Colonial |  |
The following Incident Reports were extracted from the NPS Morning Reports/Coalition Reports from 1989-2025. They are not a complete record of all incidents which occurred in this park during this timeframe. INCIDENTS | |
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Monday, October 13, 1986 Location: Colonial Parkway @ Bellfield Plantation Site At approximately 5:30 pm on Sunday, October 12 the bodies of two females were discovered, by a pedestrian, in an automobile over an embankment at the above location. The FBI is investigating the case, which is currently classified as a double homicide. Both subjects involved had their throats cut. The vehicle was located in an area of Exclusive Federal Jurisdiction. The attached newspaper article appeared in the Metro section (page B3) of the Washington Post on Tuesday, October 14, 1986. 2 Women Found Slain Off Colonial Parkway Near Yorktown, Va. A College of William and Mary student and a Naval Academy graduate who was a saleswoman in Virginia Beach were found with their throats cut in a car off the Colonial Parkway near Yorktown, Va., the FBI said yesterday. The bodies of R.A.D., 21, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and C.M.T., 27, a Lowell, Mass., native, were found Sunday evening in C.M.T.'s car down an embankment, said Jack Wagner, special agent in charge of the Norfolk office of the FBI. Wagner said both women were clothed and there was no sign of robbery. He declined, pending an autopsy report, to comment on whether they had been sexually assaulted. R.A.D. and C.M.T., who were friends, had last been seen Thursday evening at William and Mary, about 10 miles from where their car was found. "They had not been reported missing," Wagner said. He said he did not know how long they had been dead or where they had been slain. C.M.T. was discharged from the Navy this year after serving as a protocol officer at the Atlantic Fleet headquarters in Norfolk, Wagner said. She worked for a brokerage firm in Virginia Beach and was studying for a master's degree in business administration, Wagner said. R.A.D. was a senior majoring in business at William and Mary, said E.J., a school spokeswoman.
Location: York River Overlook On the evening of April 9th, R.C. and C.H. attended a party in nearby Newport News and left between 12:30 and 1:30 the following morning. At 7:30 a.m. on the 10th, R.C.'s father saw his son's car parked at York River Overlook on Colonial Parkway while on his way to work. The driver's door was open, the keys were in the ignition, and clothing, wallets and personal effects were lying inside. He closed the car's door, then continued on his way. A patrol ranger discovered the car shortly thereafter; when a hasty search of the area proved fruitless, he called for assistance. A local search dog unit was called in. Since the unit was having a meeting when called, all 15 dog teams arrived. The dogs found two separate tracks - one leading to Indian Field Creek and the other leading to the York River. A Coast Guard helicopter checked adjacent marshes and shoreline within the park, but found nothing. The search dogs were trained to scent bodies underwater, so they were placed in Coast Guard boats and water areas were checked. Dive teams were also brought in. Neither dogs nor divers found any sign of the two. The search was resumed on the 11th. The dog teams and divers again searched the area, rangers employed an NPS boat to conduct a check the river's shore, and personnel from nearby Navy bases conducted an intensive ground search of the parkway. Nothing was found, so the search was terminated at 3:30 pm. The FBI was called in later in the day; they officially took over the case, and sent 13 agents to investigate. Boat and air searches of the river and shoreline are continuing.
Location: Yorktown Battlefield T.A.G., the pilot and sole occupant of a single-engine Mooney 201, was practicing landings at Patrick Henry Airport in Newport News, Virginia. He suffered engine problems during an approach and was forced to make a wheels- up landing on a section of Yorktown Battlefield. The plane skidded on wet ground for a distance of several hundred feet, crossed an open field, and came to rest in the tree line at the edge of the field. The left wing was crumpled and the fuel tank ruptured on impact with the trees. The aircraft came to rest less than one hundred feet from the park's heavily traveled West Tour Road. Although both doors were jammed shut in the crash, T.A.G. was able to exit through a small hatch in the tail of the plane. He was taken to Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News for observation and is reported to be in good condition. The NFS, FAA, State Police, York County Fire and Rescue and York County Sheriff's Office are all participating in the investigation.
A 36-inch sewage main in Williamsburg, Virginia, broke on December 30th, spilling raw sewage into the James River at a rate estimated at 100,000 gallons per hour. Although the spill site was downstream from the park, tides carried some sewage onto the river's beaches along Colonial Parkway. The regional pollution control officer for the Virginia Water Quality Control Board was called in, and all pumps were shut down until the leak could be repaired. A dike was constructed to protect a riparian marsh located along the parkway. The state is presently monitoring water quality and working to determine the cause of the break.
On the morning of June 22nd, a fisherman found the body of 43-year-old C.B. of Hampton, Virginia, floating face down in Jones Mill Pond adjacent to Colonial Parkway. The pond is adjacent to the park's boundary and is owned by the Navy. C.B.'s car was found along the parkway. There is no indication of foul play, and it appears that C.B. may have drowned. An investigation is underway. (Wally Neprash, CR, COLO, via CompuServe message from Kathy Jope, RAD/MARO).
On the afternoon of July 30th, a car driven by M.K. of Gloucester Point, Virginia, struck two bicyclists who were heading in the same direction in the same lane of Colonial Parkway. The cyclists, C. and D.W., aged 38 and 39, were thrown some distance from their bikes. Both are currently in the ICU at Riverside Hospital and listed in critical condition. C.W. suffered fractures of the right tibia and fibula, both clavicles and the pubic bone, two spinal compressions and serious lacerations of the face and left arm; D.W. is conscious but confused, and is scheduled for neurological tests. Investigation is underway and charges are pending. (Dick Young, Acting CR, COLO, via CompuServe message to RAD/WASO and RAD/MARO).
On July 30th, a car driven by M.K. struck and seriously injured bicyclists C. and D.W. on Colonial Parkway. C.W. remains in intensive care, but her condition has been reduced from critical to serious; she suffers from over 20 fractures and lacerations. D.W. has been transferred out of ICU; he has head injuries, but his condition is improving. M.K. has been charged with careless driving. (Dick Young, COLO, via CompuServe message from Ginny Paci, RAD/MARO).
On August 18th, approximately 12 1/2 inches of rain fell on the park within six hours, flooding the parkway tunnel under Colonial Williamsburg with about five feet of water. Two cars were flooded out, as was an ambulance that entered the tunnel to assist them. All parties were rescued. Part of the earthen dam at Jones Mill Pond sloughed off, and the park was closed from Cheatham Annex to Kings Point. It was later determined that the dam was still stable, however, so the parkway was reopened later that afternoon. A total of about a dozen flooded or abandoned cars were towed from the parkway during the incident. (Dick Young, Acting CR, COLO, via CompuServe message from RAD/MARO).
A park ranger observed a damaged sign at Papermill Creek overlook on Colonial Parkway near Williamsburg early on the afternoon of the 25th. When she stopped to check, she found a face shield from a motorcycle helmet and a wristwatch near the sign. She searched the wooded area around the overlook and eventually located a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and the body of S.M.O. During the subsequent investigation, rangers determined that S.M.O. was traveling east on the parkway at a high rate of speed when he lost control of his motorcycle. (Hiram Barber, Acting CR, COLO, via telefax from Ginny Paci, RAD/MARO, 8/27).
On the afternoon of December 4th, approximately 500 gallons of number two fuel oil leaked from an underground tank at the state office building in Williamsburg into a drainage ditch which led into the park. Impacts on the park appear to be minimal due to the rapid response of a local hazardous material unit. The state has hired a commercial clean-up firm to removal the oil and rehabilitate impacted areas. (Telephone report from Jim Burnett, COLO, 12/4).
Colonial (Virginia) - A demonstration in support of American troops is to be held in the park on the afternoon of March 9th. Organizers expect about 30,000 participants.
Colonial (Virginia) - A combined victory rally and demonstration in support of the troops in the Persian Gulf was held on March 9th. The crowd was much smaller than organizers expected due to lastminute competition from welcome home ceremonies for returning troops at nearby military bases. The event was managed without incident by the MAR all-risk management team. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO]
The York County sheriff's office received word on the afternoon of the 12th that a suicide note had been found at the home of a 59-year-old male in a nearby town which stated the specific location within the park where he would be committing suicide. Rangers and county officers responded to that area and found the victim, who had a single gunshot wound in the head. The victim was transported to a local hospital, where he died a short time later. [CompuServe message from Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 4/15]
A Williamsburg, Virginia, police officer investigating a missing person report on A.H., 60, of that community, found Hunt's body in his vehicle in a pullout along Colonial Parkway on the morning of the 21st. Preliminary investigation indicates that the death was a suicide. A.H. was found in an area of exclusive NPS jurisdiction, and the FBI is investigating. [CompuServe message from COLO, 6/21]
A onemile section of the Colonial Parkway between Williamsburg and Jamestown was closed at midday on July 29th after several days of heavy rains washed out a culvert and undermined the roadway. Representatives from the Federal Highway Administration were due in the park yesterday to evaluate the situation. [CompuServe message from Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 7/30]
A celebration of the 300th anniversary of the founding of Yorktown was held between August 16th and 19th. Many of the activities took place in the park. Attendance was estimated at about 35,000 people and there were no significant problems. Rangers from Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania assisted park staff in managing the event. The day's activities were capped by preparations for Hurricane Bob, which fortunately had little effect on the area. [CompuServe message from Ginny Paci, RAD/MARO, 8/19]
A ranger on routine patrol discovered a suicide note in an unattended vehicle on the west tour road in Yorktown shortly before dark on September 12th. A brief search led to the discovery of the body of W.B., 49, of nearby Poquoson, Virginia. The cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the head. Preliminary investigation indicates that Barden shot himself. [CompuServe message from Jim Burnett, COLO, 9/13]
At about 9:00 p.m. on the evening of March 30th, ranger Byrd Ewell was approaching a suspicious vehicle near the Yorktown visitor center when the vehicle suddenly accelerated and fled the area. A brief chase ensued, which ended when the driver abandoned the car and fled on foot into a wooded area, leaving a 16-year-old female behind. She told Ewell that the driver, a 28-year-old acquaintance of hers, had sexually assaulted her. Rangers, county officers and a dog team searched the area, but failed to locate the man, who was subsequently found and arrested in a nearby community. The alleged assault occurred in an area of proprietary jurisdiction. NPS and state charges have been filed. [CompuServe message from Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 3/31]
C.E., 23, of Williamsburg, Virginia, was crabbing in the York River near Colonial Parkway on the afternoon of June 27th when he apparently stepped into a deep hole and disappeared. Other members of his group reported that C.E. was a poor swimmer. A search was conducted by rangers and local fire and rescue personnel; they recovered his body about three hours later. Alcohol is believed to have been a factor. The river is outside park jurisdiction, and the investigation is being coordinated with state authorities. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 6/27]
On the morning of July 14th, B.K., 47, of Williamsburg, Virginia, was bicycling with her husband on the Colonial Parkway near Yorktown when she struck the back of a slow-moving park trash pickup vehicle and suffered serious injuries. She was transported to a local hospital by ambulance, then taken by helicopter to a trauma center in Norfolk. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 7/14]
Just before 4:30 p.m. on the afternoon of August 12th, the park communications center received a report from a visitor who said he had heard shots and screams coming from a wooded area along Colonial Parkway about a half hour previously. Ranger Ken Doak responded and located the body of 17-year-old G.T. of Richmond, Virginia. G.T. had been shot numerous times and an attempt had been made to burn her body. The incident occurred in an area of proprietary jurisdiction, so the investigation was conducted by the York County sheriff's office in conjunction with the park and the FBI. Excellent police work by York County authorities led to the arrest ten hours later of H.B., 27, also of Richmond and a boyfriend of the victim. H.B. is being held without bond on charges of first degree murder. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 8/13]
H.A.B., 21, of Williamsburg, Virginia, was seriously injured in a one-car accident on the parkway seven miles west of Yorktown on Sunday morning. Her car went off the wet roadway on a curve and struck a tree. H.A.B., who is a cast member in a historical drama being presented in the park under a contract funded by the park's cooperating association, is currently in stable condition with multiple compound fractures of both legs and a fractured pelvis. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 8/17]
Just before midnight on November 7th, a ranger checking a car in a remote pullout along the Colonial Parkway found that there was a hose leading from the exhaust pipe to the passenger compartment. The 32-year-old occupant was pulled from the car before he suffered any ill effects and was subsequently taken to a local mental health facility for evaluation. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 11/9]
Rangers assisted York County deputies in locating and capturing an escaped prisoner who fled into the park on the afternoon of December 29th. J.C., 30, escaped from the custody of a county bailiff while being transported from court to the county jail and was chased onto park property. Rangers and deputies set up a perimeter around the area, and a dog team was brought in to assist in the search. J.C. was eventually pursued across Route 17 into a swampy area of the park, where he was apprehended. J.C. was arrested by rangers in March of this year and charged with rape and fleeing and eluding. He was later found not guilty on the rape charge. He has been returned to the county jail. [Hiram Barber, Acting CR, COLO, 12/30]
H.J.B., 27, of Mechanicsville, Virginia, appeared in county circuit court on February 11th and pleaded guilty to the murder of his 17- year-old girlfriend, Gwendolyn Thomas, who was shot to death in a wooded area near Colonial Parkway on the afternoon of August 12, 1992. The incident occurred in an area of proprietary jurisdiction, and the case was prosecuted by county authorities. Sentencing is set for April 13th. H.J.B. faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a $100,000 fine. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 2/18]
At about 4:30 a.m. on March 4th, a tanker truck loaded with 8,500 gallons of gasoline skidded on a wet roadway and overturned in the median of U.S. 17, which passes through the park in Yorktown. The driver was not injured and there was no fire. Local emergency service agencies and NPS personnel responded, and temporary dikes and booms were put in place to contain any spills. The tank remained intact and there was only nominal leakage from one fill pipe on top of the tank. A commercial hazmat firm responded promptly and will maintain absorbent booms in drainages leading to a nearby creek as a precautionary measure until the truck is removed. No impact on park resources is anticipated. [Dick Young, COLO, 3/4]
H.J.B., 27, of Richmond, Virginia, was recently convicted of the August, 1992, murder of G.C.T., his 17-year-old girlfriend. The homicide occurred along the Colonial Parkway in an area of proprietary jurisdiction. On May 11th, H.J.B. was sentenced in York County circuit court to life in prison. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 5/12]
Three North Carolina men were arraigned in federal district court in Newport News, Virginia, on July 1st after a grand jury returned felony indictments for ARPA violations, conspiracy, theft and destruction of government property. R.G., 45, and S.T., 46, both of New Bern, and M.R. of Morehead City were apprehended in the Yorktown unit of the park last November 20th by ranger Bob Whiteman. A lengthy investigation coordinated by park detective Clyde Yee culminated in today's arraignment. Trial is set for September 10th in Newport News. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 7/1]
Further details have been forwarded regarding the indictment of R.G., S.T. and M.R. for ARPA violations, conspiracy, theft and destruction of government property. R.G. met with the owner of a Civil War museum in Williamsburg last summer and showed him a topographical map of the Yorktown area of the park, which was the site of a Civil War siege. On November 10, 1992, R.G., S.T. and M.R. traveled to Yorktown and scouted the area for Civil War objects. About a week and a half later, the men parked in an isolated area, unloaded their equipment, then began scouring the battlefield area for artifacts. On November 19th and 20th, they allegedly dug up 214 artifacts from the Civil War and possibly the Revolutionary War. A search of their car by arresting rangers led to the discovery of metal detectors equipped with headsets, hand spades, camouflage clothing, topographical maps, Civil War artifact price guides, a Civil War battlefield atlas, batteries and a compass. The men allegedly planned to sell the items they dug up at a collectors' show in Richmond last November. [Newport News Daily Press, 7/1]
