Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (CA)
Funeral to be Held Thursday for Firefighter Dan Holmes
Arrowhead Hotshot crewmember Daniel Holmes, 26, of Bellingham, Washington, was killed last Saturday when he was hit by a falling dead tree on the Grant West Prescribed Fire in Kings Canyon National Park. Information on funeral services in New Hampshire and on making donations in his name appear below.
On October 5th, Associate Director, Visitor and Resource Protection Karen Taylor-Goodrich issued the following memorandum to all regional directors regarding commemoration of Dan's passing:
"On Saturday, October 2, 2004, Arrowhead Hotshot Crew member Daniel Holmes died from injuries sustained in an accident that occurred while he was working on the Grant West Prescribed Fire in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park.
"As authorized by Director Mainella, I am requesting that flags be flown at half staff at all National Park Service facilities in his memory from sunrise to sunset on the day of his funeral, Thursday, October 7, 2004. All flags are to be returned to full staff on Friday.
"The lack of written National Park Service protocol for commemoration of the untimely passing of employees on duty has led to numerous questions being raised on the proper means for paying our collective respects on this and past occasions. We will be establishing such a protocol in the near future and soliciting your thoughts and guidance on its contents."
Calling hours will be from 6 to 9 p.m. today at the R.M. Edgerly & Son Funeral Home, 86 South Main Street, Rochester NH 03867 (603-332-0230). Directions to the funeral home follow:
- Take Interstate 95 to Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- Go north on the Spaulding Turnpike, which is also Route 16
- Take Exit 12
- Turn right onto Route 125 north
- Travel 1.25 miles through four traffic lights
- Go straight through the fifth traffic light; there will be a Cumberland Farms quick shop on the left and a Walgreens on the right
- About 100 yards after the fifth light, the Edgerly Funeral Home will be on your left, just after the crosswalk
Funeral services will be held on Thursday at 10 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 34 South Main Street, Rochester. Firefighters, rangers and others arriving in marked vehicles need to assemble at the Edgerly Funeral Home parking lot by 9 a.m. on Thursday for the short walk or motorcade to the church. Winter dress uniforms or clean and pressed firefighters uniforms should be worn. A reception with the family will follow the service.
Condolences may be sent to Dan's mother, D.B. and to his father, R.H.
Donations may be made in lieu of flowers to the Sierra Club or to the
Wildland Firefighters Foundation in Boise, Idaho. For information on the
former, go to https://ww2.
sierraclub.org/membership/donate/ and click on "Commemorative and
Memorial Gifts" on the left side of the page; for information on the
latter, go to
http://wffoundation.org/default.asp?page_id=1&parent_id=0) and
click on "Donations."
For more on the Arrowhead Hotshots and a
tribute to Dan, please go to http://www.arrowheadhotshots.
org/.
[Submitted by Pat Buccello, Visitor and Resource
Protection, WASO; Barb Stewart, IO]
Gulf Islands National Seashore (FL,MS)
Post-Hurricane Ivan Recovery Operations Continue
Monday, October 4th, marked the first day that all park employees in the Florida district were able to return to work. Office trailers have been ordered to provide temporary office space for displaced employees. In the meantime, some employees are working in the repair zones at the headquarters/visitor center building at Naval Live Oaks in a make-shift, but safety-approved environment with bare necessities — desks, computers and electricity and amid piles of stuff littering the halls and vacated offices. The building was extensively damaged, along with 95 percent of the park's facilities and assets.
Of the 260 incident personnel involved in the Hurricane Ivan recovery efforts, almost 60 are park employees who have been assigned to the Eastern All Risk IMT. Among those brought in from outside to assist in the massive restoration effort are technical specialists, carpenters, electricians, mechanics, and civil engineers from around the National Park Service and several highly-specialized full-time interagency firefighter teams. Members hail from several state and federal agencies, including the Minnesota State Forestry Department, Georgia State Forestry Department, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Although the park is still closed to all public use and will be for an undetermined time, much progress is being made in the districts — Fort Pickens/Santa Rosa Island, Naval Live Oaks Headquarters and Visitor Center, Perdido Key, and Fort Barrancas/Advanced Redoubt on Pensacola Naval Air Station.
A major focus continues to be the removal of widespread debris and damaged materials from within and around structures and facilities, removal of hazardous and felled trees and materials, venting and drying out buildings, hauling equipment, providing far-reaching logistical support, and salvaging and securing sensitive materials and resources. Specialized curators and archeologists are aiding with assessing damage and with recovering and stabilizing the important artifacts and resources. Among them is the Cultural Assessment Team, the first formalized museum emergency response team in the National Park Service.
