Tag Archives: National Park Service

As California fire nears, crews protect world’s largest tree in special wrap

By Fred Greaves

THREE RIVERS, Calif. (Reuters) – Fire crews have resorted to wrapping the bases of some giant sequoias in fire-resistant coverings in a desperate effort to save the towering specimens, including the General Sherman, the world’s largest tree, the National Park Service said on Friday.

The blaze, one of dozens to erupt across several western states in a fire season that got off to an early start, forced the closing earlier this week of Sequoia National Park and left a dense layer of smoke in the area early on Friday.

Air quality was poor in the small town of Three Rivers, which is near a park entrance and about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, according to the town’s website.

The so-called KNP Complex fire, formed by the merger of two other wildfires, had grown to more than 9,000 acres (3,640 hectares) by late on Thursday, according to the federal Inciweb fire information system.

It was burning about a mile (1.6 km) from the park’s Giant Forest, home to the largest tree on earth by volume, dubbed General Sherman, before 115 employees evacuated the park earlier this week, the park service said.

“Crews are preparing the Giant Forest before the fire reaches that area, by removing fuel and applying structure wrap on some of the iconic monarch sequoias that characterize the most famous area of Sequoia National Park,” the park service said in a statement early on Friday.

The General Sherman tree towers over 2,000 other giant sequoias in the park at 275 feet (83 m) and is over 36 feet (11 m) in diameter at its base, according to the park service.

Crews of 482 firefighters, aided by aircraft, are battling the week-old blaze, which was started by lightning and is burning in difficult-to-reach steep canyons, fueled by dry timber and chaparral, the Inciweb system said.

Maximum wind gusts of about 40 miles per hour (65 kph) have been hampering firefighters, but a predicted cooling trend is expected to aid their battle, it said.

The KNP Complex is one of at least 28 fires in California and 129 across several western states that have erupted since June in a fire season that traditionally begins in late summer, according to Inciweb data.

Other steps the park service said it has taken to protect the sequoias are prescribed burns, which would reduce the amount of available fuel in case KNP complex reaches them.

(Writing and additional reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

U.S. shutdown turns Washington into ghost town during quiet travel season

FILE PHOTO: A skier makes his way toward the U.S. Capitol, on Day 24 of the government shutdown in Washington D.C., U.S., January 14, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters) – Washington hotels have cleared out entire floors. Restaurants have considered taking out loans to stay open. Phones have stopped ringing at tour companies.

In the nation’s capital, where more than 20 million tourists typically visit each year, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history has threatened businesses that depend on the patronage of government workers and the attraction of federal monuments and museums to bring in tourists.

“It definitely feels like the phone should be ringing more,” said Adam Plescia, owner of Custom Tours of DC. “I think people are apprehensive about booking in the near future.”

January is typically a slow month for DC tourism, a lull between the holiday season and the March cherry blossom festival.

But the quiet is deafening this year, as the government shutdown pushes into its 26th day over U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.

All 17 Smithsonian museums in the city are closed. The White House is closed to tourists. The outdoor monuments on the National Mall, while still accessible, might have less appeal among the overflowing trash cans and litter that the National Parks Service has not collected since being furloughed.

Yohannes Zekele, who operates van and walking tours of the city as the owner of Washington DC Legend Tours, said he has not received calls for tour bookings in days. He often gives tours to lobbyists or professionals who visit the capital for conferences, but those people have few reasons to visit while many federal agencies remain shuttered.

“That’s a major impact,” Zekele said.

To be sure, the shutdown failed to keep all tourists away but at least some of those who came to the capital were disappointed.

Sharmayne Whitter, 38, a teacher from Birmingham, England, braved the winter weather to take a photo with a friend outside the White House. Washington was the last stop on a four-week road trip along the East Coast that was planned before she found out about the shutdown. Whitter said she blames Trump for the missed sightseeing opportunities.