A total of nine visitors were injured in a two-vehicle accident on the Colonial Parkway near Jamestown at 3:30 p.m. yesterday afternoon. Five local EMS units transported all nine to two area hospitals. Only one of the victims appears to be seriously injured. The accident occurred when one van pulled out from an overlook into the path of a second van. Airbag activation in both minivans apparently prevented more serious injuries to both drivers. Assistant chief ranger Hiram Barber was incident commander at the scene. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 7/13]
All but one of the nine people injured in the two van motor vehicle accident on the Colonial Parkway on July 12th have been treated and released from the hospital. The accident occurred when a Toyota Previa van being driven by F.R., 45, of Quebec, Canada, pulled out from a wayside into the path of a Ford Aerostar van being driven by D.S., 54, of Sacramento, California. Occupants of the F.R. vehicle were F.R.'s wife M., 43, his son S., 14, and daughter E., 11; occupants of the D.S. vehicle were D.S.'s wife P., 49, sons M., 27, and M., 23, and daughter R., 22. S.R. was admitted to Williamsburg Community Hospital for observation for possible internal injuries and was in stable condition at the time of the report. Remaining members of the two families were treated for broken ankles, cracked and broken ribs, and cuts and bruises. Both vehicles were totalled. F.R. was cited for failure to yield right of way. There's strong evidence that D.S. was saved from serious injuries by the deployment of his vehicle's airbag. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 7/14]
While on early morning patrol, a ranger noticed a strong petroleum odor in the vicinity of the parkway near Williamsburg and observed a coating of oil at the storm water outfall into Paper Mill Creek within park boundaries. Absorbent pads were subsequently deployed by the city fire department, and the spill was traced back through the storm water system to Colonial Williamsburg's decorative arts gallery. The sump pump in the building was found to contain about 25 gallons of oil, probably originating from an underground tank containing number two fuel oil. It's estimated that about 75 gallons of oil were pumped into the creek. Colonial Williamsburg has assumed responsibility and has contacted its contract environmental response company. Representatives from the Virginia State Water Control Board responded and are currently investigating the incident. No known biological damage occurred. The outfall area on park lands will be cleaned up, removed and replaced by Colonial Williamsburg. The park is currently working with Colonial Williamsburg on a previous series of underground storage tank leaks which affected another park creek further down the parkway. [Hiram Barber, ACR, COLO, 8/11]
Preparations continue for the arrival of Hurricane Emily, now a Category II storm with sustained winds around 100 mph. Forecasters believe that wind speeds will increase before the hurricane comes ashore tomorrow. At 5 a.m. EDT, the hurricane was 155 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras and moving northwest around 9 mph; a gradual turn to the north is expected later today. Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 40 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 115 mph. The hurricane warning has been extended northward to Cape Henlopen, Delaware, just north of Assateague Island. Storm tides of five to eight feet are possible on both eastern and western shores of the Outer Banks. Rainfall totals of four to eight inches are possible along Emily's path. * Colonial (Virginia) - The park is currently in the hurricane watch area. The hurricane plan is being put into effect, and park representatives have established contact with the local emergency operations center. [Steve Smith, RAD/SERO; Mary Collier, Management Assistant, CAHA; Chuck Harris, CR, CALO; Bob Thomas, Acting CR, ASIS; Dick Young, COLO; NWS Office of Meteorology hurricane advisory; 8/31]
On the morning of November 20, 1992, three North Carolina men were apprehended who were using metal detectors in a remote section of the Yorktown battlefield. Subsequent investigation revealed that the men had dug over 250 holes and removed over 200 metal artifacts. On August 5th, S.T. and M.R. entered guilty pleas to misdemeanor ARPA violations in exchange for an agreement to testify against the third party, R.G. On August 26th, R.G. pleaded guilty to a felony ARPA violation. Each defendant agreed to pay $5,000 in restitution, forfeit all artifacts and metal detecting equipment, and participate in the filming of a video on relic hunting. Rogers will also forfeit his 1986 Isuzu Trooper, which was used in the incident. All three will be sentenced in October and still face potential fines and/or imprisonment in addition to the forfeitures. Colonial ranger Bob Whiteman and detective Clyde Yee, Fredericksburg/Spottsylvania ranger Mike Greenfield, and MARO archeologist Brooke Blades had primary roles in the apprehension and investigation. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 8/26]
On October 22nd, the three North Carolina men who were caught removing artifacts from the park last November were sentenced in federal district court in Newport News, Virginia. Each of the three men - S.T., 46, M.R., 34, and R.G., 45 - was ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution, forfeit all artifacts and equipment, and cooperate in the filming of a video on relic hunting. S.T. and M.R. were placed on a year's probation; R.G. was convicted of a felony ARPA violation and placed on three years' probation. All three men agreed to refrain from any metal detecting or relic hunting on private or public lands during their probation. An Isuzu Trooper used in the incident will also be forfeited to the government. Parks interested in further information on these three men should contact Jim Burnett, the chief ranger at Colonial. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 10/25]
Immediately after taking off from a private plane airport in Williamsburg at 10:30 p.m. on January 2nd, T.B.'s Cessna 206A single-engine aircraft lost all power and went into a glide. T.B. was unable to return to the airport and had only three possible choices as to where he could come down - the James River, a swamp, or the three-lane Colonial Parkway. T.B. chose the latter. While landing, however, his tail assembly struck the lower wire of an overhead power line, which threw the aircraft out of control. It bounced several times, then went off the road, down a short embankment, and into bordering trees. Park rangers were notified of the incident and arrived at the scene along with state police around midnight. T.B. was not hurt, but his plane was declared a total loss. The FAA was notified and is investigating. The Cessna was to be removed from the parkway last night. [Dick Young, COLO, 1/3]
Early on the afternoon of June 4th, L.M., 50, of Montpelier, Virginia, was riding his horse alongside a tour road on the Yorktown battlefield when he apparently struck an overhanging branch, fell from his horse, and sustained serious head injuries. L.M. was stabilized by local paramedics, then taken by helicopter to a hospital in Norfolk. At the time of the report, he was reported to be in serious condition. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 6/6]
Shortly before noon on Thursday, February 9th, rangers were advised by local agencies that a pursuit of an armed robbery suspect was in progress near the park. The suspect, D.S., 29, of North Carolina, had already led local officers on a lengthy chase through several jurisdictions. Although the pursuit was generally at speeds under 50 mph, D.S. had taken evasive action on numerous occasions, causing accidents involving several local police vehicles and injuring one officer. When the pursuit turned onto Colonial Parkway between Jamestown and Williamsburg, the park dispatcher advised entrance station, maintenance and visitor center personnel of the incident to reduce the risk of an accident involving employees or visitors. D.S. crossed onto Jamestown Island, then turned around and attempted to retrace his route, but was blocked at the bridge on the only road crossing the isthmus leaving the island. He was apprehended without a struggle. Rangers Hiram Barber, Bob Whiteman and Ken Doak were involved in the incident. D.S. faces charges form several jurisdictions. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 2/9]
On the evening of March 19th, ranger Ken Doak monitored a broadcast on county police radio advising officers to be on the lookout for a woman from a nearby jurisdiction who'd threatened to commit suicide. A few minutes later, Doak came upon the vehicle in a pullout along Colonial Parkway and found E.F., 39, unconscious from a drug overdose. Doak provided basic life support until local ambulances arrived on scene; ranger Bob Whiteman assisted. E.F. was taken to a local hospital and is expected to recover. It is very unlikely that she would have survived without Doak's timely intercession. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 3/20]
Ranger Jim Redford stopped to check an unattended vehicle along Colonial Parkway on May 9th and encountered J.K., 25, of Williamsburg, Virginia, as he came out of an adjacent wooded area. Redford's observations led him to believe that J.K. had been planting marijuana in the area. An investigation led to the discovery of eight small plants, which J.K. said he'd just planted. He was arrested and the plants were seized. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 5/15]
E.B., 31, was crabbing in the York River along Colonial Parkway on June 23rd when he was swept off his feet by the river's current. Three boys - B.W., 19, J.W., 15, and J.F., 16 - heard his cries for help, swam out to him, and, after a struggle with the panicked victim, brought him safely to shore. E.B. was treated by local EMS personnel and released. He said that he would certainly have drowned without the assistance of the three youths. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO]
* Colonial - Following the issuance of a hurricane warning for the area yesterday morning, the park began implementing its hurricane plan. The park remains fully open at present. Closures will be evaluated as further information becomes available on the storm's path. [Robert Woody, PIO, IMT, CAHA; Superintendent, CALO; Bob Thomas, ASIS; Jim Burnett, CR, COLO]
The following reports were received yesterday from parks being most directly affected by Hurricane Felix, which remains stationary off the North Carolina coast: * Colonial - The park completed hurricane preparations yesterday. Visitor centers and other facilities remained open and on regular schedules. Portions of the tour roads on Jamestown Island and in Yorktown have been closed, however, due to potential problems with tidal flooding and downed tree limbs. [Robert Woody, PIO, IMT, CAHA; Superintendent, CALO; Bob Thomas, Acting CR, ASIS; Jim Burnett, CR, COLO; USA Today]
The sudden change in direction and departure of Hurricane Felix spared East coast parks from significant damage. The following reports were received on Friday: * Colonial - The park has returned to normal operations. [Bob Thomas, Acting CR, ASIS; Bill Harris, Superintendent, CALO; Jim Burnett, CR, COLO]
Park staff are participating in a major radiological emergency exercise at the Navy's Yorktown Naval Weapons Station and Cheatham Annex, both of which adjoin the park. The exercise will run through September 27th. Exercise activities are not having any impacts on normal visitor use. Rangers are providing additional security along the parkway due to the military's concerns about possible demonstrators. Other state and local enforcement agencies are also on hand to assist if necessary. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO]
Ranger Jimbo Thompson contacted two men who said they were changing a flat tire at a pullout on the parkway just after 11 p.m. on October 5th. Thompson noted their vehicle's plate number before departing. About a half hour later, a visitor reported a vehicle fire at the same pullout to ranger Mike Kelly. The plate number taken by Thompson was traced to its owner at Norfolk Navy Base. Investigators determined that sailors P.A. and G.W. had agreed to burn a 1995 Pontiac sedan for K.B. with the intent of obtaining an insurance settlement. Assistant chief ranger Hiram Barber obtained written statements from all three men. A variety of federal charges against them are pending. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO]
A visitor called the park on the afternoon of November 3rd to report a man threatening suicide at an overlook along the parkway. Rangers Byrd Ewell and Ken Doak responded and found W.M., 55, sitting outside his vehicle. When they approached him, W.M. took out a pocket knife and began to cut his wrists and chest. He initially refused to comply with orders to drop the knife, challenging the rangers to shoot him, but eventually surrendered the knife to them. He was taken to a local hospital, then voluntarily entered a psychiatric facility. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO]
The main rotor blade on a Marine Corps Sea Knight helicopter on a training exercise on the James River near Jamestown apparently struck part of a Navy ship and was damaged, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing on a sandy beach along Colonial Parkway. There was no damage to park resources, and nobody was hurt. The military plans to repair the Sea Knight on site and fly it out of the park. They are also conducting an investigation and maintaining security for the helicopter. Assistant chief ranger Hiram Barber coordinated operations at the scene. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO]
Parks affected by Hurricane Bertha are still conducting damage assessments; numerous reports are therefore pending. As of this morning, only Colonial in Virginia has been heard from. Preliminary assessments there indicate that the park survived the storm with only limited damage. Electric power and phones are out at park headquarters, at the visitor center in Yorktown, and in parts of Jamestown, but the visitor centers will be open today. Portions of the Colonial Parkway between Yorktown and Williamsburg had to be closed around midnight on Friday due to downed trees. Ranger Steve Williams and two other visitors were stranded on the parkway for about an hour due to downed trees in both directions. Williams and park maintenance personnel got the road reopened long enough to permit them to get out of the area; the parkway was then closed for the remainder of the night. At the time of the report early on Saturday morning, it appeared that the parkway would reopen shortly, but that tour roads in Yorktown and Jamestown would remain closed for the weekend to permit removal of downed trees. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO]
Additional reports have been received on the impacts of the hurricane: o Colonial (Virginia) - Park maintenance crews removed enough trees from Colonial Parkway to reopened the road by noon on Saturday. Park tour roads at Yorktown and Jamestown reopened on Sunday. Visitor centers operated on a normal schedule on Saturday, although there was not electricity at Yorktown until that evening. Cleanup of tree damage continued in the Yorktown area yesterday. Park buildings, fences and other facilities suffered very minimal damage, and there were no injuries to visitors or employees. Most of the damage at Yorktown occurred just before midnight on Friday, during the passage of the first line of heavy squalls associated with the hurricane. It appears that a microburst or possibly a small tornado caused the majority of the tree damage along the parkway. [Bob Woody, CI&VS, CAHA; John Tucker, Superintendent, FOSU; Chuck Harris, CR, CALO; Jim Burnett, CR, COLO]
Damage reports are beginning to filter in as flood waters recede and park staffs gain access to their areas: o Colonial - Hurricane impacts were limited to widespread tree damage and extended power outages. Park crews were able to keep the parkway open during the storm except for brief periods when it was blocked by downed trees. Tour roads at Yorktown and Jamestown will remain closed until at least later this week due to numerous downed trees and limbs. Damage assessments have not yet been completed at some of those areas. Jamestown still has no power, and therefore no water or rest room facilities; portions of Jamestown, however, are open to visitors with limited services. Minor water damage occurred in the basement of the Jamestown visitor center. The visitor center at Yorktown reopened Saturday with partial electric power, and was fully operational on Sunday. Cleanup efforts have thus far been concentrated at Jamestown, where a major media and VIP event is scheduled on September 12th. At that time, a key park partner, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, plans a significant public announcement concerning recent archaeological studies on property which they own at Jamestown. [Mark Hardgrove, SAJU; Mark Woods, VIIS]
J.M., 56, of Cardinal, Virginia, was killed on the afternoon of November 1st when her van was struck head-on by another vehicle on the Colonial Parkway between Williamsburg and Yorktown. The driver of the second vehicle, B.T., 39, from Gloucester, Virginia, was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Norfolk with extensive injuries, but is expected to survive. Both vehicles were virtually destroyed in the crash; excellent support from local fire, rescue and EMS units permitted efficient execution of difficult extrications. There were apparently no witnesses to the accident. Ranger Ken Doak is leading the investigation. Assistant chief ranger Hiram Barber was IC on the multi-jurisdiction response. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO]
J.P., 21, a student at the College of William and Mary, went wading and swimming in College Creek with other students from the college at 3:30 a.m. on Friday, October 10th. "No swimming" signs are posted along the creek. According to J.P.'s companions, he waded far enough from the shore to get caught in the current and soon disappeared. A multi-agency land and water search was begun immediately which employed a helicopter with infrared search equipment. Divers from a local fire department found J.P.'s body near the point where he'd last been seen just before 9 a.m. The creek is immediately adjacent to the park, but outside NPS jurisdiction. The investigation was accordingly handled by county officers. Assistant chief ranger Hiram Barber, assisted by ranger Jimbo Thompson, directed the NPS response; ranger Peggie Gaul handled public information duties. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 10/14]