Director Fran Mainella, Southeast Regional Director Pat Hooks,
and Associate Director for Visitor and Resource Protection Karen
Taylor-Goodrich visited the park on Wednesday to assess storm damage,
meet with employees and incident management team members, and address
the media.[Submitted by Nancy Gray, IO, Eastern IMT]
Valley Forge National Historical Park (PA)
Two First Amendment Rallies
More than 15 federal, state and local law enforcement and other
public safety agencies cooperated with the National Park Service during
two First Amendment rallies that were held in the park on September
25th. The first special use permit was issued to the National Socialist
Movement (NSM), a group that bills themselves as American Nazis. The NSM
also invited members of the Aryan Nations, the Ku Klux Klan and other
"skinhead" groups to attend their rally. Approximately 120 people
attended the event, with twice that number attending to protest their
rally, including the Black Panthers. The second permit was issued to the
Center For Education Rights for an event labeled the Valley Forge Rally
for Social Tolerance. This group had live music and guest speakers in an
effort to encourage people to avoid protesting the NSM rally. Attendance
at this event was steady throughout the permit period, with about 175
people present. The two rallies were held about a mile apart: the
NSM rally in the park's amphitheater, the Rally for Social Tolerance in
the Artillery Park area. There were no reported incidents at the latter,
but four arrests were made at the former — three for entering a
closed area and one for assault. Four people were also treated for minor
injuries and illness, including hyperventilation, eye injuries from
mace, and facial lacerations from an assault. The media was well
represented. About 42 press passes were issued on the day of these
rallies. Supporting agencies included the Park Police, the
FBI, the Pennsylvania State Police, and local law enforcement agencies
from both Montgomery and Chester Counties. Also involved was the
Northeast Region's special events team. Acting chief ranger Lewis Rogers
was the incident commander.
[Submitted by Paula Risell- Deputy
Incident Commander]
FIRE MANAGEMENT
NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Wednesday, October 6, 2004
Preparedness Level 2
NIFC reports just over a hundred new starts on Tuesday. Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in California, Nebraska and Wyoming.
Weather Forecast
Warm, dry weather will prevail over most of the West except for scattered showers over Colorado and New Mexico. A weak cold front will bring some rain to the Pacific Northwest, especially west of the Cascades.
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 |
10/5 |
10/6 |
% 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
National Resource Commitments
| Day |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
|
Date |
9/30 |
10/1 |
10/2 |
10/3 |
10/4 |
10/5 |
10/6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Crews |
32 |
31 |
8 |
14 |
17 |
16 |
26 |
|
Engines |
46 |
24 |
11 |
12 |
2 |
30 |
40 |
|
Helicopters |
12 |
14 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
6 |
12 |
|
Air Tankers |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Overhead |
874 |
844 |
3 * |
618 |
625 |
586 |
597 |
* 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
PARKS AND PEOPLE
Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (CA)
GS-12 District Ranger
The person selected will serve as district ranger for the Kings Canyon District, with responsibility for supervision and oversight of all Division of Fire and Visitor Management functions in the 461,901 acre Kings Canyon National Park, including planning, managing and supervising all visitor protection, fire management, resource protection, wilderness management, and visitor management activities in the district.
The district ranger ensures that trained and qualified personnel are available for all routine and emergency incidents throughout the district. These incidents include, but are not limited to, patrol, misdemeanor and felony law enforcement incidents, major emergency medical situations, wildland and structural fire incidents, motor vehicle accidents, and search and rescue incidents throughout the year.
She/he also serves as the technical advisor and/or incident commander on the more complex problems that arise in law enforcement, search and rescue, fire operations and other visitor management concerns; initiates and participates in periodic reviews of emergency operation plans as they affect the district visitor protection efforts; works with the Fire Management Branch to identify special areas requiring prescription burning; and directly supervises four permanent employees (three subdistrict rangers and a budget assistant) and indirectly supervises up to 40 permanent, subject-to-furlough and seasonal employees.
The district ranger is also responsible for formulating and managing a district-wide budget spread across multiple accounts. This process involves the planning, staffing, budgeting and implementation of a complex visitor services, law enforcement, campground and fee collection operation.
He/she implements various aspects of the park's wilderness management programs, assists the Division of Natural Resources in implementation of the bear management program, manages the district fee collection program, represents the superintendent and the parks in contacts and consultations with local residents (including inholders) and other agency representatives, maintains relationships and represents the park with various federal, state and county agencies, and participates actively in the park safety program.
The announcement number is SEKI-04-49EE. Government housing may be available. For more information call 565-3752.
[Submitted by Gregg Fauth, Acting 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.