The impact of the events of September 11th have been felt at National Parks across the country. To provide you with a sense of the impact we have compiled a listing of the daily incident reports from September 11, 2001 through December 2001. This report is a listing of all of the incidents, primarily law enforcement, that have occurred at this park.

The following entries are excerpted from the reports published by the National Park Service daily to record incidents and other important information. The reports document the high level response of Park Police and other Park personnel around September 11th, 2001.

September 11 - Special Edition
The Secretary of Interior and the Director have each issued important memoranda regarding our reaction to today's terrorist attacks in Washington and New York.

First, an update on our friends and colleagues in the New York and Washington areas. Bob Martin, regional chief ranger for Northeast Region, has sent along this note: "We have been in contact with the parks in New York and can assure you that all of our employees are safe. However, Federal Hall, Fire Island and Ellis Island are all involved in providing support for this incident. The United States Park Police in New York are also playing a major role. We, in turn, are assuring that they have the resources and personnel they need." We will keep you posted on developments with updates whenever circumstances merit.

September 12
Northeast Region - All parks in Northeast Region closed yesterday due to terrorist activity. Parks evacuated their visitors, implemented their continuity of operations plans, stepped-up their security - particularly at the Statue of Liberty, Federal Hall, Boston National Historical Park and Independence - and began sharing resources as needed. Protection rangers from some parks traveled to others that don't have protection staffs; two boats from Fire Island with a boat captain and protection rangers on each assisted the Park Police and helped move people and employees via New York harbor. Rangers and Park Police officers are working 12-hour shifts in the New York City area.

The regional all-risk Type 2 team (Brown) has been activated and will assist the parks, make contingency plans, and provide public information support. The team has set up shop at the regional office in Philadelphia. Regional SET teams continue to be on alert. All parks will be working to open up today except for the Statue of Liberty, Federal Hall, Manhattan sites, and Gateway sites, including Sandy Hook.

New York parks are assessing their employees' situations, as there will inevitably be connections with some of the many people who lost their lives. Parks will make CISD and EAP services available as needed.

September 13
USPP/New York Field Office (NY) - All available personnel were called in for duty following the crash of the two planes into the World Trade Center. Four USPP vessels were sent to secure the waters around the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and to assist in medevacs of injured people from the area. Officers were sent to Federal Hall to assist with the securing and protection of that building; others were assigned to Ellis Island to assist with the set-up of a triage center. About 275 people were treated there; of these, about 60 were transported and admitted to local hospitals. The Statue of Liberty was evacuated. Officers were also assigned to the gates of Floyd Bennett Field, Fort Tilden, and Fort Wadsworth and to close those areas to the public. Rangers from Fire Island NS assisted USPP with two vessels and personnel.

September 13
Statue of Liberty NM/Ellis Island NM (NY) - Both are closed and will remain closed indefinitely. The Statue of Liberty received one bomb threat last night, which proved unfounded.

Ellis Island is still serving as an alternate triage center and morgue for the city. Refrigeration units are in place on the island.

September 15
Statue of Liberty NM/Ellis Island NM (NY) - A four-person CISD team headed by Pat Buccello is at the statue. Another five team members will arrive on Monday. The team will serve employees throughout the New York harbor area.

Statue of Liberty NM/Ellis Island NM - All employees and residents were evacuated from Liberty Island when the second plane hit the tower. A CP was established at Ellis Island to protect the site and to prepare to receive evacuees from lower Manhattan. Park Police boats from the Statue of Liberty and Gateway established a zone around Ellis and Liberty Island and assisted with evacuations. About 275 evacuees from Manhattan were taken in, including civilians and injured rescue workers. More than 60 of them were subsequently transported to hospitals in New Jersey. A list of all their names was put together, and efforts were made to notify their families. A SWAT team was deployed on the USPP boats to provide security for the islands.

September 16
Statue of Liberty NM/Ellis Island NM (NY) - A nine-person NPS CISD team will begin working with employees on Monday. On Tuesday, all employees will meet at Ellis Island to go over employee assistance, park operations, and security matters.

September 18
Director Mainella will be traveling to New York on Thursday to meet with employees from parks throughout the area. A primary focus of current NPS operations in New York is the provision of assistance to the employees, including staff in all divisions, US Park Police officers, and concessions personnel. The NPS dispatched a team of five CISD counselors to the area to conduct an initial assessment over this past weekend and now has nine peer supporters, representing all divisions, on site at Ellis Island. They will be providing individual and group debriefings to all employees in the metro area. Quite a few saw the first airplane hit the World Trade Center, even more saw the second (it passed low over Liberty and Ellis Islands), and many others have been directly involved in on-scene search and recovery operations. Heading the CISD team is Pat Buccello. If you have concerns about support needs for any employee, please contact her. Pat says that the employees she's talked with have invariably told her about how much they've appreciated emails from friends and colleagues from around the Service. If you know someone working in the New York or Washington metropolitan areas or someone involved in support or other related operations, take a minute to send him or her a note.

Statue of Liberty NM/Ellis Island NM (NY) - Site division chiefs met at Ft. Wadsworth yesterday; all employees are meeting at Ellis Island today to go over employee assistance, park operations, and security issues.

September 19
The National Park Service continues to provide support to its parks and employees, gather information on the status of field areas for DOI, and deal with security issues throughout the country. Director Mainella will travel to New York this afternoon to meet and talk with employees and to visit sites affected by the attacks.

September 20
Statue of Liberty NM/Ellis Island NM - Both areas remain closed.

December 20
The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Islands were reopened to the public today December 20, 2001. The Statue of Liberty Monument itself remains closed.

 Incident Report from all National Parks - (PDF file)
 Get PDF software

TOP