Assistant chief ranger Hiram Barber noticed unusual fumes along the Colonial Parkway near Williamsburg at 6:40 a.m. on the morning of Friday, April 3rd, and soon located petroleum in a nearby drainage. This turned out to be part of a leak of about 1,000 gallons of fuel oil from an underground tank at the nearby Williamsburg Lodge. Prompt response from the town's fire department helped contain the spill and limit damage to park property downstream. About 200 gallons of oil reached the park. Natural resource manager Chuck Rafkind coordinated the NPS response and the cleanup of the spill, which was done by a contractor hired by Colonial Williamsburg. The prompt detection and response prevented serious damage that would have resulted had the cleanup not been completed prior to heavy rains which fell on the area that night. Those rains would have washed the oil into a large wetland area and major waterway just downstream. Monitoring of the site will continue for some time. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 4/8]
Reports have been received from a number of areas, all in various stages of preparation for the imminent arrival of Hurricane Bonnie. Those appear below. Several incident management teams have also either staged or been placed on standby. Southeast's interagency "Blue Team", comprised of representatives from the NPS, Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service, has staged at Fort Bragg and will be supporting FEMA operations. A second interagency incident management team will also be dispatched to that location to support FEMA. Southeast Region's lead Type 2 team (Bob Panko, IC) is on immediate standby for response to NPS areas and is ready to go. The NPS national Type 1 team, SERO's two remaining Type 2 teams, and a CISD team are on standby and available for callout to parks. An innovative maintenance response vehicle, based out of Great Smoky Mountains NP, has been prepared and is ready to go. The truck and gooseneck trailer, which was developed following responses to several of the recent big hurricanes to strike Southeast Region, contains a complete maintenance shop (generators, compressors, saws, drill press, etc.), sleeping quarters for four people, a restroom and a kitchenette. As for the parks themselves: o Colonial NHP (VA) - The park has implemented its hurricane plan. The area is under a hurricane warning and steps are being taken to secure key structures. All visitor facilities will be open today, except for a beach front picnic area and low-lying portions of the tour road on Jamestown Island. A decision on possibly closing the park early will be made during the day, based on weather conditions. Parks in the track of Hurricane Bonnie are urged to transmit reports on storm preparations or impacts to this cc:Mail address at their earliest convenience. [Ken Garvin, SERO, 8/26; Ann Childress, Superintendent, MOCR, 8/25; Bob Woody, CAHA, 8/25; Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 8/25; John Burns, CR, ASIS, 8/25-26; Barry Sullivan, Assistant Superintendent, FIIS, 8/25]
Hurricane Bonnie's impacts on East Coast parks were minimal. Additional reports were received late on Friday and over the weekend: o Colonial NHP (VA) - A preliminary survey was conducted early on Friday morning. A few trees and some limbs were down, but there was no significant damage to buildings. Shorelines and trails were still being checked. Visitor centers and offices remained open on Friday; tour roads in Yorktown remained closed pending cleanup of limbs and debris. A car struck a tree that had fallen across the parkway late on Thursday, but suffered only minor damage. No reports have been received from Cape Hatteras NS since the hurricane passed. [John Burns, CR, ASIS, 8/28; Ken Garvin, SERO, 8/29; Mike Rikard, Acting Superintendent, and Jim Zahradka, CALO, 8/28 and 29; James Burnett, CR, COLO, 8/28]
Ranger Bob Whiteman was on patrol on Colonial Parkway on the afternoon of October 14th when he picked up a local agency broadcast to be on the lookout for a stolen vehicle. Whiteman spotted the vehicle heading in the opposite direction on the parkway shortly thereafter and turned around to follow him. The driver immediately sped away; after a brief pursuit, he left the park, failed to negotiate a curve, ran off the road into heavy brush, then fled into a wooded area. When confronted by a local officer, the man jumped into the York River, over a half mile wide at this point, and attempted to swim away. He was removed from the river a short time later by a county officer on a vessel from a nearby Coast Guard training facility. The man is being held by county officers on a variety of charges. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 10/14]
Over 3,000 people participated in Yorktown Day activities which were held in the park on Monday, October 10th. The event marked the 217th anniversary of the surrender of British and German troops to the allied American and French army on October 19, 1781. Activities included wreath laying ceremonies at the French cemetery, French Memorial and grave of Thomas Nelson, Jr. A parade was held on Main Street and was followed by patriotic exercises at the Yorktown Victory Monument. Two special tactical demonstrations were given by members of The Old Guard on the Yorktown battlefield - one for the 750 school children who attended, the other for the general public. A special, ranger- guided tour retraced the steps of the British army's march to Surrender Field. [Peggie Gaul, Activities Coordinator, COLO, 10/22]
Two reports have been received from parks in the Mid-South that were affected by the severe ice storm that struck on December 23rd and 24th: o Colonial NHP (VA) - Colonial Parkway and park tour roads at both Jamestown and Yorktown remain closed. Between 400 and 500 trees were damaged, leaving roadways impassable and numerous branches hanging dangerously. The entire park closed on the morning of the 24th because of icy conditions and loss of power. Maintenance crews worked through the weekend to remove debris, but cleanup may take several weeks. The visitor centers at Jamestown and Yorktown resumed normal operations yesterday after electrical power was restored. No structural damage has been reported. Damage and cleanup costs are estimated at more than $250,000. Some employees are still without power at their homes. Reports from other parks in the Mid-South that were affected by this storm are solicited. [Peggie Gaul, COLO, 12/28; Mike Greenfield, SPR, RICH, 12/28]
On June 10th, a park visitor turned in a suspicious package which he found on the beach at the beach picnic area. A field test was performed on the contents of the package; the results were positive for cocaine. The package, weighing one kilogram, was estimated to have a street value of $18,000 to $20,000. A thorough search of the shoreline within park boundaries was conducted, but no further contraband was located. Increased patrols are being conducted along park boundaries. Bob Whiteman is leading the investigation and being assisted by DEA. [Hiram Barber, ACR, COLO, 6/11]
A discharge of heavy #6 oil was discovered in Papermill Creek by ranger Jimbo Thompson on June 26th. The Williamsburg Fire Department's hazmat team responded and began efforts to contain the oil, which came from two 10,000- gallon tanks used for fuel storage at the Colonial Williamsburg Lodge. Colonial Williamsburg contracted with Industrial Marine Services to contain and clean-up the spill. About 500 gallons of the oil had been removed from the creek at the time of the report yesterday afternoon. The investigation is continuing. [Hiram Barber, ACR, COLO, 6/30]
Approximately 1,800 bicyclists traveled through the park on June 28th and 29th as part of the annual "Bike Virginia" event. The bicyclists combined with heavy summertime visitation to cause traffic congestion along the entire Colonial Parkway from Yorktown to Jamestown. Two minor EMS cases were reported. [Hiram Barber, ACR, COLO, 6/30]
The following reports have been received from parks over the past 24 hours: o Colonial NHP (VA) - The hurricane has so far inflicted only minor damage on the park. Short portions of the Jamestown tour road have been underwater at high tide and tree limbs have fallen. Since high tides and gusty winds are continuing and the hurricane has turned toward shore again, a thorough check of the shoreline for erosion has not yet been conducted. [Bob Woody, IC, CAHA, 8/31; Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 8/31; Kevin Fitzgerald, CR, CACO, 8/31; Jim Zahradka, IC, CALO, 8/31; Dave Griese, CR, FIIS, 8/31; John Burns, CR, ASIS, 8/31]
The park appears to have escaped without any major impacts from the hurricane/tropical storm. Crews were called out twice over the weekend to remove several downed trees which blocked Colonial Parkway, and are currently removing downed trees and cleaning up tour roads at Yorktown and Jamestown. Visitor centers operated on normal schedules throughout the weekend, but with limited services on Sunday due to power outages. No significant damage to facilities has so far been found. Surveys of park shorelines to ascertain damage occurring during high tides will take some time. [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 9/7]
The following updates have been received from parks being affected by Hurricane Floyd: o Colonial NHP (VA) - The forecast for the area for today calls for heavy rains and sustained tropical force winds with hurricane force gusts. The park will accordingly be closed all day today. Tour roads in Jamestown and Yorktown were closed yesterday. The Colonial Parkway was closed at 4 p.m because of standing water, several trees down across the road, and the possibility of flooding in the tunnel beneath Colonial Williamsburg. The parkway will remain closed indefinitely. Storm surge along the James River was expected to be from one to three feet higher than in the twin nor'easters of 1998 that flooded the Jamestown Visitor Center. High tide will occur around noon today, with the surge expected by mid-afternoon. The lower level of the VC (located at sea level) has been sandbagged and pumps are in place. [Ken Garvin and Daryl Rhodes, SERO, 9/15-16; Barbara Goodman, Superintendent, TIMU/FOCA, 9/15; Linda Brown, CR, MOCR, 9/15; Jim Zahradka, IC, CALO, 9/15; Gary Bremen, IO, BISC, 9/15; Mike Johnson, CR, FRSP, 9/15; Doyle Nelson, CR, DEWA, 9/15; Rick Nolan, CR, FOMC, 9/15; Dave Griese, CR, FIIS, 9/15; Mike Litterst, PAO, COLO, 9/15; Denise Pearce, CAHA, 9/15; LES, CAHA, 9/16; Nora Martinez, CR, CANA, 9/16; Hattie Squires, MOCR, 9/16; Martha Bogle, COSW, 9/16; Dave Parker, FOMA, 9/16; Wally Mattis, CM, FOFR, 9/16; Gordie Wilson, FOMA/CASA, 9/16; John Tucker, Superintendent, FOSU/CHPI, 9/16; John Burn, CR, ASIS, 9/16]
The following updates have been received from parks affected by Hurricane Floyd (from north to south, more or less): o Colonial NHP (VA) - Heavy rain began falling on the park on Wednesday afternoon. Several minor vehicle accidents occurred on the Colonial Parkway due to falling trees and high water, so the 23-mile-long parkway, which connects Yorktown, Williamsburg and Jamestown, was closed and secured at 6:30 p.m. The park remained closed yesterday and essentially inaccessible due to high water. Buildings were inspected early yesterday morning; no major structural damage was found, but there were roof leaks in several buildings and attempts were made to minimize damage with plastic sheeting and buckets. Many major roadways in the area, including I-64, were closed due to high water. Conditions were still deteriorating at the time of the report (mid-morning). [Ken Garvin and Daryl Rhodes, SERO, 9/16; Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 9/16; Earle Kittleman, PAO, NCRO, 9/16; Robert Hickman, Superintendent, PRWI, 9/16; Norm Williams, CM, TIMU/FOCA, 9/16; Brian Peters, CR, CUIS, 9/16; Jim Zahradka, DR, CALO, 9/16; LES, CAHA, 9/16; Chris Revels, KIMO, 9/16; John Breen, Superintendent, FOPU, 9/16; Dispatch, DEWA, 9/17; Greg Stiles, Ken Johnson, SHEN, 9/16; Kevin FitzGerald, CR, CACO, 9/16; John Tucker, Superintendent, FOSU/CHPI, 9/16; Jose Rosario, CR, GATE, 9/16; Rosemary Williams, CANA, 9/16; Rick Nolan, CR, FOMC, 9/17; Tim Mauch, SPR, RICH, 9/17]
The following updates have been received from parks affected by Hurricane Floyd (north to south): o Colonial NHP (VA) - The park received very heavy rain - between 15 and 20 inches - from the storm, and strong winds on Thursday afternoon felled a number of trees. There was no power to either the park or surrounding area during much of Thursday and Friday except for a backup generator at dispatch. Some specifics, as of noon Friday: * The Yorktown VC reopened with resumption of power on Friday morning. Tour roads in Yorktown remain closed. The visitor center and park headquarters sustained some damage from roof leaks. * All facilities at Jamestown were still closed, as the island, which operates on an NPS well, has no water. Since the entire area was under a "boil water" advisory, facilities on Jamestown Island won't be reopened until alternative water and rest room facilities can be found. The island was still inaccessible at the time of the report due to downed trees, but an employee walked in and made an initial assessment. There doesn't appear to be any major structural damage to park buildings, and the visitor center did not flood. A large tree fell across part of the water system pump and electrical controls for the Glasshouse and destroyed a shed owned by Eastern. The roof of a historic church on the island was also damaged by a large tree. * Colonial Parkway has dozens of downed trees across it. The parkway was to reopened from Yorktown to Williamsburg on Friday, and was expected to reopen for most of the area from Williamsburg to the entrance to Jamestown by late Friday afternoon. Flood waters from Papermill Creek were across the parkway, as there was major damage to a culvert under the road at that location. That section of the parkway will therefore be closed indefinitely. * A 15-foot-high earthen dam at Wormley Pond in the Yorktown area was overtopped by flooding and sustained major damage. Although a previous safety analysis of the dam and 16-acre impoundment showed that there was no major risk to property downstream other than a few private piers and boats moored along the stream, the county - at the park's request - notified all private land owners downstream. The dam was still intact on Friday morning, but just barely. The water level was being lowered as quickly as possible. No visitors or employees were injured by the storm, but several visitors who drove around barricades and gates on the closed Colonial Parkway became stranded Thursday evening and had to be rescued. Based on information received from parks in both Southeast and Northeast Regions, the NPS Type II team (Bob Panko) was released on Friday afternoon. [Einar Olsen, RCR, NCRO, 9/17; Mike Shaver, ACR, SAHI, 9/17; Sandy Rives, FRSP, 9/17; Bob Woody, IO, CAHA, 9/17; Ann Childress, MOCR, 9/17; George Liffert, IC, PRWI, 9/17; Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 9/17; Paul Henry, NPS Superintendent, FLETC, 9/17; John Burns, CR, ASIS, 9/17; Jeffrey Collins, CR, HOFU, 9/17; Kevin FitzGerald, CR, CACO, 9/17; John Tucker, FOSU/CHPI, 9/17; Scott Kalbach, VAFO, 9/17; Martin Zweig, RLES, NERO, 9/17; Gordie Wilson, Superintendent, CASA/FOMA, 9/19]
The winter storm that swung through the South, then strengthened and surprised much of the East Coast yesterday, affected offices and parks throughout the area: o Colonial NHP (VA) - Both the Yorktown and Jamestown units were closed yesterday due to a combination of heavy sleet and blowing snow, with winds gusting to gale force. All schools and public offices in the area were closed. Crews were attempting to keep the parkway passable for traffic. Short summaries from other parks affected by this storm would be appreciated and will appear tomorrow. [Jim Carson, CR, JELA, 1/25; CRO, LIRI, 1/25; Steve Ware, CVS, GUCO, 1/25; Dave Barna, WASO, 1/25; Cindy MacLeod, Superintendent, RICH/MAWA, 1/25; Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 1/25]
Several more reports have been received on the impacts of the ice storm and blizzard that swept through the South and East this week: o Colonial NHP (VA) - The worst winter storm in at least a decade brought normal activity to a standstill in the area around Colonial on Tuesday morning. Various parts of the park received from eight to twelve inches of sleet and snow during the day, with near blizzard conditions on Tuesday afternoon. On several occasions, emergency vehicles in nearby jurisdictions became stranded while responding to calls. A number of local residents with four-wheel-drive vehicles came to the park's Yorktown unit to use the few hills in the area for sledding; active management by protection staff helped avoid any incidents. The park's visitor centers and HQ remained closed yesterday. Maintenance and protection staffs were on duty and trying to restore access for normal operations. Colonial Parkway remained open throughout the storm due to efforts by park maintenance crews. The sleet which fell early in the storm in Yorktown has now frozen solid, and most secondary roads in the area, including county and state roads in the village of Yorktown, are treacherous to impassable except by four-wheel-drive vehicles. Foot travel is also very difficult due to icy conditions. The park hopes to reopen its visitor centers today. Short summaries from other parks affected by this storm would be appreciated. [Mike Hill, Superintendent, PETE, 1/26; Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 1/26; Scott Pfeninger, CR, CHAT, 1/26; John Burns, CR, ASIS, 1/26; Cynthia MacLeod, Superintendent, RICH, 1/26]
Supervisory park ranger Curt Gaul discovered irregularities while conducting entrance station audits at Jamestown last September. Following a preliminary investigation, assistant chief ranger Hiram Barber and ranger Robert Whiteman conducted video surveillance of the fee operation for ten days. A review of the video tapes and cash register receipts led to an interview with fee collector P.C. and to a subsequent written confession from P.C., who was released from duty and charged with embezzlement under 18 USC 641. On February 8th, P.C. appeared in magistrate's court and pled guilty to the charge. He was fined $250, ordered to make restitution, and placed on three years' probation. [Hiram Barber, ACR, COLO, 2/17]
