NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, May 28, 2010

INCIDENTS

Gulf Coast Parks

Drill Rig Debris Coming Ashore At Gulf Islands

All NPS units in the Gulf remain open and are conducting normal park operations. Parks along the Gulf have yet to receive the types and concentrations of oil that are impacting the coastline of Louisiana. Jean Lafitte has yet to receive oil due to its location, buffered from the Gulf by miles of marsh and waterways. Gulf Islands continues to receive small and varied amounts tar balls and oiled debris on its beaches.

Jean Lafitte NHP&P - Although the preserve is buffered from the Gulf by miles of marsh and waterways, on May 20th oil reached islands in Barataria Bay, and the upper reaches of the bay are now protected by booms. Park staff are working with the Gulf Islands IMT, the Joint Information Center in Houma, Louisiana, and state and parish officials to plan for any necessary defensive actions.

Gulf Islands NS - Debris from the Deepwater Horizon accident has been showing up on Horn and Petit Bois Islands with greater frequency over the past three days. In addition, debris that may have come from the drilling rig has also appeared, although with less frequency. on Cat, West Ship and East Ship Islands. The debris represents potential evidence in the ongoing USCG investigation and has caused a disruption in normal shoreline clean-up tasks. It is the desire of the unified command that both USCG investigators and Transocean Ltd. experts accompany the USCG emergency response teams on missions to clean these areas under the direction of the resource advisors.

South Florida Parks (Big Cypress, Biscayne, DeSoto, Dry Tortugas, Everglades) - Natural resource baseline condition assessments continued yesterday at Everglades and cultural resource assessments are being completed at Biscayne. Entrix, BP's environmental consulting firm, completed baseline sampling at Everglades. NPS personnel continue to conduct daily surveys of the island of Dry Tortugas. A baseline assessment of a shipwreck site at Biscayne was completed yesterday. Daily beach monitoring is expected to continue at least through the weekend.

For more information on the NPS, DOI and national oil spill responses and for a link to the BP online oil spill safety training needed by all incident staff, please see the following:

NPS Oil Spill Response - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm" http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm

DOI Oil Spill Response - HYPERLINK "http://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/index.cfm" http://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/index.cfm

National Oil Spill Response - HYPERLINK "http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com" http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com

Oil Spill Safety Training - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Conferences&id=1957" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Conferences&id=1957

[J. Michael Johnson, Lead Information Officer, Gulf Islands National Seashore Oil Spill Response]

Independence NHP

Suspicious White Powder Prompts Evacuation Of Liberty Bell Center

One of the park's contracted Wackenhut security guards asked protection rangers to respond to the front doors of the Liberty Bell Center just before 2 p.m. on May 20th. This request was due to the guard finding a blue balloon that contained an unknown white powdery substance. All available line rangers and a supervisory protection ranger responded. Visitation was moderate at the time. A preliminary investigation was conducted by the park's acting chief ranger, law enforcement specialist and safety officer from statements and security video footage. They determined the following: Two Wackenhut guards were working in and around the Liberty Bell entrance at 2 p.m. - one outside the entry doors and the other in the vestibule. As captured on video, it appears that the outside guard began to walk through the doors into the vestibule, and, while looking down, kicked something on the floor. This item was later identified as the balloon. The guard who was kicking the balloon then kicked it over to the other guard standing near the vestibule, who proceeded to pick it up (without gloves). The guard with the balloon in hand then received a plastic bag from a security screener and put the balloon inside the bag, then called for a protection ranger. The guard then handed the bag over to the first arriving ranger, who opened it and found the unknown white substance. The ranger then set the bag on the ground away from the entrance doors in order to remove it from the entering public, then began to evacuate the public from the immediate area. The supervisory ranger then arrived on scene, and, while wearing a protective glove, opened the bag slightly to see the contents. Upon observing an unknown white powdery substance, the ranger then advised park dispatch to notify the Philadelphia hazardous response unit. Hazmat, fire and medical units soon arrived, and the entire block was closed for approximately five hours while extensive testing of the substance was conducted. The supervisory ranger, the first arriving ranger and the two Wackenhut guards were kept in isolation pending the outcome of the testing, which eventually revealed the substance was flour. Other agencies on scene were the FBI (JTTF), Department of Homeland Security, and Philadelphia Police Department. Media attention was extremely high throughout the event. A joint NPS and FBI investigation is continuing. [Donald P. Reed, Law Enforcement Specialist]

Rocky Mountain NP

Woman Severely Injured In Rollover Accident

A 27-year-old woman from Golden, Colorado, was severely injured on Wednesday afternoon when her car went off Bear Lake Road, rolled over, and came to rest on its wheels in Glacier Creek. Rangers responded along with personnel from the Estes Park volunteer fire department medical center and dive team. She was extricated from the car, then airlifted to the Medical Center of the Rockies. The woman was not wearing a seatbelt. Colorado State Patrol officers are assisting rangers with the accident investigation. At this time, the cause of the accident is unknown. [Kyle Patterson, Public Affairs Officer]

Biscayne NP

Visitor Drowns At Sand's Cut

Rangers responded to an EMS call regarding a possible drowning victim who was not breathing and unresponsive on the afternoon of May 23rd. A.P. had been swimming against the current in Sand's Cut, a heavily used area in the vicinity of Elliott Key, and presumably become fatigued. Upon arrival, the rangers immediately began CPR and utilized an AED in an attempt to resuscitate A.P. Although the AED failed to revive him, CPR was continued by rangers until he was transferred to the care of Miami Dade Air Rescue. A.P. was airlifted to Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, where he was pronounced dead. [Frank Stack, District Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS:

NOAA - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) yesterday released its annual seasonal outlook, which calls for an “active to extremely active” hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin.

Risk Management Division - The Public Risk Management Program has officially launched the Visitor Injury Notification System - an online system for park staff in the field to record unintentional serious visitor injuries (per DO-50C).

Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services - This week marked the 20th anniversary of the death of park ranger Robert McGhee, who was killed in the line of duty while making a traffic stop at Gulf Islands. Photo.

Midwest Region - Larry Johnson, currently chief ranger at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, has been selected as the new superintendent of Jewel Cave National Monument. Photo.

NPS Alumni - J. William (Bill) Tanner, an NPS ranger, interpreter and archeologist who is best known for developing and co-directing the critical 1979 "Ranger One Task Force" to implement the "Carter Antiquities Act National Monuments" in Alaska, died in his sleep on April 1st. Photo.

Upcoming Training and Conference Calendar - A compilation of upcoming training courses and conferences across the nation. Added to this week's listing are the following - an international conference on remote human waste management in Colorado, and a pair of webinars on white-nose syndrome in bats (one for managers, one for field personnel) in early June.

To see these and other stories posted on InsideNPS (or NPS Digest, its public version), click on one or the other of the following links (please note that not all stories in the former appear in the latter):

NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index

Non-NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/

NPS serious incident submission standards can be found at the following web site: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/notify" http://inside.nps.gov/notify

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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