NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
INCIDENTS
New River Gorge NR
Structural Fire Suppressed In Park-Owned House
Rangers were dispatched to a structural fire in the historic town of Thurmond last Friday. The NPS owns numerous historic properties in the town. Three engines responded from Oak Hill and Mount Hope Fire Departments and quickly controlled the fire in the Vivian Kelly house, a building that was stabilized by the park several years ago. Investigation revealed that a locust tree weakened by rainfall fell on a power line, causing the power pole to snap. The upper part of the pole and the wires fell onto the house, starting a small fire in the attic wall space. Some damage was caused by venting during fire suppression efforts, but the building otherwise suffered little damage. There were no injuries. The power company isolated the downed section and replaced the pole on Saturday. The quick response by local fire departments to this remote location is credited with saving the house as well as several surrounding structures. [Jeffrey West, Chief Ranger]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/):
National Park of American Samoa - On April 24th, the National Park of American Samoa celebrated the grand opening of its new visitor center, which replaces the one that was destroyed by the 2009 tsunami and marks the culmination of the national park's recovery efforts.
Intermountain Region - Michelle Wheatley has been named superintendent of Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. She will assume her new position at month's end.
NPS Alumni - Lupe Carrasco, 66, retired National Park Service administrative officer and personnel specialist, passed away in Tucson on April 15th.
Keweenaw NHP - Keweenaw National Historical Park hosted twelve teams of high school students that met on stage at the historic Calumet Theatre on April 25th to compete in the eleventh annual High School Local History Smackdown.
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Guidance on incident notification can be found under the “Hot Topics” heading on InsideNPS or at HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504" http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504.
The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov).
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