Approximately 8,000 people attended the Yorktown Day celebration yesterday. This annual observance of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to General Washington's combined Franco-American army is hosted by the park and co-sponsored by the park and the 14 patriotic and civic organizations of the Yorktown Day Association. The event included participation by all five branches of the military (including a flyover from Oceana NAS), greetings from France delivered by the French consul general, and a presentation of 18th century military tactics by the Commander-in-Chief's Guard and by the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps. Beautiful weather contributed to the enormous crowds, believed to be the largest in at least the last ten years of this event, which has been celebrated annually since 1922. [Mike Litterst, PAO, COLO, 10/19]
Dispatch was notified of a near drowning at College Creek along the parkway on June 25th. Ranger Jimbo Thompson found a ten-year-old lying on the beach in obvious respiratory distress. Thompson provided initial care, then was advised that a second victim was suffering from an asthma attack. James City County fire and EMS units were dispatched and took both boys to the hospital. According to witnesses, ten-year-old E.T. was wading in the creek and stepped into deep water. The swift tidal current began pulling him away from the shore and he screamed for help. G.B., 59, heard the screams, jumped into the creek and was able to lift the boy's head out of the water. While trying to swim back to the shoreline, however, he became exhausted and suffered an asthma attack. A second rescuer, R.B., jumped in the creek and managed to pull them both back to the beach. E.T. and G.B. have made full recoveries. (Tom Nash, CR, COLO, 6/29)
C.M., 56, was killed in a single vehicle accident on the Colonial Parkway near Route 199 at Kingspoint on the night of January 19th. C.M. was eastbound on the parkway when he lost control of his 1989 Honda Civic and struck the Highway 199 overpass. The vehicle sustained severe damage and C.M. was trapped inside for about half an hour. James City County Rescue personnel pronounced him dead at the scene. Heavy rains during the day and night contributed to the accident. James Redford was the lead investigator. [Hiram A. Barber, ACR, COLO, 1/22]
On the morning of February 12th, the park received notification to be on the lookout for a suicidal person who liked to frequent the Colonial Parkway in the Jamestown area. Chief ranger Tom Nash and rangers Ken Doak and Grant Stolehand investigated. While en route to Jamestown, they received a call from a maintenance worker reporting a man lying on the beach near Mill Creek who appeared to be very pale. When Doak arrived, he found the man lying on the beach with a revolver between his legs. Blood covered his face from a major head injury, and there were no signs of life. A medical examiner pronounced him dead at the scene from a single gunshot wound to his head. A joint investigation by James City County PD and the Naval Investigative Service revealed that the victim had been a Navy commander stationed at Norfolk, and that he'd recently been charged with rape, fraternization, and violation of orders and was to appear in court that morning. He had called his attorney at 7 a.m. and told him that he didn't want to go to jail and planned to end his life. [Hiram A. Barber, ACR, COLO, 2/13]
On May 2nd, a severe thunderstorm moved through the park, uprooting numerous trees and knocking down power lines throughout the area. The Colonial Parkway was closed from 5 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. due to downed trees and a high voltage power line across the road. All of the park's tour roads were closed due to downed trees. Rangers and maintenance workers were able to remove the trees on the parkway that evening, permitting the reopening of the highway, but the tour roads were not reopened until May 4th. Maintenance crews are still in the process of removing debris and downed trees from areas in the park. [Tom Nash, CR, COLO, 5/7]
Park dispatch received a 911 call from a motorist on May 3rd, reporting an assault that had occurred along the Colonial Parkway in the College Creek area. The occupants of two vehicles had been engaged in a "road rage" incident, with the driver of a Ford SUV throwing a beer can or bottle at a Mercedes that had attempted to pass him. The driver of the Mercedes managed to pass and pulled into the College Creek turnout, where her friends were waiting for her. The SUV pulled in and the driver got out and assaulted and battered one of the Mercedes driver's friends. Another friend attempted to intervene and was slightly injured by the SUV driver. Both vehicles then pulled out of the turnout, with the SUV chasing the Mercedes down the parkway, through James City County, and into Williamsburg. Rangers were attempting to locate the vehicles when Williamsburg PD officers found and stopped the vehicles on Route 199 just below the parkway. The driver of the SUV was taken into custody for DWI and possession of marijuana. The park is conducting an investigation into assault and battery; federal charges are pending against the driver of the SUV. [Tom Nash, CR, COLO, 5/7]
Park dispatch received a report of a single vehicle accident with injuries at kilometer 12 on the Colonial Parkway at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 22nd. A family on vacation had witnessed the accident and stopped to render assistance to the driver and her infant son. Two members of the family performed rescue breathing on the infant and other family members cared for the driver until rescue workers arrived and took over treatment. The driver, A.M. of Williamsburg, was treated at the scene and transported to Riverside Hospital in Newport News; her seven-and-a-half month old son, who was in a child safety seat, was airlifted to Children's Hospital in Norfolk Virginia with head and spine injuries. A.M. was treated for non-life threatening injuries and released on Thursday. The infant remained on life support until Friday afternoon, when it was removed. On Friday afternoon, the park and county fire and life safety personnel presented the family with letters of appreciation and certificates before they left the area. The accident is still under investigation. Ranger Bob Whiteman is the lead investigator. [Hiram Barber, ACR, COLO, 5/24]
On the afternoon of September 24, the driver of a Hydraulics Unlimited dump truck pulling a trailer with an excavator on board was southbound on Route 17 when he passed under and failed to clear a bridge on the park's West Tour Road which spans the highway. According to witnesses, the excavator's arm was in the upright position, too high to make it under the overpass, which is about 14 feet high. The excavator's arm hit the concrete support beams, knocking out two of them and heavily damaging the other two. The force of the collision knocked the excavator off the trailer, causing extensive damage to it. The highway was closed for several hours during the cleanup. The West Tour Road will be closed indefinitely. The damage has been placed at over $400,000. The park, state DOT and FHWA are working to arrange funding and develop a time frame for repairs. [Submitted by Tom Nash, Chief Ranger, Colonial NHP]
The park's communication center received a 911 call from York County emergency reporting a fire at the Yorktown National Cemetery around quarter of six on the morning of October 26. York County firefighters and sheriff's officers responded along with a park ranger. The fire was found to be burning in the cemetery's historic maintenance shed. It was quickly extinguished. Damage to the building included broken windows, a burned work bench, and fire damage to walls and the building's electrical system. Initial investigation revealed that the building had been forcibly entered and the fire set. While the fire was being extinguished, a York County deputy observed a teenage male riding his bicycle past the fire scene. The teenager appeared to be interested in the fire, but became nervous when the deputy called to him. The boy, identified as Kevin West, consented to a pat down. The deputy found a knife with char marks on its blade, which was bent as if it had been used to pry off the hasp of the building. West was interviewed by a York County investigator and by the ranger. This was the sixth arson fire set in three days; three of them occurred on York County school property, and two others were set in trash cans at the park's Yorktown Visitor Center. During a follow-up interview conducted by York County investigators, West admitted to starting the fires, and to setting fire to his mother's house in nearby Gloucester County. Charges are pending in York County. [Submitted by Tom Nash, Chief Ranger]
A park visitor reported what appeared to be a manikin on Tobacco Road
under the footbridge from the Yorktown VC to the town at 7 a.m. on March
21st. She also saw a rope hanging from the bridge, which is about 50
feet above the road. Ranger James Redford investigated and found the
body of a Grafton, Virginia, man under the bridge. The man had parked
his vehicle in the VC parking lot sometime the previous night; a ranger
checked it just after 11 p.m., but was unable to find the driver.
Evidence indicated that the victim had hung himself from the bridge,
then fallen to the ground. York County SO deputies and rangers
investigated.
Preparations continue along the East Coast for the imminent arrival of Hurricane Isabel. Reports received as of this morning follow, from south to north:
Parks to the south of the Carolinas are all keeping a wary eye on the storm, just in case the course changes, but generally remain in a "stand by" mode. Prepared from reports submitted by Bob Vogel, Superintendent, CALO; Dann Trexler, IC, CAHA; Tom Nash, CR, COLO; Vince Santucci, CR, GWMP; Laura Illige, CI, ROCR; Einar Olsen, RCR, NCRO; Mike Hill, Superintendent, ASIS; Bill Halainen, IO, DEWA; Frank Mills, IC, STLI; and Wayne Valentine, IC, FIIS.
Despite its weakening, Hurricane Isabel remains a serious threat to portions of the northeast coastline and to nearby inland areas. Parks in those regions continue to prepare for its arrival. As a precautionary measure, one of the Service's two national Type 1 teams (JD Swed's team) will be staging in Charlotte, North Carolina, in order to be prepared to respond as needed to any park or area. A number of Type 2 teams are also on standby. Here's a rundown on the status of many of the parks in or near the storm's path (south to north):
This summary was compiled from reports submitted by Randy Coffman, DL&ES, WASO; Wouter Ketel, IC, CALO; Ann Childress, Superintendent, MOCR; Mark Hardgrover, Deputy Superintendent, CAHA; Mike Hill, Superintendent, ASIS; Duane Erwin, Chief Ranger, and Russ Whitlock, Deputy Director, WOTR; Stephen Syphax, NACE; Laura Illige, CI, ROCR; Doug Wallner, Acting Regional Chief Ranger, NERO; Wayne Valentine, IC, FIIS; Tom Nash, Chief Ranger, COLO; Charles Strickfaden, Chief Ranger, FOMC; Frank Mills, Assistant Superintendent, STLI; and Wayne Sanders, Chief of Maintenance, GEWA/THST.
Eastern parks in the path or potential path of Isabel have completed preparations. As a precautionary measure, one of the Service's two national Type 1 teams (JD Swed's team) has staging in Charlotte, North Carolina, in order to be prepared to respond as needed to any park or area. A number of Type 2 teams are also on standby. All federal agencies in the Washington area are closed today, including the NPS Washington Office. OPM will monitor the weather and make a determination later today on whether or not offices will reopen on Friday. Here's a rundown on the status of many of the parks in or near the storm's path (south to north):
This summary was compiled from reports submitted by Ken Garvin, SERO; Brenda Ritchie, EICC, SHEN; Russ Wilson, Superintendent, SAHO/GATE; Ann Childress, Superintendent, MOCR; Mark Hardgrove, Assistant Superintendent, CAHA; Mike Litterst, PIO, COLO; Bob Kirby, Superintendent, PETE; Wayne Valentine, IC, FIIS; José Rosario, Acting Chief, Park Operations Support, GATE; Cindy MacLeod, Superintendent, RICH; William Kenyon, NCR Dispatch; Scot McElveen, Chief Ranger, HAFE; Wayne Sanders, Chief of Maintenance, GEWA/THST; Tom Nash, Chief Ranger, COLO; Russ Smith, Superintendent, FRSP; Clay Jordan, IC, SHEN; Steven Ambrose, Park Ranger, HOFU; Frank Mills, IC, STLI; Ed Whitaker, IC, DEWA.
Due to the ongoing passage of Hurricane Isabel through the eastern states, not all parks have been able to report on their status. Here's a rundown of those that had been heard from as of late yesterday evening (south to north):
Meanwhile, the NPS Type 1 IMT (JD Swed, IC) is currently staged in Charlotte, North Carolina, working with the regional emergency response coordinators for the three regions (SER, NCR, NER) on providing assistance to parks currently being affected by Hurricane Isabel. The Type 1 team has compiled contact lists and has provided a team liaison to assist at the North Carolina Emergency Operations Center. Parks should report their current situations to their respective emergency response coordinators and make requests for resources and assistance to them. The Type 1 team will coordinate these requests with the regional emergency coordinator to determine the appropriate response. More information will be available later today, once parks have had an opportunity to complete preliminary assessments on their needs. This summary was compiled from reports submitted by Ken Garvin, SERO; Brenda Ritchie, EICC, SHEN; Cindy MacLeod, Superintendent, RICH; Bob Vogel, Superintendent, CALO; Mark Hardgrove, Assistant Superintendent, CAHA; Barry Munyan, ADR, CAHA; Vince Santucci, Chief Ranger, GWMP; Doug Wallner, Acting Regional Chief Ranger, NERO; Laura Joss, General Superintendent, FOMC/HAMP; Bob Martin, Regional Chief Ranger, NERO; Carla Hauser Hahn, Executive Assistant, UPDE; Phillip Correl, Director, NEJE; Reed Johnson, Superintendent, APCO; Wayne Valentine, IC, FIIS; Ed Whitaker, IC, DEWA; Kris Fister, IO, Type 1 IMT.
Hurricane Isabel caused moderate to extensive damage in many parks within Southeast, National Capital and Northeast Regions. As of yesterday, 36 parks had reported damage sufficient to require the preparation of conditions assessments. Although most of these parks are not requesting any additional assistance, several have sustained damage sufficient to warrant oversight of recovery efforts by incident management teams. Here's a rundown on the affected parks (south to north), excluding those that reported negligible impacts:
Additional reports will appear daily during recovery operations, which will likely go on for some time. Current information and essential documents from the incident management teams will be available at the IMT web page: http://www.nps.gov/fire/allrisk/. Please check if for additional details. Reports compiled from submissions by Kris Fister, IO, Type 1 IMT; Ken Garvin, SERO; Don Boucher, NCRO; Doug Wallner, NERO; Ann Childress, Superintendent, MOCR; Wouter Ketel, IC, and Bob Vogel, Superintendent, CALO; Paul Stevens, Liaison Officer, IMT, and Barry Munyan, ADR, CAHA; Vidal Martinez, Superintendent, GEWA; Reed Johnson, Superintendent, APCO; Clay Jordan, IC, Type 3 IMT, SHEN; Mike Hill, Superintendent, ASIS; Charlie Strickfaden, Chief Ranger, FOMC; Gregory Smith, Chief Ranger, MORR; Maryanne Gerbauckas, Superintendent, EDIS; Bill Sanders, Superintendent, HOFU; Cindy McLeod, Superintendent, RICH; Bob Kirby, Superintendent, PETE; Russ Smith, Superintendent, FRSP.
Damage assessments and the organization of repair and rehabilitation operations are underway at parks throughout the Mid-Atlantic states. Assisting with and supporting these efforts are JD Swed's Type 1 team (currently relocating from Charlotte to Williamsburg), Rick Brown's Type 2 team, and Clay Jordan's Type 3 team at Shenandoah. Here's a rundown on the current status of affected parks (south to north): Colonial NHP Park staff have met with members of the Type 1 team. Maintenance folks have done a great job in clearing Colonial Parkway of many downed trees, and it may open as early as today. About 80% of Tidewater Virginia is without power, as are many park employees. The dispatch and maintenance buildings are running on generators. Storm surge damage occurred at the Jamestown VC and a historic building near the James River. Additional reports will appear daily during recovery operations, which will likely go on for some time. Current information and essential documents from the incident management teams will be available at the IMT web page: http://www.nps.gov/fire/allrisk/. Please check if for additional details. Reports compiled from submissions by Kris Fister, IO, Type 1 IMT; Ken Garvin, SERO; Don Boucher, NCRO; Bob Martin and Doug Wallner, NERO; Mary Doll, PIO, Outer Banks Group; Wouter Ketel, IC/Chief Ranger, and Donna Tipton, PIO, CALO; Laura Joss, Superintendent, FOMC; Vidal Martinez, Superintendent, GEWA/THST; Cindy MacLeod, Superintendent, RICH/MAWA; Bob Kirby, Superintendent, PETE; Laurie Coughlan, Superintendent, HAMP; Clay Jordan, IC, Type 3 IMT, SHEN; Tom Nash, Chief Ranger, COLO; Bill Sanders, Superintendent, HOFU; Mike Hill, Superintendent, ASIS.
Tuesday was a day for organization, assessment and orientation of
incoming personnel who will be working on incident recovery operations.
JD Swed's Type 1 team has relocated to Williamsburg. Operations there
will be divided into two branches - one will deal with the problems
at Colonial NHP (see below), the other with recovery at Petersburg NB,
Richmond NBP and Fredericksburg/Spotsylania NMP. Branch directors
completed visits to all these sites on Monday and Tuesday. Rick Brown's
Type 2 team will be handling Cape Lookout NS and Cape Hatteras NS and is
organizing for operations there. A primary challenge for his team will
be accessing the parks due to the severe transportation infrastructure
problems at both sites. Only two park reports are available today: Colonial NHP Historic Jamestowne and the Yorktown Battlefield remain closed as damage assessments continue at both sites. The Colonial Parkway from Route 199/Kings Point west to Route 159 at Jamestown reopened at noon on Monday, and plans called for the reopening of the segment from Route 199/Cheatham Annex east to Yorktown later that day. The cleanup task facing the park and the supporting Type 1 team has been described by the superintendent as "overwhelming." Here's a brief overview:
Additional reports will appear daily during recovery operations, which will likely go on for some time. Current information and essential documents from the incident management teams will be available at the IMT web page: http://www.nps.gov/fire/allrisk/ . Please check if for additional details. Reports compiled from submissions by Kris Fister, IO, Type 1 IMT; John Storke, Facility Management Specialist, GEWA; and Mike Litterst, PIO, COLO.