This a once in a lifetime opportunity, so he’s kind of limited our chances to experience America as it should be and the beautiful land that it is. So because of his choices, he’s kind of spoiling it for the rest of the world. she said. Local restaurants have seen a “drastic decline” in business due to fewer tourists and furloughed workers choosing not to dine out, according to Kathy Hollinger, President and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.

“In attempts to not shutter completely, restaurants have had to reduce hours, shifts, and some are considering being open one less day a week, because there isn’t enough business,” Hollinger said in a statement.

The local restaurant community had suffered an average 20 percent drop in sales over the course of the shutdown, with some restaurants reporting a drop of as much as 60 percent drop, Hollinger said.

Some restaurant institutions have considered taking out loans and some hotels have had to clear out entire floors, according to a survey conducted by the Restaurant Association.

Hotel occupancy was down more than 8 percent the week of Dec. 30 to Jan. 5 compared with the same week last year, according to the most recent findings by Destination DC, an independent tourism marketing organization.

Destination DC compiles visitation statistics annually, so it is too soon to measure how much the shutdown has affected the local tourism industry, Destination DC spokeswoman Danielle Davis said.

In 2017, 22.8 million tourists visited the city and spent $7.5 billion.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter in New York; Additional reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Frank McGurty and Susan Thomas)

Woman climbs base of Statue of Liberty, forcing evacuation

A protester is seen on the Statue of Liberty in New York, New York, U.S., July 4, 2018 in this picture obtained from social media. Danny Owens/via REUTERS

By Frank McGurty

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A woman climbed the base of the Statue of Liberty on Wednesday afternoon, forcing an evacuation of the New York Harbor island where the monument stands hours before Independence Day fireworks displays were scheduled to begin nearby.

The National Park Service was evacuating Liberty Island because of the standoff. The historic statue, a symbol of American freedom, is typically crowded with visitors on the July 4 holiday.

Television images showed a woman seated just above the stone pedestal on which the colossal, green-tarnished statue stands. Officers, using ladders, had climbed within a few feet of her and were negotiating with her.

“She is refusing to cooperate and our efforts to engage her are ongoing at this minute,” Sgt. David Somma, a spokesman for the National Park Service, told Reuters.

Emergency responders are seen as a protester climbs on the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York, New York, U.S., July 4, 2018 in this picture obtained from social media. Twitter/@sarah_eyebrows/via REUTERS

Emergency responders are seen as a protester climbs on the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York, New York, U.S., July 4, 2018 in this picture obtained from social media. Twitter/@sarah_eyebrows/via REUTERS

The parks service, which operates the Statue of Liberty National Park, could not confirm whether the woman was part of a protest, Somma said. Earlier, seven protesters were arrested on the island, he said without providing further details.

Those who were arrested had dropped a banner that read “Abolish ICE” from the statue’s base, a reference to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to media reports.

The agency is at the center of the Trump administration’s shelved policy of separating some immigrant families at the U.S.-Mexican border, leading to calls for its disbanding.

The New York Police Department said NYPD hostage negotiators were assisting the park service in attempting to persuade the woman to surrender.

The copper statue, a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, has become a worldwide symbol of the American values of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

It stands at the mouth of New York Harbor off lower Manhattan, in view of a spectacular fireworks show over the East River, presented every July 4 after nightfall.

At the same time, Jersey City will present a fireworks display at Liberty State Park along the Hudson River near the statue.

(Additional reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Chris Reese)

Death toll from Tennessee wildfire climbs to 11

Burned buildings and cars aftermath of wildfire is seen in this image released in social media by Tennessee Highway Patrol in Gatlinburg, Tennessee,

By Steve Gorman

(Reuters) – The death toll from a devastating blaze in and around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee rose to 11 on Thursday, the highest loss of civilian life from a single U.S. wildfire in 13 years.

