Submitted by CAPT David P Bleicher USPHS, David_P_Bleicher@nps.gov, 202-513-7224]

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.