Yesterday's efforts focused largely on organizing incident management operations, orienting incoming personnel, obtaining equipment, and gathering important damage cost data for the regional and Washington offices. Initial recovery efforts were hampered by heavy rain that fell on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, causing new flood damage in many areas already affected by Isabel. The following reports were received from parks and regions over the past 24 hours. They are listed from south to north. This information either supplements or revises information previously reported; no effort is being made to recap earlier submissions with each new summary. Through the assistance of David Duran in the Service's National Information Systems Center in Denver, URL's are posted below for maps of three of the hardest hit parks - Cape Lookout, Cape Hatteras, and Colonial - so that readers can more easily determine referenced locations. Others will be added in the future as needed. You can zoom in or out or pan from one park to another and can also turn additional data layers on or off, e.g. National Geographic TOPO!, Relief Imagery, Flood Hazard Areas, Land Cover Imagery, etc. The sites are, respectively: http://maps2.itc.nps.gov/nps/parkatlas/jsp/atlas.jsp?zoomtopark=Cape%20Lookout%20National%20Seashore For a gallery of photos of the hurricane's effects on several parks, put together by WASO ITC's Ken Handwerger, please go to http://inside.nps.gov/ people/hurricane/. This gallery will be added to on a regular basis. Colonial NHP The full 23-mile length of Colonial Parkway opened to traffic yesterday. Yorktown Visitor Center will open today. Additional reports will appear daily during recovery operations, which will likely go on for some time. Current information and essential documents from the incident management teams will be available at the IMT web page: http://www.nps.gov/fire/allrisk/. Please check if for additional details. Reports compiled from submissions by Kris Fister, IO, Type 1 IMT; Barb Stewart, IO, Type 2 IMT; Don Boucher, NCRO; Dan Davidson, Shenandoah EICC; Bob Kirby, Superintendent, PETE; Clay Jordan, IC, Type 3 IMT, SHEN; Bob Martin, Regional Chief Ranger, NERO; Russ Smith, Superintendent, FRSP; Cindy McLeod, Superintendent, RICH.
Overview Crews and other resources have been arriving at the Williamsburg ICP for JD Swed's Type 1 IMT since Wednesday, bringing the total number of personnel currently assigned to the incident to 131. Early work efforts are focused on orienting personnel to the operations, with a heavy emphasis on safety due to the increased hazards involved in tree removal operations, especially with vehicle traffic. Team members are also holding short training sessions on ICS for newly-arrived personnel, as there are many people coming to this incident with minimal previous exposure to the system. The FMSS team continues to compile and input facilities assessment information received from the 38 park units that sustained hurricane-related damage. The preliminary assessment has been 100% completed by the parks. The FMSS team members are going out to parks beginning today to conduct comprehensive condition assessments. Crews will continue work on clearing the Yorktown Battlefield tour road in Colonial NHP. Additional crews and other resources were dispatched yesterday to Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania NMP, Richmond NB and Petersburg NB to work on tree clearing and other cleanup operations. Many employees working in the parks being managed in this incident are still without power at home. These same employees have been working for extended hours with little or no time off for over a week. A three-person Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) team was scheduled to arrive in Williamsburg yesterday. They will make arrangements to provide assistance to park employees dealing with incident-related stress Rick Brown's Type 2 team, which is focusing on four sites in what's being called the North Carolina Seashore Area, is divided into two branches. The Outer Banks Group branch has four divisions - one for Wright Brothers and Fort Raleigh, one for Bodie Island, one for Hatteras Island, and one for Ocracoke Island; the Cape Lookout branch has two divisions - one for Core Banks and one for Portsmouth Village. Principal problems confronting personnel on this operation have to do with the time and distances between locations and the amount of travel required. Operations are underway in all divisions. Park Updates The following reports were received from parks and regions over the past 24 hours. They are listed from south to north. This information either supplements or revises information previously reported; no effort is being made to recap earlier submissions with each new summary.
Additional Information
Reports compiled from submissions by Kris Fister, IO, Type 1 IMT; Barb Stewart, IO, Type 2 IMT; Karl Merchant, Plans Chief, Type 2 IMT; Dave Lattimore, Plans Chief, Type 1 IMT; Don Boucher, NCRO; Zeke Seabright, NCR Communications Center; Clay Jordan, IC, Type 3 IMT, SHEN; Bob Martin, Regional Chief Ranger, NERO; Cindy McLeod, Superintendent, RICH; Mike Litterst, PIO, COLO.
The following reports reflect the status of operations through late Tuesday. Please note that a number of new photos of the impacts of Hurricane Isabel have also been added to the photo gallery found at http://inside.nps.gov/ people/hurricane/ Type 1 Team (JD Swed) Crews continue to make good progress in all areas, including Colonial NHP, Petersburg NB, Richmond NB and Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania NMP. The crew clearing the Jamestown tour road discovered that two of the bridges on the loop road have been moved from their original locations and are impassable. One bridge is approximately 200 feet in length and the other about 400 feet long. This damage had not been seen during aerial overflights of the site on Saturday. The relocation of the Jamestown artifact collection to Fort Lee is on schedule, and is expected to be completed by mid-day Tuesday. Triage of the artifacts will be continued there. The materials will be stored there until they are shipped to other facilities for restorative treatment. Assessment field teams continue to assist parks with condition assessments. Parks being assisted include Colonial NHP, Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania NMP, Petersburg, NB, George Washington Birthplace NM, Richmond NB, and C&O Canal NHP. Six additional crews and other resources arrived on Monday, which significantly increased the people and equipment that will be working in the various divisions. Some of these crews had just been released by FEMA. One hotshot crew will begin cleanup work along the Colonial Parkway in non-traffic areas, clearing away fallen trees and other debris from parking lots, interpretive pullouts, and off-road areas. Cleanup work along the road itself will begin later in the week. Traffic delays of up to 15 minutes may occur, as both lanes may need to be closed during some of the clearing operations. A total of 216 people are currently assigned to this portion of the recovery efforts. The cost to date is $1,606,910. Colonial NHP The encampment tour road at Yorktown Battlefield reopened yesterday afternoon, as crews completed clearing the several hundred trees that had blocked the nine-mile wooded drive. The historic Moore House, scene of surrender negotiations between British and American officers at the end of the siege of Yorktown, also reopened, as power was finally restored to the house. Most of the public use areas on the battlefield are now open as they were prior to the storm. Only the Beach Picnic Area and the Nelson House, which still has not had power restored, remain closed. Since both parkway and battlefield tour roads are open, crews will now begin the process of removing the hundreds of trees that have been moved to the sides of the road. Historic Jamestowne, the hardest hit unit of the park, remained closed and without power, as park staff and members of the IMT continue to assess the damage at the site of America's first permanent English settlement. Additional Information
Reports compiled from submissions by Kris Fister, IO, Type 1 IMT; Barb Stewart, IO, Type 2 IMT; Karl Merchant, Plans Chief, Type 2 IMT; Dave Lattimore, Plans Chief, Type 1 IMT; Bob Kirby, Superintendent, PETE; Mike Litterst, PIO, COLO; John Storke, GEWA; Michelle Fidler, PIO, CALO.
The following reports reflect the status of operations through late Wednesday. Type 1 Team (JD Swed) Crews have made additional progress towards reopening some park areas. The Encampment Tour Road and the historic Moore House in the Yorktown portion of Colonial NHP opened on Tuesday. The discovery of the damaged bridges on Jamestown Island will hamper the re-opening of that section of the park, as both loops of the tour road are impassable without the bridges. The bridges have been surveyed by FHWA experts, who believe that the bridges can be moved back to their original locations. Work began on the cleanup of the heavily traveled Colonial Parkway, the 23-mile road that connects Yorktown and Jamestown. The park staff had cut through hundreds of downed trees to open the road only four days after the hurricane, but additional clearing and debris cleanup needs to take place. The relocation of the Jamestown artifact collection to Fort Lee near Richmond has been completed. Crews are making headway at Richmond NBP and the area could reopen later this week. Incident personnel working with Petersburg NBP staff continued clearing trees and debris from park roads and trails. Trail clearing continued at Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania NMP. The Richmond NBP employee who had sustained a hand injury (it was Richmond and not Petersburg as reported in an earlier update) is back at work. One new injury was reported, an ankle injury sustained by a hotshot crew member yesterday. It has been determined that very costly repairs would be required to repair the Jamestown Visitor Center, due to the extensive water damage to its electrical, heating and air conditioning systems. The building was going to be replaced by 2007, in time for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. Besides functioning as the area's main visitor contact point and housing the park's cultural artifact collection, the visitor center provided space for employee offices and a large bookstore operated by Eastern National. Plans are being developed for an interim visitor contact station that will accommodate these functions until the new visitor center is constructed. To meet the park's immediate needs, a modular trailer from Shenandoah National Park will be relocated to Jamestown for use as a contact station and office space until plans and funding for the interim facility are finalized. Assessment field teams continue to assist parks with condition assessments and input assessment data into the FMSS system. There are 246 people currently assigned to this portion of the recovery efforts. The cost to date is $1,863,809. Additional Information
Reports compiled from submissions by Kris Fister, IO, Type 1 IMT; Barb Stewart, IO, Type 2 IMT; Karl Merchant, Plans Chief, Type 2 IMT; Dave Lattimore, Plans Chief, Type 1 IMT; Karen Beck-Herzog, PIO, SHEN.
The following reports reflect the status of operations through Sunday. Please note below that a second URL has been posted for hurricane recovery photos that are accessible to the general public: http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/HurricaneIsabel/ Colonial NHP As noted last week, the NPS has decided not to reopen the Historic Jamestowne Visitor Center due to damage from Hurricane Isabel. The building suffered extensive water damage from the storm surge, which occurred at high tide. The rising water deposited approximately more than four feet of water in the basement of the building, causing significant damage to the curatorial collection of approximately 600,000 artifacts from 17th century Jamestown. The building's mechanical equipment, including the electrical and HVAC systems, was destroyed by the flood. Although the visitor center is structurally sound and could be renovated, the projected cost and the approaching 400th anniversary observance in 2007 were important factors in the decision to close. The building suffered more than $2 million in damage. With construction of the new visitor center scheduled to begin in 2004, it didn't make sense to repair the current building. The replacement of the Jamestown Visitor Center will occur in two phases. Initially, a modular trailer will serve as a temporary visitor facility and office space, providing 1,536 square feet of space for visitors and park staff. It should be installed by approximately October 15th. The site will reopen to public use when the area has been made safe and all utilities have been restored. Eventually, this temporary trailer will be replaced by an interim visitor contact station. Designed by Williamsburg architectural firm Carlton Abbott & Partners, this facility will provide visitor orientation areas, exhibit space, retail facilities, and office space for park staff. The interim facility, providing 2,880 square feet of space, will be located in the current bus parking area. When the new permanent Jamestown Visitor Center opens, currently scheduled for 2006, this interim visitor contact station will be utilized as part of the new transportation center that will be built at Neck of Land along the Colonial Parkway. Historic Jamestowne suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Isabel, when a combination of storm surge and high tide cause extensive flooding and water damage across Jamestown Island. Electrical power is still out on the site. Storm water breached the basement of the Jamestown Visitor Center, causing extensive damage to the building's utilities, as well as a portion of the park's curatorial collection. The Jamestown Glasshouse likewise suffered extensive flooding from the James River storm surge. Hundreds of trees are down along the Loop Drive, and two of the wooden bridges along the route were removed from their footings. For additional information on storm damage at Historic Jamestowne, Yorktown Battlefield or the Colonial Parkway, contact the park's public affairs office at 757-898-2409. Additional Information
Reports compiled from submissions by Kris Fister, IO, Type 1 IMT; Mark Harvey, Resource Unit Leader, Type 1 IMT; Michelle Fidler, IO, Type 2 IMT; Karl Merchant, Plans Chief, Type 2 IMT; Mike Litterst, PIO, COLO; Vidal Martinez, Superintendent, GEWA.
The following reports reflect the status of operations through Monday. Type 2 Team (Sherrie Collins) Crews are making excellent progress on continued cleanup of roads and trails in Colonial NHP, Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania NMP, Richmond NBP and Petersburg NB. It's possible that all the trails and roads in Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania will be cleaned up within the next few days, at which time personnel there will be shifted to another park. The Colonial Parkway crew has completed cleanup on one side of the road for over four of its 23 miles. An additional hazard to the ongoing recovery effort is the increasing park visitation as areas open up, especially on weekends. Curious visitors are attempting to get too close to crews, and are accessing closed roads on bicycles, foot or horseback. The FMSS team completed its compilation of the damage assessments for the 27 parks that sustained hurricane-related damage on Sunday evening. This monetary figure was forwarded to Director Mainella's office yesterday. Staff working in the Jamestown unit began the construction of a ventilation system for the closed visitor center yesterday. The ventilation will keep mold from growing in the building, which would pose a hazard to demolition workers. The Central Incident Management Team (Sherrie Collins, IC) has taken over management of the incident. The National Team will be in the Washington Office today to brief the director and other members of her staff. The National Incident Management Team wishes to express its thanks to the superintendents and staffs of the parks that it has been assisting with hurricane recovery. These people have put in hundreds of extra hours of hard work to get their areas up and running, in spite of dealing with personal hardships, and their hospitality and assistance has been very much appreciated. The IMT also wishes to extend its deepest appreciation to the superintendents and staffs of all the park units who have released personnel and other resources from their parks to assist with the hurricane recovery effort. There are 370 personnel currently assigned to the recovery effort. The cost to date is $4,707,941. Additional Information
Reports compiled from submission by Kris Fister, IO, Type 1 IMT.
The following reports reflect the status of operations through Tuesday. Central IMT (Sherrie Collins) Incident commander Sherrie Collins and her NPS Central Incident Management Team have taken over the recovery efforts at the four Virginia parks. Recovery efforts at Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania NMP are nearing completion. At Petersburg NB, all trees at the national cemetery have been cut down and bucked up. While significant progress has been made in the Fort Harrison section of Richmond NB, a great deal of work remains. Along the Colonial Parkway, two miles of one side of the 22-mile parkway have been cleared to the mow line, thanks to the influx of more heavy equipment. For the crews working on clearing the roadways, parking lots, scenic overlooks, battlefields, and cemeteries, the work has been long and constant. To quote a member of the Augusta Hotshot crew, "Working on this incident is a lot different than working on a fire assignment. We've had an average of nine chainsaws running each day and going through about 15 gallons of chainsaw fuel. Compare this to an average fire assignment where we have about four chainsaws running and use about five gallons of fuel each day." It's the type of work crews enjoy - precision, physical labor, and planning. It's also the type of work that gets tiring. Area residents are showing their appreciation to crews for their rapid clearing of roads and views by providing them with freshly baked items. One resident even used this opportunity to learn some "professional tree-trimming techniques." Many crews are at the close of their two-week assignment and looking forward to a rest. While these crews return home, others will move in and continue the work of clearing trees. There is a lot of work to be done, but the light at the end of the tunnel shines brighter each day. The Augusta Hotshots are one of five crews that demobilized Tuesday afternoon. Also heading home will be the Cedar City Hotshots (UT), the Navajo Hotshots (AZ), two Type 2 crews from Idaho's Panhandle National Forest, and the Colorado River crew from Grand Junction, Colorado. Four new crews from Arkansas and one from Florida were slated to arrive late yesterday to take their place. There are 366 personnel currently assigned to the recovery effort. The cost to date is $4,769,426. Daily updates, photos, and the latest incident action plan are available on the Central Team's Hurricane Isabel page on the NPS IMT web site: www.nps.gov/fire/allrisk Report compiled from submission by Al Nash, IO, Central IMT.
