NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

BLACKBERRY EDITION

Friday, October 21, 2005

INCIDENTS

Gulf Coast Areas

Update on Hurricane Recovery Operations

Jean Lafitte NHP&P/New Orleans Jazz NHP

The Eastern IMT (Gordon Wissinger, IC) has handed over management of the incident to a Type 3 IMT (Greg Stiles, IC) and demobilized. Among the team's objectives are the following:

Assist the staff at Jean Lafitte in reoccupying the visitor center and headquarters at 419 Decatur Street.

Complete the demobilization process from all incident locations, including Barataria, the ICP at Thibodaux, Chalmette, and downtown New Orleans.

Assist the park in administering contracts issued by previous incident management teams.

Complete hazardous tree trimming and grounds cleanup at the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center in Thibodaux.

Complete the emergency stabilization work and grounds cleanup at Chalmette.

A total of 79 people are committed to the incident.

Gulf Islands NS

A Type 3 team (Rich Degnan, IC) is managing the incident.

No report.

Additional Information

A web site has been established as a repository for official documents related to hurricane recovery operations: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/waso.cfm?prg=15&lv=1" http://inside.nps.gov/waso/waso.cfm?prg=15&lv=1.

[Greg Stiles, IC, Type 3 IMT, JELA]

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial

Accidental Death in Fall from Arch Garage

Just before 3 a.m. on September 26th, rangers contacted a man in the Arch parking garage to determine his fitness to operate a motor vehicle. The man was compliant at first, then, for no apparent reason, fled from the rangers and jumped over a wall in the garage's northeast corner. He was apparently unaware of the height of that level of the garage from the street below and fell about 29 feet, striking his head on a concrete planter about halfway down before landing on a sidewalk. The rangers immediately began life support measures and called for an ambulance. Paramedics were on scene within five minutes and took the man to a local hospital, where he expired. The coroner has ruled the death accidental. [Joel Musick]

Western Arctic National Parklands

No Radioactivity Found in Kotzebue House

On October 4th, the National Park Service and State of Alaska thoroughly tested the park house in Kotzebue that was suspected of containing radioactive materials. They found no evidence of unnatural radioactivity and no risk to public health. The team tested the outside and inside of the house, the attached apartment and the two crawl spaces underneath the unit with three different meters. They also triple-tested 39 items found in one of the crawl spaces. The readings showed no radioactivity above background levels. Of the 39 items found in the crawl space, 37 were lead containers (or “pigs”) that were designed to hold short-lived radioactive isotopes. The other two items that were discovered were part of an antiquated x-ray machine. The NPS is shipping the pigs and x-ray machine components to the public health laboratories for proper disposal. Lead, a heavy metal, should not be disposed of in a landfill. The original source of the containers is still unknown. In addition to the tests performed with the meters, wipe tests were also done on the containers and soil samples were taken from the crawl space. The samples are being shipped to Anchorage for further analysis. To ensure public safety, the house will remain closed to public entrance until the results of these final tests are known. The house was originally built in the early 1960s and was privately owned until it was purchased by the NPS for housing employees in 1986. The house is being demolished because it has inefficient insulation and heating systems. It is located in the southwest side of town near 2nd Avenue in Kotzebue. It is likely that new park employee housing will be built at the site in the future. [George Helfrich)

Yellowstone NP

Child Suffers Thermal Burns

A six-year old boy from Wisconsin was burned after he tripped and fell into a hot spring while walking off-trail in the Firehole Lake Drive area on the afternoon of October 17th. The boy and his father were walking off-trail when the boy stumbled and fell into the hot spring. His father was able to pull him out of the hot spring immediately. The boy received second degree burns to both of his feet and ankles and to his right wrist. The boy's father brought him to the Old Faithful Clinic for initial treatment. He was then taken by National Park Service ground transport to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho, for additional care. [Public Affairs, Yellowstone NP]

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Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.

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