Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (CA)
Services for Dan Holmes Held in New Hampshire
Family, friends, co-workers and fellow fire professionals gathered last Thursday in Rochester, New Hampshire, for a memorial service for Arrowhead Hotshot crew member Dan Holmes.
Blue skies and sunshine welcomed everyone. The procession to the First United Methodist Church was led by a four-ranger National Park Service honor guard. The casket was borne by an engine from the Rochester Fire Department, the town in which Dan grew up. The Arrowhead Hotshots walked alongside the engine, each person with one hand on the truck. Following immediately behind the engine were representatives from Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, then Dan's family.
The procession included the International Brotherhood of Firefighters Pipe and Drum Corps, the Rochester Fire Department, National Park Service firefighters, rangers and managers, representatives of the New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands, other community fire departments, Massachusetts Forest Fire Control, the US Forest Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, this year's football team from Dan's high school, and scores of friends.
Organ music and the posting of the colors opened the service, which was led by Reverend James Cann. Associate Director Karen Taylor-Goodrich and Pacific West Regional Director Jon Jarvis spoke, then were followed by remembrances from Dan's mother, D.B., his uncle C.C., cousin A.S., brother M.H., Denali NP climbing ranger John Leonard, and Arrowhead Hotshot superintendent Brit Rosso. All spoke with love for Dan, and of Dan's love for the outdoors.
Next came a presentation of honors. Dan's mother, D.B., received the American flag from the Arrowhead base at the park; Dan's brother, M.H., received a hotshot helmet signed by the crew; Dan's father, R.H., received a park ranger stetson.
A recession followed the service. Dan's casket was again borne by the Rochester FD engine, accompanied by the Arrowhead Hotshots, family members, and those who had gathered to celebrate his life. Taps sounded, played by a member of the NPS honor guard. The recession moved back to the funeral home, passing a final time beneath the American flag draped from the extended ladders of two fire trucks.
At the reception, more memories of Dan were shared in conversations, a memory book and heartfelt hugs. A video, prepared by the Hotshots before they left Grant Grove, was played. Dan's family and friends laughed and cried. Dan's smile, occasionally colorful language, and joy in his work were all apparent. Dan's mother expressed gratitude to the crew for the video, adding that she'd heard those words from her son before. Arrowhead superintendent Brit Rosso gave her, Dan's girlfriend J. and Dan's father each a copy of the tape. Brit also presented D.B. with a bronze statue of legendary wildland firefighter Ed Pulaski in honor of her son, Dan.
Condolences may be sent to 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/.
For an editorial on Dan's life that appeared in a local paper, click
on "More Information" below.
[Submitted by Barb Stewart, Sue Vap,
Roberta D'Amico ] More Information...
Gulf Islands National Seashore (FL,MS)
Director Surveys Hurricane Damage and Recovery Operations
Director Mainella visited the park last week to see the impacts of Hurricane Ivan and to provide support and encouragement to the many people engaged in recovery operations.
Substantial portions of the park have now reopened. Except for West
Ship Island, all the barrier islands, including Cat, East, Horn, Petit
Bois, and Sand Islands, are now open to the public. In the interest of
visitor safety, West Ship Island remains closed because of the damage to
the facilities there, including the pier, boardwalk, and flooding inside
Fort Massachusetts.
[Submitted by Lisa Harrison]
Yellowstone National Park (ID,MT,WY)
Two Injured in Separate Animal Encounters
A park visitor and a concession employee were injured in separate confrontations with animals during the past two weeks.
The first incident occurred on the morning of September 26th. A 41-year-old visitor was backpacking along the Snake River trail south of Heart Lake when heard a "whoof" and looked up to see three bears about 30 yards above the trail. As the sow bluff charged, the man slowly and calmly began to leave. The bear hit him from behind, knocking him down, then ran off.