Utilizing preliminary damage assessments prepared by parks, incident management teams and regional offices, the Washington Office has prepared and released a summary of the cumulative impacts of the hurricane on the 27 parks reporting damage. These are not final cost estimates, which should be out later in the year. The preliminary estimate is that the hurricane inflicted about $137 million in damage. Earlier this year, parks elsewhere in the system reported damage of about $13 million, so the total damage assessment for the year comes to $150 million. It's not yet clear whether there were will be a budget supplemental to cover these and storm-related costs incurred by other agencies. All the projects are therefore being put into the facility assessment program and will be funded in priority order. These projects will be compared with other facility needs across the country to establish priorities. The Service's role is to assess damage, take care of immediate resource protection and safety issues, and notify the management chain - the Department of the Interior and the Congress - of NPS needs. Estimates at specific parks include:
The following reports reflect the status of operations through Monday. Central IMT (Sherrie Collins) Almost as fast as Hurricane Isabel moved through coastal Virginia, museum specialists from the National Park Service swooped in after the storm passed to check on the archeological collection housed in the Visitor Center at Historic Jamestowne. Brackish water from torrential rain and a storm surge had flooded the collection storage area to a depth of nearly five feet. Fast action was needed to protect the 900,000 catalogued items. In a time frame better measured in hours than days, 71 pallets were pulled out of the visitor center and trucked to a temporary home to begin saving the collection. Tucked between a couple of quiet streets on a military base near Petersburg, an unassuming World War II era building with peeling, cream colored paint and an O.D. green hazmat tent in the parking lot hum with activity Think of it as a M*A*S*H unit for the nation's most important archeological collection. The park called Sarah Wolf, director of the Northeast Museum Services Center, the day after the hurricane hit. She arrived on site Monday. Coming in to help direct the recovery effort was Pam West, her counterpart from the National Capital Region. Pam arrived with six van loads of much needed museum supplies she had stockpiled in Andover, Maryland. Employees, volunteers and contractors chipped in to turn the vacant building on the grounds of Fort Lee into an organized, efficient workplace. Artifacts are first removed from their waterlogged storage cases. Then they're inventoried, tagged and temporarily re-bagged. From there it's on to a bath in de-ionized water and drying trays. After they're stabilized in this fashion, they're re-bagged, re-tagged, and put in storage boxes which are shrink wrapped onto pallets. The collection recovery effort is bigger than anything ever undertaken in this country. "We're making sure the things we're learning get shared with other curators," said West. "The collection is pretty sturdy, and it's coming through extremely well," commented Wolf. "Since most of the items are inorganic we expect there will be a very minimal loss of artifacts - less than five percent." A silver lining to this cloud is that in the end there will be a complete, new inventory of the entire collection. "This is one of the premiere collections in the world," said Wolf. "It means a lot to a lot of people. The outpouring of help from the archeological community has been outstanding." By late November, the team expects to have triaged and prepared the entire collection for shipment to a yet-to-be identified site in the Williamsburg area where long-term conservation of the artifacts will be undertaken. Fort Lee is one of 21 different work sites spread across four national park units in eastern and central Virginia struck three weeks ago by Hurricane Isabel. Much less sensitive recovery work using muscle and machines continued Sunday at Petersburg National Battlefield, Richmond National Battlefield Park and throughout Colonial National Historical Park. Another five-and-a-half miles of the Colonial Parkway were cleared of debris. In Historic Jamestowne, hazard tree removal at the Glass House is complete. The modular unit that will serve as the temporary visitor contact station is in place, with an operational quiet technology generator to provide power. In Richmond, all clean-up work at Parker's Battery is completed. Work also was completed Sunday along the road and right of way in Poplar Grove. There are 378 people currently assigned to the recovery effort. The cost to date is $6,218,117. Pacific West IMT (Denny Ziemann) Piles of rusty, derelict vehicles and parts of vehicles are awaiting removal from the shoreline of Alger Willis Fishing Camp and the Morris Marina Kabin Kamp areas of the park. The abandoned cars were uncovered by the storm surge from the hurricane and now pose a safety hazard to those who visit or drive on the shore. Traditionally, people brought vehicles to the Outer Banks by ferry and kept them there so they could get around the islands more easily. Exposure to salt water and sand resulted in non-operational vehicles being abandoned over the years and left on the shore to create artificial dunes as sand collected in and over them. The dunes protected the inland fishing camps from wind and waves, eventually becoming part of the landscape. Removing these vehicles is hazardous, tedious work. Crews are digging them out and piling the junkers with other storm debris near ferry landings for removal. Several buried septic tanks were uncovered and floated by the hurricane at the Morris Marina Kabin Kamp. The tanks have been removed from the beach and marsh areas and prepared for removal from the islands. While the buildings at the camp survived the hurricane in fairly good shape, the septic systems did not. Most of the building were constructed on stilts four or five feet above ground. That space is now filled with sand, and the stairs leading to the porches are partially buried. The area is accordingly closed to the public until emergency operations are completed. Willis Fishing Camp at the Great Islands Ferry landing fared even worse, with several buildings moved from their foundations or completely destroyed. Small docks have been repaired, which has made it possible for owners of cars that were left in the camp parking lot before the hurricane to come out and check on their vehicles. They are the only non-official personnel allowed into the area until hazards are removed and the superintendent reopens the area to public use. The high visitor day-use area of the lighthouse at Cape Lookout has been opened. The boardwalk, visitor center and associated buildings have been cleaned up and the dock has been repaired and reopened to ferry traffic. Crews continue to clean debris from the heavily used area around the lighthouse. The graded road on the islands is being filled and repaired in order to reopen it to public traffic. Storm surge caused many washouts and deep, water-filled potholes. Repairing the road will prevent further impact to the fragile vegetation there. Work continues on the historic structures at Portsmouth Village. The area remains closed to the public until safety hazards are removed or repaired. Over 400 damaged trees have been removed from Portsmouth and the water system to the visitor center is again operational. Safety and logistical concerns must be addressed before the area will be reopened to the public. The remainder of the park is now open to pedestrians and may be reached by ferry . Ranger patrols in the park have been increased to ensure visitor safety, secure historic or hazardous areas, and protect natural resources. East IMT (Bob Panko) Public ferry access to Ocracoke Island resumed on Friday. Ramps 68 and 70 on the island also reopened, although Highway 12 remains closed north of the pony pen at Ramp 68. Facilities on the island also reopened - the visitor center and marina on Friday and Ocracoke campground on Saturday. ORV access to South Beach is now open from Ramp 44 via the road between the dunes south to Ramp 49, but Ramp 49 remains closed. ORV access to Ramp 4, located across from the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, also reopened, thanks to the assistance of the North Carolina Beach Buggy Association, which helped clear debris from the beach and restore access. The area from Ramp 55 south to Hatteras Inlet has been temporarily closed while a contractor lays pipe to dredge sand for the breech just south of Frisco. This closure will likely continue for about five days, or until the middle of this week. The area will be reopened while the dredging occurs, but a similar closure will be needed upon completion of the dredging project. Additional Information
Reports compiled from submission by Al Nash, IO, Central IMT; Scott Wanek, IO, Pacific West IMT; Michelle Fidler and Peter Givens, IO's, East IMT/Outer Banks Group.
The following reports reflect the status of operations through Thursday. Central IMT (Sherrie Collins) Historic Jamestowne was reopened to visitors on Thursday. An interim visitor contact station and porta-johns are in place to provide basic services to visitors. Among the first visitors - a school group from Camden County, North Carolina, taking their first field trip since the 9/11 tragedy. Branch I, which had been overseeing the recovery work at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, Petersburg National Battlefield and Richmond National Battlefield Park concluded work Wednesday night. Some of the people and equipment were shifted south to Branch II to help complete the clean-up of Colonial Parkway. The rest were started on the demobilization process - checking in radios, checking out equipment and finalizing time and travel plans. A total of 102 crewmembers, 23 overhead, 48 equipment operators and 31 different pieces of equipment were slated for release by Thursday night. Crews are on the homestretch clearing debris along Colonial Parkway. The remaining stretch is on the north and west side of the road between Williamsburg and Historic Jamestowne. The only other ongoing work connected with the incident is the artifact triage underway at Fort Lee. As of late Thursday afternoon, there were 322 people still assigned to the recovery effort. The cost to date is $7,604,234. East IMT (Bob Panko) A transition plan in draft form was presented to Cape Hatteras NS management today in preparation for Saturday's transition from Panko's Type 2 team to a Type 3 team under command of Richard Devenney, finance chief on the current Type 2 team. The meeting with park management went well and all indications suggest a smooth transition on Saturday. The Cherokee National Forest crew and squads comprised of local residents as AD hires continued to make significant progress. Archeological sites exposed by the storm and covered yesterday were documented by GIS and GPS technical mapping. Ramp 67 is graded, but needs additional surfacing work, and personnel continue to work on opening ramp 70. Work continued on the boardwalks at Ocracoke Lighthouse and on rebuilding the corral fencing for the historic Banker Ponies. The crew from Cherokee National Forest will demob tomorrow. Effective Sunday, the park is replacing AD hires with thirty day emergency hires for recovery work on Ocracoke Island. All law enforcement resources have been demobilized to home units or are now back under park management. IC Bob Panko traveled to Ocracoke Island yesterday with the park's chief ranger to survey recovery efforts and discuss future planning. Over the duration of the incident, personnel from the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, US Geologic Survey, and National Park Service personnel from nineteen states were assigned. There are currently 67 personnel committed to the incident. Additional Information
Reports compiled from submission by Al Nash, IO, Central IMT; Shauna Dyas, IO, Pacific West IMT; Peter Givens, IO, East IMT.
The following reports were received over the course of the weekend. Effective today, regular daily reporting of hurricane recovery operations will be suspended. Reports will be posted as appropriate. Central IMT (Sherrie Collins) Tablecloths, centerpieces, cooks in white chef's hats preparing burgers, chicken and ribs - certainly not something you see in every chow tent while on an incident. But they provided additional evidence of the ways in which the Hurricane Isabel recovery effort was different from other incidents experienced by the assembled firefighters, specialists and overhead personnel. The above were part of a closeout barbecue dinner held at the incident staging area at the Governors Inn at Colonial Williamsburg. Members of the staff of Colonial National Historical Park joined with the crews attending the dinner and expressed their gratitude for all the long, tiring hours devoted to stabilizing the four Virginia parks they've been working in the past two weeks. The evening ended with a true touch of Colonial Williamsburg - a performance by a fife and drum quartet clad in period costumes. The first wave of exhausted crews, overhead and contractors headed home Friday, followed by a second wave on Saturday. The incident command post at The Woodlands in Colonial Williamsburg was dismantled yesterday, and members of the Central IMT headed back to their home units. A handful of personnel will remain for a few days, tying up loose ends, but the long-term recovery effort will be undertaken by park staffs. In all, more than 800 people representing at least 80 different agencies and organizations took part in the emergency recovery work during the past four weeks at Colonial National Historical Park, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, Petersburg National Battlefield and Richmond National Battlefield Park. IC Sherrie Collins and all the members of the NPS Central IMT echo the sentiments of all four park superintendents in expressing their thanks to all those who have contributed to a successful recovery effort. A Powerpoint presentation created for the close-out with WASO staff is available for downloading http://www.nps.gov/fire/allrisk/central/isabel/Isabel Powerpoint.ppt. All daily updates from the past two weeks are posted to the Central Team's Hurricane Isabel page on the NPS Incident Management Team web site: www.nps.gov/fire/allrisk. A photo page featuring some of the best digital images will be created and posted to the website sometime next week. East IMT (Bob Panko) A delegation of authority transferring incident command from Panko's Type 2 team to a Type 3 team under command of Richard Devenney, finance chief on the current Type 2 team, went into effect on Saturday morning. The Cherokee National Forest crew demobed from the incident on Friday. Documentation and technical GIS mapping of significant archeological sites exposed by the storm was also completed on Friday. Work on ramp 67 and 70 has been completed, but ramp 67 remains closed because of the continued closure of NC Highway 12. Effective Sunday, the park converted AD hires to thirty day emergency hires for recovery work on Ocracoke Island. The principal project that they will be working on will be repairing the fencing protecting the historic Banker Pony herd. There are currently 54 personnel committed to the incident. Additional Information
Reports compiled from submission by Al Nash, IO, Central IMT; Peter Givens, IO, East IMT.
Hurricane Charley's passage up the East Coast affected more than a dozen NPS areas. Here are reports from parks that were in or near the storm's path, south to north: Colonial NHP — The park reports little damage. It reopened on Sunday. The above report was based on submissions from the following people: Ken Garvin, Southeast Regional Office; Bob Panko, IC, EVER; Mark Hardgrove, Deputy Superintendent, Outer Banks Group; Ann Childress, Superintendent, MOCR; John Tucker, Superintendent, FOSU; Jon Anglin, Acting Chief Ranger, CAHA; Wouter Ketel, Chief Ranger, CALO; Michelle Oehmichen, BISC; Charlie Fenwick, Superintendent, DESO; Gordie Wilson, CASA/FOMA; Barbara Goodman, Superintendent, TIMU/FOCA; Tom Nash, Chief Ranger, COLO; Timothy Morgan, Chief Ranger, CANA; Mary Doll, Management Assistant, Outer Banks Group; Larry Belles, BICY
On July 12th, ranger Jimbo Thompson investigated a report of two
motor vehicle break-ins at the College Creek pullout along Colonial
Parkway. As a result of Thompson's investigation, a possible suspect
— one T.S. — and a suspect vehicle were
identified. Over the next few weeks, rangers attempted to locate
T.S., but without success. Meanwhile, several more vehicles were
broken into and purses taken. On August 9th, chief ranger Tom Nash saw
T.S. sitting in a white van parked at the pullout. Nash called for
assistance and was joined by rangers Steven Williams and Ken Doak.
Williams setup surveillance of the pullout, while Doak and Nash
established a perimeter. As Williams watched, T.S. moved his vehicle
several times, always parking next to another vehicle in the pullout,
then looking into that vehicle. After watching him for about 40 minutes,
Williams saw T.S. enter a car and take a purse. T.S. then left
the area in his van, but was stopped by Doak and Nash. After a brief
interview, he admitted to the theft of the purse and to the thefts from
cars on July 12th. Felony charges are pending. The victims of the car
clout were surprised at how quickly the break-in was executed, as they'd
only been away from their car for fewer than ten minutes. They were even
more surprised that T.S. had been stopped and arrested within five
minutes of committing the crime. About $400 in cash and over $9,000 in
jewelry were recovered.
On June 25th, the National Socialist Movement, which claims to be the
largest Nazi party in the United States, held a permitted rally in the
park. It was attended by 112 NSM supporters. Also attending were about
250 protestors and about 15 people who attended a Center for Educational
Rights demonstration. NSM members and protestors were separated by iron
fences. There were only a few minor incidents. Six protestors were
escorted out of the protest area for trying to start a disturbance.
There were also a few minor medical cases. Seventeen federal, state and
local law enforcement agencies joined together to provide security at
the event.