Investigators have determined the so-called Chimney Tops 2 fire, which laid waste to whole neighborhoods in the resort town of Gatlinburg earlier this week, was caused by unspecified human activity, officials said.

Total property losses from the fire have been put at more than 700 structures, with most of the destruction in Gatlinburg, known as the “gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains,” in eastern Tennessee, about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Knoxville.

A total of 11 people were killed in the fire, up from seven deaths reported Wednesday, according to Dean Flener, a spokesman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

That made Chimney Tops 2 the nation’s single deadliest wildfire since 2013, when 19 firefighters died near Prescott, Arizona.

Troopers from the Tennessee Highway Patrol help residents leave an area under threat of wildfire after a mandatory evacuation was ordered in Gatlinburg, Tennesse

Troopers from the Tennessee Highway Patrol help residents leave an area under threat of wildfire after a mandatory evacuation was ordered in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in a picture released November 30, 2016. Tennessee Highway Patrol/Handout via REUTERS

It also ranks as the largest civilian death toll from a U.S. wildfire since 15 people, including a firefighter, were killed in Southern California’s Cedar Fire in 2003, according to Jessica Gardetto, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

None of the Tennessee victims has been publicly identified, but all were presumed to be civilians, officials from the fire command center told Reuters. As many as 45 people have been reported injured.

The blaze erupted on Nov. 23, Thanksgiving eve, in a remote area of rugged terrain dubbed Chimney Tops in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Gatlinburg, authorities said.

Fed by drought-parched brush and trees and stoked by fierce winds, the flames spread quickly days later, igniting numerous spot fires and exploding on Monday into an inferno that roared out of the park into surrounding homes and businesses.

“The wildfire was determined to be human-caused and is currently under investigation,” according to a bulletin released on Thursday by fire commanders and the National Park Service. It gave no further details.

Aerial television news footage showed the burned-out, smoking ruins of dozens of homes surrounded by blackened trees in several neighborhoods.

Steady rains on Tuesday night and into Wednesday helped firefighters slow the blaze, but by Thursday morning officials were still reporting no containment around a fire zone that spanned more than 17,000 acres (6,880 hectares).

“The fire is not out; it is just knocked down,” fire operations chief Mark Jamieson said in the bulletin.

Some 14,000 people were forced to flee their homes at the height of the fire, and most of Gatlinburg, a city of nearly 4,000 residents, remained under mandatory evacuation on Thursday.

Evacuation orders were lifted on Wednesday for the nearby town of Pigeon Forge, home of country music star Dolly Parton’s theme park, Dollywood.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney, Lisa Shumaker and Paul Tait)

Seventh Shark Attack in Three Weeks

A swimmer off the outer banks of North Carolina had to be airlifted to a hospital after the seventh shark attack in the last three weeks.

Hyde County spokesman Sarah Johnson said the victim is a man in his late-50s who suffered wounds to his rib cage, lower leg, hip and both hands.

Witnesses say the man was directly in front of a lifeguard stand when a 6 to 7-foot grey shark attacked him around noon Wednesday.   Johnson said the victim was conscious and stable before being flown to the hospital.

The National Park Service said the attack happened in waist deep water about 25 feet from the shore.

The shark attack today is not the only unusual incident on an East Coast beach.

New Jersey officials reported that the deadly Portuguese Man O’ War have washed up on state beaches.  The organism, which can grow to be a foot long with tentacles that can reach 165 feet, causes severe pain to humans and if it reaches the lymph nodes can cause shock, interference with heart and lung functions, and death.

Yosemite Park Hantavirus Warning Now Reaches 230,000

Almost a quarter-million people are now being warned about exposure to the potentially deadly hantavirus.

The mouse-borne disease is known to have now infected nine people, killing three of them. Over 230,000 people have now been sent notices from the Yosemite Park Rangers warning them of exposure and encouraging them to seek tests from their doctors. Detecting the virus through blood tests early increases a victim’s chance of survival. Continue reading →