As he started to crawl away, the man heard the bear huffing and curled up into the fetal position with his back to the sow. The bear then batted him twice on the head and once in the shoulder with her paws and bit into the top of his pack several times before running off. He then hiked out to the trailhead.
The man received two small puncture wounds on his head and one on his right shoulder but did not seek medical treatment. Wildlife managers believe the backpacker avoided serious injury by acting passively and non-threateningly during the encounter, by going into the fetal position, and by keeping his pack on his back.
The second incident took place on the night of October 6th. A 24-year-old Michigan man who works for the park concessioner was walking back to his dorm at Old Faithful around 11:20 p.m. when he was surprised from behind by a bison. The bison gored him in the rear and lifted him into the air, landing him face down.
He was treated for a two-and-a-half inch puncture wound and received stitches in his face at the Old Faithful Clinic.[Submitted by Office of Public Affairs]
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (WV)
Rescue of River Rafters
Rangers assisted in the rescue of river rafters in the Shenandoah
River adjacent to the park on September 30th. A commercial raft flipped
over in high water, throwing the passengers into the river, which was
near flood stage.
In order to reach them, them the rangers had
to descend a 100-foot embankment. They found one person in full cardiac
arrest and a second having difficulty breathing.
They provided
CPR to the former until advanced life support medics arrived on scene,
but he did not survive. The person with breathing difficulties was taken
by ambulance to a local hospital. Both were raised by ropes from the
river to the nearby road.[Submitted by Jennifer Flynn, Chief Ranger]
Dry Tortugas National Park (FL)
Smuggling of Illegal Aliens
Early on the morning of October 6th, rangers received a report of
Cuban migrants on Loggerhead Key. They found 34 people there, including
four children. All were in good health and were turned over to the Coast
Guard.
Just three days previously, eight Cuban migrants landed
on the same key. They'd floated for four days from Penar Del Rio, Cuba,
on an inflatable raft.
These two landings bring the number of
Cuban migrants who have landed in the park this year to just over 200.
Smuggling is suspected in the majority of these cases.
Due to
the increased activity, rangers are working with Immigration and Customs
Enforcement and the Coast Guard to increase patrols in the area.
[Submitted by Bonnie Foist, Law Enforcement Specialist]
FIRE MANAGEMENT
NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Preparedness Level 2
There were 91 new starts yesterday. Only one — a fire in northern California — escaped initial attack. Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in California, Nebraska, and Nevada.
Weather Forecast
High pressure continues over the Pacific Northwest with an upper low centered over southern California. Gusty winds, warm temperatures and low humidity will persist over northern California.
Warnings and Watches
A RED FLAG WARNING has been posted today for moderate or stronger northeast to east winds, low relative humidity levels, and generally poor relative humidity recovery for locations that are mid-slope and above for the Eureka, Sacramento and Monterey areas in California.
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 |
10/8 |
10/12 |
% Con |
Est Con |
|
CA |
State |
T1 |
Streblow * |
Rumsey Fire, Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit |
------ |
3,800 |
NR |
UNK |
|
| ||||||||
|
FL |
FEMA |
T2 |
Muir |
Hurricane Response, Saufley Field NAS |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
CA |
USFS |
T2 |
Wendt |
Power Fire, Eldorado NF |
275 |
418 |
95 |
10/13 |
|
FL |
NPS |
T2 |
Wissinger |
Hurricane Response, Gulf Islands NS |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
* CDF team
National Resource Commitments
| Day |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
|
Date |
10/6 |
10/7 |
10/8 |
10/9 |
10/10 |
10/11 |
10/12 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Crews |
26 |
34 |
48 |
43 |
19 |
19 |
60 |
|
Engines |
40 |
37 |
43 |
40 |
22 |
25 |
70 |
|
Helicopters |
12 |
16 |
16 |
12 |
10 |
0 |
13 |
|
Air Tankers |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Overhead |
597 |
484 |
450 |
426 |
289 |
418 |
498 |
* 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
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.