A bus that was operating as part of the park's "Historic Triangle Shuttle" service caught fire and was destroyed on the Colonial Parkway on Friday, May 5th. The driver of the bus escaped injury and there were no passengers on board at the time of the fire. The cause of the fire is under investigation. The Historic Triangle Shuttle is funded and managed by Colonial NHP and provides daily service along two routes from the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center - one leg running along the Colonial Parkway to Jamestown, the second following the parkway to Yorktown. The buses for the service are provided by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation through a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service. [Mike Litterst, Public Affairs Specialist]
A fatal, single-car accident occurred on Colonial Parkway yesterday morning near Jones Mill Pond, about nine miles west of Yorktown. The parkway was closed for about two hours between Route 199/Cheatham Annex and Queen's Lake while rangers, York County deputies, and York County fire and life safety personnel investigated the accident scene and recovered the vehicle and body from the pond. The cause of the accident is under investigation. [Mike Litterst, Public Affairs Specialist]
The park received a report of a vehicle in Jones Mill Pond off the Colonial Parkway at 6:30 a.m. on May 11th. Rangers, York County deputies, and York County fire and EMS personnel responded. A 1985 Nissan station wagon was found upside down in about five to six feet of water. The driver and sole occupant - a 44-year-old man from Newport News - was found inside and had died prior to the arrival of emergency personnel. The parkway was closed for about three hours while rangers investigated the accident and the body and vehicle were removed. Initial investigation by the rangers revealed that he'd been heading westbound on the parkway when he failed to negotiate a gradual curve and drove directly into the pond without making any attempt to brake or maneuver. The medical examiner will be performing an autopsy to determine the cause of death and whether or not either drugs or alcohol were involved. [Tom Nash, Chief Ranger]
Park dispatch received a report of a visitor having difficulty swimming at the College Creek beach area along Colonial Parkway on the afternoon of June 18th. The caller reported that other visitors were attempting to rescue the swimmer. Rangers responded along with units from James City County FD and Williamsburg FD. They found that a man had been swimming in the creek when he was caught by a strong tidal current from the nearby James River estuary. When he went underwater, five teenage boys entered the creek and pulled him to shore. He was semi-conscious by that time. Firefighters treated him and took him to a local hospital, where he's expected to make a full recovery. The mouth of College Creek is at the James River, which has a very strong tidal current. The area is posted 'no swimming' because of the danger, but is frequently used by local residents as a beach. [Tom Nash, Chief Ranger]
Despite concerns about both strong winds and heavy rainfalls, Tropical Storm Ernesto caused few problems in its passage up the East Coast. Follow-up reports have been received from the following parks: Colonial NHP - The park was closed during the storm's passage. Winds knocked down numerous trees. [Jeff Brice, SEACC; Wouter Ketel, CALO; Ann Childress, MOCR]
On September 1st, maintenance employee Sam Winfred, 56, was driving from Jamestown to Yorktown when a tree fell on his Ford F-150 pickup. Winfred received a head injury and a laceration that required twelve stitches. He is currently recovering at home. The government-owned vehicle was totaled. Winfred was traveling by himself at the time of the accident. [Skip Brooks, Chief of Maintenance]
Four more reports, all from parks in Virginia, have been received on the impacts of the tropical storm: Colonial NHP - The park received between eight and ten inches of rain. A section of the Colonial Parkway at Paper Mill Creek was flooded on Friday, but waters began to recede later in the evening. Numerous trees fell during the storm and the parkway had to be closed for a period. [Marc Vagos, Northeast Regional Office]
J.H. and three friends were riding their bicycles westbound on the Colonial Parkway just west of Yorktown on the morning of September 22nd. As they rode through a construction site at kilometer 5, they moved to the left to avoid the construction barrels. When J.H., who was third in line, moved to his left, the front tire of the bicycle got caught in the expansion joint between the concrete pavement slabs and he lost his balance and fell. He struck his head on the pavement, cracking his helmet and suffering major head trauma (fractured skull). The park's chief ranger came upon the accident moments after it had occurred and began providing emergency medical care. J.H. was unconscious and had difficulty breathing. Prior to the arrival of York County EMS, he on several occasions stopped breathing. The chief ranger employed rescue breathing to restore J.H.'s respirations. York County EMS took him to a hospital, where he underwent emergency brain surgery. As of September 29th, he was still in a coma and critical condition. [Tom Nash, Chief Ranger]
A section of the Colonial Parkway from Newport Avenue to Route 199 has been closed due to damage to culverts beneath the roadway caused by heavy rains. It will be about two weeks before the extent of the damage and needed repairs are known. More than eight inches of rain fell on the area the weekend before last, causing Paper Mill Creek to rise out of its banks and overwhelming the culverts. About 15 cubic yards of soil were carried away from beneath the parkway. About 7,000 to 8,000 vehicles a day travel on the 23-mile-long parkway, which runs from Jamestown to Yorktown. The closed section of parkway is also off limits to bicyclists and pedestrians. [Newport News Daily Press]
The park is preparing for a big four-day celebration of the 225th anniversary of the victory at Yorktown that ended the Revolutionary War. The event, which will center on the October 19th anniversary of the surrender, is being supported by an incident management team (Skip Brooks, IC). Numerous agencies and organizations have joined with the NPS to celebrate the occasion with an array of activities, including the annual Yorktown Day parade and patriotic exercises, a stage production entitled "We Salute You: An American Symphony," and Revolutionary War life and military tactic demonstrations. As of yesterday, 79 people were committed to the incident. Tomorrow's activities will include completion of construction of the event stage and dress rehearsals for the stage show, parade and patriotic exercises. Secretary Kempthorne will be giving the keynote address at Thursday's anniversary celebration. For a full schedule of events, click on HYPERLINK "http://www.yorktown225.com/" http://www.yorktown225.com/ . [Greg Stiles, Operations Chief, IMT]
Approximately 15,000 people attended the parade and ceremonies that kicked off the 225th anniversary of the Battle of Yorktown on Thursday, October 19th, the first day of a four-day celebration of the final battle of the American Revolutionary War. Superintendent P. Dan Smith was the presiding officer for the ceremony. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and French Minister of Defense Michele Alliot-Marie made remarks. On Friday, about 3,000 Revolutionary War re-enactors arrived to encamp on the battlefield. They presented revolutionary war life and military tactic demonstrations, and re-enacted the British surrender march on Sunday afternoon. Total attendance for the entire four-day celebration was placed at about 48,000 visitors. The event was managed by a type 3 incident management team (Skip Brooks, IC) under unified command with other agencies. [Katie Lawhon, Information Officer; Greg Stiles, Plans Chief]
The NPS Eastern Incident Management Team arrived at the park's Historic Jamestowne unit on Monday to assist the park and local, state and federal agencies with the commemoration activities associated with the 1607 founding of the first permanent English settlement in America. Some of the members of the team have been working with park staff on the planning effort since the summer of 2006. An honorary visit by Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, and His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, will occur on May 4th, and will be followed by a visit by President Bush on May 13th, coinciding with the actual 400th anniversary of the arrival of the colonists and the final day of "America's Anniversary Weekend," the centerpiece of the 18-month-long commemoration of the Jamestown settlement. The team's responsibilities are to plan and make the necessary arrangements to assure the security for the royal guests and President Bush's visit and to support the three-day anniversary weekend activities. The support includes developing and coordinating plans with several agencies and organizations to address the safety and security of visitors and to manage the logistics of dignitary visits and assist with media activities. Since one of two main routes to Jamestown, the scenic 23-mile Colonial Parkway, will be closed during the events, the team is implementing a transportation management plan to coordinate public transportation service with outside agencies, provide dignitary access, and arrange shuttle service for park employees to the island. On Tuesday, team members, park officials, and members of APVA Preservation Virginia (the NPS management partner at Historic Jamestowne), met with representatives from the British Embassy, Scotland Yard, U.S. Secret Service and the White House to plan Her Majesty's visit, accompanied by a number of dignitaries including Vice President Dick Cheney, and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and First Lady Anne Holton. Coordination of these events and activities is being done in cooperation with: APVA Preservation Virginia, the nation's oldest statewide preservation agency which owns 22 acres of Jamestown island, including the fort site, and cooperates with NPS to preserve the Historic Jamestowne site Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia and administrators of the Jamestown Settlement, a living history museum adjacent to Historic Jamestowne Jamestown 2007, a sub-agency of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation with the responsibility for planning the 400th Anniversary events for the Commonwealth of Virginia Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, which operates the world's largest outdoor living history museum in Williamsburg and a Founding Colony Sponsor of America's Anniversary Weekend The U.S. Secret Service, Virginia State Police, and local law enforcement departments in James City County, Virginia. [Nancy Gray, Information Officer]
The park received a 911 call from James City County police around midday on July 19th, reporting that a child was missing in the water at the College Creek beach along Colonial Parkway. Rangers responded along with county fire and police units. According to the mother of the five-year-old girl, she was last seen wading in the creek. The mother was distracted for a moment and the girl was gone when she looked back. A search was begun. About 30 minutes after the initial call and less than 10 minutes after rescue personnel arrived on scene, two county officers found the girl floating face down in the creek about 100 yards from the point last scene. She was pulled from the water and advanced resuscitation efforts were begun, but she did not survive. College Creek has a very strong current at this location and the area is posted with warning signs advising visitors not to swim or wade in the area. Rangers who patrol the area frequently stop to advise visitors of the danger. [Tom Nash, Chief Ranger]
On Sunday, November 18th, a small homemade explosive device was discovered and successfully deactivated along the Colonial Parkway. There were no injuries nor any damage to park resources. Park dispatch received a call just after noon that day regarding a possible pipe bomb at the Mill Creek turnout along the parkway. Ranger Larry Smith responded and secured the parking area with the assistance of James City County police. The device in question was approximately four inches long and a half inch in diameter, with a burnable fuse protruding from one end. The man who'd reported the device said that he and his two children had been fishing in the James River when his 11-year-old son scooped up the small, shiny object with his fishing net. The man saw the fuse; suspecting an explosive device, he placed it under a rock on the beach and called 911. The Virginia State Police bomb squad was called. Bomb specialists rendered the device safe by exploding a small charge on its end, thereby knocking out the end cap and allowing the contents (two to three ounces of black powder) to be removed safely. The area was searched for additional devices, but none were found. Investigators revealed that such devices, known locally as "crickets," are becoming increasingly popular among juveniles, as the materials are non-regulated and easy to obtain. They are commonly made in batches of five to six devices and were recently responsible for the death of a young boy in the Williamsburg area. [Mike Litterst, Public Affairs Officer]
A 26-year-old ex-sailor will serve nine years in prison for his role in an attack on an acquaintance in the park in Yorktown last September. Lawyers for S.W. say he was high on a mixture of painkillers, amphetamines, cocaine and LSD during the attack. S.W. and two others admitted to stabbing Jonathan Barron, lighting him on fire, and using a meat marinade injector in an attempt to poison him with a mixture of Barbicide, a disinfectant used in salons, and silver thermal compound, an electronics adhesive. The circuit court judge sentenced S.W. to 60 years in prison, with all but nine years and five months suspended. The judge asked S.W. why they chose the silver thermal compound and Barbicide. S.W. said the liquid cocktail was selected for its vampire-killing properties. [Virginia-Pilot]
The York County Sheriff's Office called park dispatch on the morning of July 11th and asked that rangers be on the lookout for a possibly suicidal woman. The woman had just fled from the county courthouse in Yorktown after losing custody of her children. She'd reportedly told family members that she was going to commit suicide and said that she had a plan in place to do so. Her children were currently at home in nearby Williamsburg with a teenage babysitter, and family members were concerned that she might harm the children as well as herself. The park's chief ranger immediately headed west on the Colonial Parkway from Yorktown toward Williamsburg, looking for the woman's red Chevrolet pickup. He spotted it westbound on the parkway just a couple of miles from Yorktown. Using a regional radio system, he was able to talk directly with county deputies and coordinate a high risk stop along the parkway. The woman was taken into protective custody without incident. The regional law enforcement/emergency services radio system has proven to be very useful on special events and in other, similar emergency incidents. [Tom Nash, Chief Ranger]
The park received a report of a possible drunk driver on the Colonial Parkway between Yorktown and Williamsburg around 4 p.m. on the afternoon of September 1st. The caller also provided a description of the vehicle. A few minutes later, ranger Joe Meekins saw the vehicle pass his location, stopped it, then contacted the driver, J.M., and his passenger, J.T.-M. Meekins immediately smelled alcohol on the driver and saw open containers within the car. Rangers Steve Williams and Sean Blake arrived on scene shortly thereafter. The three rangers determined that J.M. had been driving under the influence and that J.T.-M. was intoxicated as well. As Meekins attempted to handcuff J.M., he resisted and attempted to pull away. Williams and Meekins took J.M. down to the ground, but he continued to fight and resist. Meekins therefore drew his taser and drive-stunned J.M.. He immediately yielded to the rangers, who placed him under arrest. While this was going on, J.T.-M. attempted to fight with Blake, who kept him at bay. Blake finally drew his taser and warned J.T.-M. that he'd use it on him if he didn't comply with Blake's commands, at which point J.T.-M. submitted. The two men were taken to a local jail. J.M. has previous arrests for both DUI and assault and battery. He's previously been deported by ICE. This was the first deployment of tasers in the park, which put its taser program into effect last year. [Tom Nash, Chief Ranger]
Ranger Ken Doak was injured during semi-annual firearms qualification at the Coast Guard Training Center range in Yorktown on November 4th when the barrel of his NPS-issued Remington 870 shotgun exploded. Doak suffered a laceration to his left hand, which was on the wood forearm of the pump-action shotgun. Qualification with shotguns had just started and Doak was attempting to fire his first round when the incident occurred. The firing line was immediately made safe and all weapons checked and made safe. Doak's injury was treated by other rangers. His shotgun had been checked by the range officer prior to qualifications, including a check of the barrel for obstructions. The round being used at the time was a Remington Disintegrator 00 buckshot round, two-and-three-quarter-inch length, purchased from FLETC's list of approved lead-free frangible rounds. The Coast Guard range officer was contacted and responded along with an armorer. They inspected the barrel of the weapon along with firearms instructor Larry Smith and chief ranger Tom Nash. The inspection revealed that buckshot pellets appeared to be fused together in the barrel, creating an obstruction just forward of the ejection port. As a result, the gases expanded in the barrel, causing it to explode. The target had a small tear in it where the front plastic covering of the shell had evidently hit it. The tear was not from the wadding in the shell. Doak received several stitches from a doctor to close the wound. A follow-up investigation will be coordinated with FLETC to determine the exact cause. The Remington had been purchased in 1991. [Tom Nash, Chief Ranger]
On the afternoon of December 2nd, York County Sheriff's Office deputies and the county SWAT team responded to a call of someone shooting at people along Crawford Road, sections of which run through the Yorktown battlefield. The shooter was reportedly on private land that was abutted by NPS property on three sides. The park's protection staff had just completed a meeting, so a number of rangers were nearby and responded - chief ranger Tom Nash and rangers Eric Tillson, Joel Cadoff, Sean Blake, Steve Williams, and Shuni Routh. Williams and Routh closed the park's West Tour Road, immediately adjacent to the shooter's location. Nash was contacted by W.S. and his teenage son. W.S. said that they were unarmed and tracking a deer that had been previously shot and were on private property when they were confronted by a hunter, later identified as L.H. L.H. was in a tree stand and immediately fired two rounds of buckshot over W.S. and his son. Both W.S. and his son yelled at L.H., who fired two more rounds in their direction. The S.s then fled from the area and called 911. Once all the rangers and SWAT officers were on scene, they developed a plan to control the perimeter and call L.H. out. While they did this, Nash, Tillson and Cadoff moved to secure L.H.'s vehicle, located just off Crawford Road on a dirt road. As they approached it, two armed men were seen, one of them L.H. and the other a hunter who was not involved in the shooting incident. Rangers and SWAT team members made a high risk approach and took both into custody. Both the S. family and L.H. had been previously contacted by rangers for various hunting violations in or near the park. L.H. admitted to shooting at the S.s and is facing state charges for reckless endangerment and use of a firearm. The H.s and S.s have had an ongoing dispute about hunting rights on private land adjacent to the park. [Tom Nash, Chief Ranger]
