Park News July 11,2008

Rocky Mountain National Park

A group of eight visitors from Texas – a family of seven with a friend – were hiking on the Glacier Gorge trail near Mills Lake early on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 8th, when a thunderstorm passed over the area. Lightning hit nearby and three of them – two men and a woman – were thrown to the ground. All three received minor burns from the lightning and sustained additional injuries when they hit the ground. Another visitor called park dispatch via cell phone and reported the incident. As rangers headed to the area, the three injured visitors hiked down to the trailhead. They were treated there by rangers and medical personnel from the Estes Park Medical Center, but declined further medical care.

 

Dinosaur National Monument

Dane Marriott, 30, of Vernal, Utah, was injured Sunday, July 6th, when he dove into the Green River during a rafting trip through the park. Group members noticed Marriott floating face-down in the water but thought he was playing a joke on his friends. After a few minutes, they pulled him from the water and found that he was unresponsive and not breathing. Park employees Serena Dennis and Jim Linville were working a short distance away and heard calls for help. Upon arriving at the scene, Dennis, a wilderness first responder, and Linville, a Routt County emergency medical technician, revived and stabilized Marriott. With assistance from employees of park concessioners Outward Bound and Holiday Expeditions, Dennis and Linville transported Marriott eight miles downriver to an ambulance at the Split Mountain boat ramp. Marriott was taken to Ashley Valley Regional Medical Center, where he was airlifted to Salt Lake City.

 

Richmond National Battlefield Park

In October, 2006, interpretive rangers stationed at the Chimborazo Medical Museum contacted protection rangers and advised them that a man was attempting to make repeated returns of merchandise that he’d allegedly purchased – but for which he could not produce any receipts. Surveillance was set up at the site and rangers identified the man as Russell Payne. While running an NCIC check on him, Payne fled on foot, reached his car, and left the area. An arrest warrant was obtained and he was later taken into custody by officers from the Albemarle County Sheriff’s Department. On July 1st, Payne was convicted of theft of government property and fleeing to elude police. He was sentenced to one year in prison, banned from all National Park sites in the states of Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia for five years, and ordered to pay restitution for all monies he received in his fraudulent returns. Payne has an extensive criminal history of theft and drug convictions.

 

Fire Island National Seashore

The park received a 911 call on the afternoon of Sunday, July 6th, reporting that a person was caught in the rip tide at Ocean Ridge, a small hamlet about a half mile west of the NPS area at Watch Hill with an unguarded beach. Rangers Bernie Felix, Rich Fhaner, Jason Flynn and Conan Pelc responded along with seasonal lifeguards Victoria Olivotti and James Lever. The lifeguards helped the 78-year-old man out of the ocean to a standing ovation from beachgoers. The man had gone out for a swim when he’d gotten caught in the rip tide. He was near exhaustion, with an elevated heart rate, but otherwise in good condition and good spirits. Due to the numerous incidents that were occurring at the same time, local authorities were unable to respond or assist. Rip tides were extreme at the time due to tide and sea conditions. Without the rapid, professional response by all concerned, an otherwise quiet evening could have had a less then favorable result for the victim and his family.

 

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Dates: 07/01/2008 - 07/23/2008

Fire and Aviation Management has an opening for a GS-0401-11/12 fire management specialist. Duties are as follows:

Wildland fire management advisory services - Serves as the Servicewide fire management expert for issues related to equipment and facilities (including RAWS) utilized in the full range of fire management activities. Provides advice with the intent to ensure the needs of the fire community are effectively and efficiently met.

Capital equipment program management - Manages the NPS wildland fire capital equipment program, which includes the NPS working capital fund (WCF). The WCF program is a joint NPS/BLM amortization program for replacement of wildland fire engines, water tenders, fire support vehicles, and radios. Develops business processes for justifying, prioritizing, procuring, and disposing of capital equipment. Initiates the ordering of equipment and works closely with regional procurement and contracting officers in developing and implementing consolidated purchase orders for equipment. Ensures standardization and cost effectiveness of equipment purchases for the Service. Initiates change orders and requisitions for purchasing engines and tenders. Negotiates cost-effective add-ons to GSA Federal Supply Schedule fire engines and water tenders with GSA Contract Specialists and vendors.

Data analysis and management - Serves as the NPS subject-matter expert (steward) for the Service’s wildland fire data (both geospatial and tabular) such as: wildland fire equipment, RAWS, lightning detection, weather, facilities construction, and radios. Has substantial responsibility for developing, managing, and validating data for analyses used in budgeting, incident pre-planning, and strategic fire management plans. Manages data in a variety of digital formats including spreadsheets, text documents, databases, and geographic information systems. Establishes criteria for and analyzes wildland fire capital equipment and fire facilities programs as well as fire radio systems with the goal of improving program and system performance, increasing productivity and effectiveness, controlling costs, mitigating adverse aspects of operations and maintaining integrity and responsiveness to customers.

Wildland fire facilities program management - Coordinates and manages the NPS wildland fire facilities deferred maintenance and capital improvement program, as part of the Department of the Interior program funded from the wildland fire management appropriation. Responsible for prioritizing and updating NPS wildland fire facility requests as part of the DOI five-year deferred maintenance and capital improvement plan.



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73

Dates: 06/25/2008 - 07/23/2008

Fire and Aviation Management has issued an announcement for a GS-12/13 smoke management specialist. Duties.

* Serves as the recognized authority for wildland fire smoke management activities, issues and opportunities for NPS Branch of Wildland Fire.
* Develops projects for and leads research to analyze and resolve unique, uncertain and controversial issues that affect wildland fire smoke management.
* Formulates and recommends innovative and significant service-wide policy, plans, and procedures related to wildland fire smoke management.
* Represents NPS on interagency committees, multi-stakeholder groups, task forces, and other special interest groups concerning the development of air quality-related regulations and policies.
*Represents NPS Branch of Wildland Fire and DOI Fire Management on the Fire Air Coordination Team and the Fire Emissions Joint Forum.
* Interprets critical technical input to develop policies and provide comments from an NPS Wildland Fire Management perspective on major proposed federal and state regulations and policies relating to wildland fire smoke management.
* Provides advice to the Environmental Protection Agency, and state and local air quality regulators on revisions of interim air quality policy, other rule making, smoke regulations, smoke management plans and smoke related parts of state implementation plans for regional haze, fine particulate and ozone. Reviews state smoke management plans and drafts collaborative response from the NPS wildland fire perspective.

The duty station may be either Boise, Idaho, or Denver, Colorado.



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Canaveral National Seashore

Dates: 06/25/2008 - 07/15/2008

Canaveral National Seashore currently has one opening for a GS-12 supervisory facility operations specialist. The person in this position is responsible for  the planning, administration, leadership and management of the park's maintenance division. The individual selected will be a key member of the park's management team. These duties provide stewardship of assets/facilities of a multi-faceted organization, ensuring visitor use and enjoyment, as well as the protection of natural and cultural resources. The position is located at park headquarters in Titusville, Florida.



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