NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, May 15, 2014

INCIDENTS

Lake Meredith NRA

Park Staff Respond To Serious Wildland Fire

The Double Diamond Fire started in a neighborhood adjacent to Lake Meredith late on the afternoon of Sunday, May 11th, and, pushed by winds gusting to nearly 40 miles per hour, quickly spread through residential areas and into the park. Over 100 structures, including numerous homes adjacent to the park's boundary, were destroyed.

Relative humidity in the single digits and temperatures in the mid 90's hampered suppression efforts. The fire traveled over four and a half miles in a little over five hours. A cold front passed through the area during that time, causing a shift to strong winds from the north and a temperature drop of 26 degrees.

NPS wildland firefighters were some of the first units on scene and were heavily involved with suppression efforts in the communities. Park law enforcement rangers were tasked with evacuating residential areas in the path of the oncoming fire. Assistance came from numerous volunteer, county and city and federal fire departments, private ranch fire units, Texas A&M Forest Service, city, county and state law enforcement, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, and numerous other organizations and individuals. Units from over 150 miles away came to assist.

A unified command is in place with Fritch Volunteer Fire Department, assisted by Texas A&M Forest Service, conducting operations outside of the federal lands, and the Albuquerque Zone Incident Management Team (Type 3 team, IC Cachini) on park lands.

No NPS employees lost property or were injured and all employees are accounted for. About 1,473 acres of park land were affected. No NPS structures were lost, although infrastructure has been damaged. A critical incident stress counselor will be in the park to assist employees.

Official information can be found at the following websites:

HYPERLINK "http://tfsweb.tamu.edu/main/article.aspx?id=12888" http://tfsweb.tamu.edu/main/article.aspx?id=12888

HYPERLINK "https://twitter.com/TXForestService" https://twitter.com/TXForestService

[Robert Maguire, Superintendent]

North Cascades

Skier Killed In Snow Slide On Mount Shuksan

Late yesterday morning, park dispatch received a cell phone report that one of two skiers who'd been ascending the north face of Mount Shuksan for a ski tour had been hit by a snow slide and swept down the mountain. The other had narrowly avoided the slide.

Two climbing rangers were dispatched via the park's contract helicopter to perform an aerial search and spotted the missing skier around 3:30 p.m. They determined that he hadn't survived the fall, estimated at over 2,000 feet.

Due to the nature of the terrain and the warm weather with potential for continued unstable snow conditions, rangers were unable to recover the body yesterday. Another effort will be made today if conditions permit.

Whatcom County SAR and Bellingham Mountain Rescue also responded to the incident.

[Ken Hires, Stehekin District Interpreter]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers):

White House - President Obama has directed that all United States flags be lowered to half staff today in honor of Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week.

Gateway NRA - On April 15th, Fort Tilden, including its very popular beach, reopened to the public for the first time since the devastation of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.

Hagerman Fossil Beds NM - Hagerman Fossil Beds has been awarded a $25,000 impact grant from the National Park Foundation to support the HAVENS Project, a unique fire rehabilitation project engaging local students.

Office of Public Health - The spring/summer issue of NPS One Health Network News, or One Health, has been published and is available online (internal only).

Park Facility Management Division - The newest issue of EPN: Environmental Purchasing In The NPS, a newsletter dedicated to green purchasing news from around the system, is now available (internal only).

Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services - Christopher Smith has been selected as the field manager (special agent in charge) for the National Park Service's Investigative Services Branch.

To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites:

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

Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/

The Morning Report is produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen (Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov).

--- ### ---