Rangers received a call for an officer needing assistance at the park's beach picnic area just before 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 13th. Two York County deputies had responded to a domestic violence call there and attempted to make an arrest, but a confrontational crowd had gathered around the officers and efforts were being made to free the prisoner. People in the crowed had pushed the deputies back against their patrol vehicle, causing one deputy to pull out his taser in an attempt to keep them at bay. Ranger Sean Blake was the first backup to arrive on scene and immediately went to the officers' aid. Blake saw one woman push a deputy, then blend back into the crowd, then saw a large man - about 5'8" tall and weighing approximately 350 pounds - acting aggressively towards another woman holding a baby. Blake told the man to desist and pushed him away from her. The man then turned towards Blake and a deputy and took an aggressive stance. Blake brought out his taser and both Blake and the deputy told the man to back off. He instead came towards the deputy, so both Blake and the deputy discharged their tasers. The man went down, then attempted to regain his footing. He was ordered down again and again refused to comply. Blake again used his taster, this time getting the man to the ground. He was then placed under arrest. Additional rangers and deputies soon arrived on scene. Deputies arrested three more people and dispersed the crowd. Nobody was injured in the incident. [Tom Nash, Chief Ranger]
On the morning of May 1st, park dispatch received a call from York County dispatch regarding an elderly man with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to his abdomen in the area of Yorktown National Cemetery parking lot. York County deputies and fire and life safety personnel arrived on scene minutes after the dispatched report and found a conscious elderly man suffering from a gunshot injury to his abdomen area. He was transported to a local trauma hospital for surgery, but later succumbed to his injuries. Preliminary investigation indicates that the death was a suicide. Ranger Steven Williams and York County Sheriff's Department investigators are jointly investigating the incident. Toxicology and autopsy results are pending. [James M. Perry, Acting Public Affairs Officer]
Several areas along the Colonial Parkway were searched on June 5th by cadaver dogs seeking evidence pertaining to homicides and missing persons cases that occurred in the park in the 1980s. The dogs alerted in the area of Bellfield Plantation, and park rangers maintained security at the scene until an FBI evidence recovery team arrived the following morning. In an operation coordinated with the park's cultural resources specialist, a small area was excavated down to sterile subsoil, but no evidence of previous ground disturbance or a crime was found. The FBI arranged for an additional search of the site by cadaver dog, which did not produce any further alerts. Local media interest in a series of unsolved crimes from the 1980s throughout Tidewater Virginia remains high. [James Perry, Public Affairs Officer]
Late on the evening of Friday, June 25th, park dispatch was notified of a possible impaired driver operating a Ford sedan on the Colonial Parkway. Ranger Jason Lichtblau soon saw the car near the Jamestown end of the parkway. The operator was driving erratically and nearly hit an oncoming car. Lichtblau attempted to stop him, but the driver instead accelerated away. A pursuit of over 25 miles ensued at speeds of more than 70 mph, with officers from local police departments and the Virginia State Police assisting. The driver eventually left the park and struck several vehicles in York County and Newport News before crashing. The driver was arrested and charged with multiple federal and state violations. [Steven Williams, Chief Ranger]
York County dispatch received a call from a motorist around 11 p.m. on July 13th, reporting that a woman with blood dripping from her wrists was walking on the Colonial Parkway near the Indian Fields Creek pullout. Responding deputies came upon a woman near that location who claimed to be the victim's friend. She said that her friend had cut herself on purpose and that she'd last been seen walking toward the York River. Rangers and deputies found the victim in the tree line near the river. The woman, who was unconscious but responsive to painful stimuli, had numerous cuts on her left wrist with arterial bleeding. She was taken to Mary Immaculate Hospital, where a ranger interviewed both her and her friend. The victim said that she'd cut herself because her friend had left her alone, that she had a history of being a cutter, and that she was not trying to commit suicide. She was held for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries and for mental evaluation. [Steven Williams, Chief Ranger]
A glider piloted by C.P. of Williamsburg, Virginia, was forced to make an emergency landing at the Green Spring unit of the park on the afternoon of August 15th. C.P. encountered changing thermal conditions while crossing over the James River and was unable to reach a nearby private airport. The Green Spring area is located approximately four miles north of Jamestown and is closed to the public. C.P. was the only occupant of the aircraft and was not injured in the incident. No damage to park resources occurred and the undamaged glider was removed a short time later. Assisting in the response to the incident were local fire companies and well as James City County Police and Virginia State Police. [James M. Perry, Public Affairs Officer]
Hurricane Earl will approach the North Carolina coast late today and move near or over the Outer Banks tonight. The center is then expected to pass near or offshore of the Delmarva Peninsula. The hurricane will then track northeast along the coast, probably passing over Cape Cod. Parks along the coast from North Carolina to Maine are watching the storm closely and taking necessary actions. Here's today's summary: Colonial NHP - Management met earlier this week to evaluate the hurricane and determine what actions needed to be taken to prepare for it. Maintenance staff have prepared and staged equipment in order to be able to respond to possible high winds, minor flooding or power loss. No closures are currently planned. [Barry Munyan, CALO; Cyndy Holda and Paul Stevens, CAHA; Stuart West, ACAD; Skip Brooks, COLO; Bob Grant, CACO; Peter Totorell, GATE; Carl Zimmermann, ASIS; Jay Lippert, FIIS; Stephen Clark, NERO]
A collision with a tree along the Colonial Parkway resulted in the death of a vehicle's passenger and serious injuries to its driver on the afternoon of February 19th. Preliminary investigation indicates that the eastbound Buick Lacrosse was struck by a falling tree near the Jamestown end of the parkway just before 1 p.m. It then left the roadway and struck a standing tree head-on. Passenger L.P., 84, of Hammond, Louisiana, died at the scene; her husband, I.P., 85, was extricated by units from the Williamsburg Fire Department and transported to Riverside Hospital by a LifeEvac helicopter. The Williamsburg area was experiencing strong winds at the time of the accident. Newport News Williamsburg International Airport recorded wind speeds of 22 miles per hour in the afternoon, with gusts of up to 37 miles per hour. Colonial NHP and the James City County Police Department are continuing their investigation of the crash. [James M. Perry, Public Affairs Officer]
Rangers responded to a 911 call reporting a person falling off a bridge over the Colonial Parkway just after 10 a.m. on Tuesday. When they arrived at the scene, located where the Merrimac Trail crosses the parkway, they found an injured 67-year-old woman and began administering CPR. Williamsburg FD paramedics arrived shortly thereafter and pronounced her dead. Williamsburg PD officers are handling the investigation and the death appears to be a suicide. The final disposition of the death investigation is pending the results of the medical examiner's report. A portion of the parkway was closed temporarily during the investigation. A critical incident stress management counselor was in the park at the time of the incident to assist employees who were involved with a fatal vehicle crash on the Colonial Parkway three days earlier. [James M. Perry, Public Affairs Officer]
Approximately 100 trees were downed in the park last Saturday as severe weather moved through southeast Virginia. No structural damage occurred in the park, but many nearby homes and buildings were damaged or destroyed by winds from strong thunderstorms and possible tornados. Portions of the Colonial Parkway were closed briefly for debris removal. The governor has declared a state of emergency and loss of life has been reported in an adjacent county. [James M. Perry, Public Affairs Officer]
The 5.8-magnitude quake that shook most of the East Coast from Georgia to Massachusetts rattled scores of NPS offices and park facilities and led to some closures in Washington. The following reports have been received: Colonial NHP - The quake was felt at both the Yorktown and Jamestown Visitor Centers, but no damage was found at either facility. Additional reports will be posted as they are received. [David Barna, WASO; P. Daniel Smith, COLO; Dave Ruth, RICH; Keith Kelly, FRSP; Bill Line, Toni Braxton and Carol Johnson, NCRO; Sgt. David Schlosser, USPP]
Parks along the East Coast in the probable path of Hurricane Irene have begun making preparations for a potential landfall later this week: Colonial NHP - The park will have a planning meeting at 11 a.m. this morning and will decide on a course of action at that time. Additional reports will be posted as they are received. [Mike Murray, Superintendent; Outer Banks Group; P. Daniel Smith, Superintendent, COLO]
Parks from Big Cypress to Acadia are in the midst of completing preparations for Hurricane Irene. All three East Coast regions - Southeast, National Capital and Northeast - held regionwide telephone conferences yesterday that collectively included representatives from the scores of potentially affected areas. Without exception, they reported that they were putting hurricane or emergency plans into effect, mobilizing local incident management teams, making or planning closures as needed, and otherwise taking all necessary steps to protect facilities and assure public and staff safety. The following reports are from areas where there have been closures and/or are from locations potentially most exposed to the storm, particularly parks bordering the ocean. They are listed from south to north: Colonial NHP - Park management and key partners met yesterday and began implementing the park's hurricane plan. The park will operate under a Type III incident management team beginning tomorrow. Closures may be implemented as soon as Saturday, depending on the storm's track. The regions have incident management and damage assessment teams on standby for deployment as needed. The National Interagency Fire Center has prepared a list of available resources, which include an area command team, a NIMO team, five Type 1 and five Type 2 incident management teams. [Regional, WASO and FAM reports]
Hurricane Irene is poised to strike the Outer Banks of North Carolina with winds of up to 100 mph or more tomorrow, then move northeastward along the coast and over the metropolitan New York City area and into New England later in the weekend. Forecasters expect it to be a "major event" from North Carolina to Massachusetts and possibly further north. Parks have completed preparations for the storm. Incident management and damage assessment teams have been called out and will be in place and on standby by midday today. The Eastern IMT (Zeph Cunningham, IC) and Midwest IMT (Jim Hummel, IC) will be staged in Greensboro, North Carolina, with the former prepared to assist the Outer Banks Group and the latter set to support Cape Lookout NS and Moores Creek NB. Two Southeast Region assessment teams will also be staged in Greensboro and will be available to assist these parks as needed. Since all potentially affected parks are prepared and ready for the storm, only those with new closures or developments are listed below, south to north: Colonial NHP - Both Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown Battlefield will be closed over the weekend. After impacts of the storms are assessed, the park will announce a schedule for reopening. The incident command post for the Type III team will be activated today. A report on the storm and its impacts on park will appear in Monday's edition.
Since many parks that reported closures over the weekend will reopen today and since most have reported minor damage and power outages, only those with significant issues are reported here (south to north): Colonial NHP - Colonial Parkway, which runs from Yorktown to Jamestown, is closed due to the many trees that fell across it during the storm. No building damage has been reported. Additional reports on Hurricane Irene's impacts will be posted as they are received. Meanwhile, Washington, regional and park staffs will be keeping an eye on the Atlantic, where a new potential hurricane is brewing. According to Denver Ingram, meteorologist at the Southern Area Coordination Center, who provides tropical storm updates to the NPS, there is "a large significant tropical wave" now off the coast of Africa, which forecast models project will be "a significant event for the East Coast in about 10 days..." [Bill Halainen, Editor]
Although many East Coast parks have reopened and resumed normal operations, a number are still completing assessments and a few are dealing with serious problems. Most parks affected by Irene have reported some downed trees, minor structural damage and/or water infiltration, and some flooding. Those with more significant issues appear below, from south to north. Colonial - The Colonial Parkway between Yorktown and Jamestown, which was closed due to the many trees that had fallen on it, has reopened. Additional reports on Hurricane Irene's impacts will be posted as they are received. [Bill Halainen, Editor] HYPERLINK "http://latimesphoto.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/la-na-0829-irene03.jpg?w=165"
Rangers received a report of a shooting on the Colonial Parkway near the Fusilier's Memorial late on the morning of Wednesday, November 30th. Upon arrival, they were directed to a short trail adjacent to the parking lot, where they found the victim of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The 36-year-old Yorktown man was pronounced dead at the scene. Rangers will be conducting an investigation in conjunction with the York County Sheriff's Office. [Steven Williams, Chief Ranger]
On Saturday, February 18th, rangers investigated a report of a dead man on the beach along the Colonial Parkway. Park visitors reported that the body was on the James River shoreline less than one mile from the Archer's Hope parking area. Rangers and James City County PD officers identified the victim as a 22-year-old Newport News man. He had a gunshot wound to the chest, which on the scene observations and the preliminary investigation indicate was self-inflicted. The handgun was found on his chest, with one shell casing was located next to the body. Rangers and officers will be conducting an investigation. [Kenneth Doak, Assistant Chief Ranger]
Hurricane Sandy, a HYPERLINK "http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php" Category 1 system with current maximum sustained winds of about 75 mph, continues on a north-northeasterly course. As of 11 a.m. this morning, it was projected to be abreast of the Outer Banks in the early hours of Monday morning and come ashore somewhere near southern New Jersey late Monday evening. According to NPS meteorologist Denver Ingram, the winds will still be in the 65 mph to 75 mph range when the hurricane moves inland. It will bring seas of around 25 feet, rip currents, and coastal flooding of three to five feet on top of an already above average high tide due to Monday's full moon. The storm's tropical storm force wind field, says Ingram, is already of "unprecedented" size, extending about 450 miles from its center. As of 11 a.m. tropical storm warnings were in effect for an area from South Santee River in South Carolina to Duck in North Carolina, for Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, and for Great Abaco and Grand Bahama Islands. Watches were in effect for the coastal area from the Savannah River to the South Santee River and for Bermuda. Since the hurricane is likely to evolve into a "cold core" storm, the National Hurricane Center probably will not be posting watches and warnings along the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast coastline. Instead, the National Weather Service will be posting high wind watches and warnings. Those are likely to cover a very large area - as far west as Greensboro (NC), Roanoke (VA), Charleston (WV), Erie (PA), and Buffalo (NY). They will also encompass most of Vermont and New Hampshire and will extend into southern Maine. The storm is expected to bring from seven to twelve inches of rain to the coastline when it comes ashore. These amounts could extend into northeastern Pennsylvania and southern New York. Areas elsewhere will likely see three to five inches of rain. Park status reports remain about the same as they were in the Friday afternoon edition, with the following parks providing updated reports: Colonial - The Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown Battlefield units of the park, including all tour roads, will be closed on Sunday and Monday. They will reopen once storm damage assessments and cleanup have been completed. The Historic Triangle shuttle and Jamestown Area shuttle will not operate on either Sunday or Monday. Colonial Parkway will remain open, but downed trees may ultimately make the scenic byway impassable. Emergency preparedness staff in the three affected regional offices - Southeast, National Capital and Northeast - will be working through the weekend. Three NPS Type II incident management teams - East, Intermountain and Midwest - are fully staffed and on standby for use as needed. Another Morning Report 'extra' will be posted tomorrow around noon.
A summary of recent openings, closures and other changes in the status of parks and their facilities, Colonial NHP — The Williamsburg Tunnel on the Colonial Parkway will be closed for repairs from February 3rd to March 2nd. Repairs being made include replacing damaged pavement, sealing roadway joints, sweeping and pressure washing the road surface, installing a centerline, repairing the brickwork in the south portal arch, upgrading some of the light fixtures, and replacing bulbs. Source: Madison Pearman, WAVY-TV News.
Two people died on the morning of Monday, May 11th, in a single-vehicle crash on the Colonial Parkway in York County. The park got a call from York County dispatch around 1:40 a.m. regarding an accident on the parkway near the I-64 overpass. That's where an ongoing construction project is underway to widen the interstate. The vehicle was on fire, dispatchers said. The York County Department of Fire and Life Safety arrived and determined two people in the vehicle had died. An investigation is in progress. Source: Saleen Martin, Virginian-Pilot.
J.G., an automotive mechanic and fleet manager for the park, has pled guilty to theft of government property and wire fraud in federal court. Records state that each of the 120 park-owned vehicles had a credit card that was supposed to be used for official purposes only. Documents indicate that another employee at the park noticed irregularities on some of the credit cards statements, including abnormal purchases at Lowes and Home Depot. There were also irregularities with a purchase of about $540 for truck tires from a Pep Boys store in Newport News. Record showed that the credit cards were used to buy fuel in the local area, showing a pattern occurring in Gloucester County before 6 a.m. and after 2:30 a.m., which is unusual because employees at the park who use the vehicles were supposed to obtain fuel from the gas pumps within the park. The Office of the Inspector General and the Investigative Services Branch of the National Park Service were contacted, and they opened an investigation. Investigators found that between 2016 and 2018, there were improper charges on 40 different credit cards for purchases that included fuel, as well as vehicle parts that did not match the vehicle to which the card was issued, totaling more than $8,000. When confronted, records say J.G. said he was using the credit cards for fuel so that he could get to and from work and had gotten behind on his bills. He allegedly admitted to using one of the credit cards to buy new tires for his truck. He will be sentenced in June. Source: Margaret Kavanagh, WTKR News. | |