Thanksgiving 2003 Imperial Dunes Closeout Report


The Thanksgiving Imperial Dunes Incident was conducted from November 25th through November 30th. The response from all agencies was excellent and the incident plan was executed in a professional manner. Because of this there were no major incidents and the weekend went smoothly. The partnership between BLM and the Imperial County Sheriff has paid off. With the combined effort and the new tactics developed we were able to manage crowd control and provide safety for the visitors and agency personnel.


Attendance:

There were 158,000 visitors for Thanksgiving, down from last year (170,000 Visitors)

Fee Compliance:

The fee compliance system continues to go well. There were some minor problems with the fee machines. Compliance along Gecko and North Dunes ranged from 70 to 99 percent. So far this year 50% of the passes sold are annual passes and the remaining 50% are weekly passes, this is up from 20% annual passes and 80% weekly passes last year.

Vendor fee compliance also went well. But, there was five vendors cited for illegal vending and some property was seized.

The fee Stations at Dune Buggy Flats, Gecko, and Wash Road were manned virtually 24 hours a day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Public Information:

There were 8 media contacts. The most noteworthy were contacts with a German weekly newspaper magazine and a contact from National Geographic.


Staffing:

Law enforcement personnel – 116
Federal – 58
State/County - 58

EMS personnel – 70 In addition there was 30 Border Patrol BORSTAR (Border Search Trauma and Rescue) team members plus 2 personnel From El Centro Regional Medical Center, and 3 personnel from Rural Metro ambulance. These additional personnel were at no cost to the incident.

Central Parking (contractor) - 13

Overhead - 25

Incident Command staff was cut by 66% which allowed more assets to participate in incident control.

Volunteers - 6


Cost:

The estimated cost is $250,000 plus the cost of Imperial County Sheriff.

Statistics:

Medical: Thursday through Sunday El Centro Regional Medical Center provided medical personnel. This was a 24 hour a day coverage. . Also, BORSTAR and Rural Metro Ambulance Company manned the South Dunes to provide medical services as needed. We thank them for this community service

Medical Responses:

Total – 142 There is a downward trend in medical responses:

Year Med Responses
2001 220
2002 170
2003 142

Life flights – 2

1 confirmed fatality

Transports - 45

Dune Buggy rescues – 25



Law Enforcement: For safety reasons the road to Oldsmobile Hill was closed Friday and Saturday evening. This allowed only vehicles that could negotiate the dunes to proceed to Oldsmobile Hill. Also, one arrest led the Law Enforcement Officers to Brawley where they found a Methamphetamine lab along with numerous stolen OHVs. An investigation is in progress.

Law enforcement citations: 1279

Federal + Calif. Division of Forestry – 864
Non-Federal Officers - 415

Arrests: 64

Evictions: Three campsites and occupants were evicted from the dunes for violation of Laws. In addition a single camper was evicted for the same violations.

Fires:

Total – 10

Resources Protection:

Compliance with the closures appeared to be good, though there were some intrusions and some citations were issued for intrusion. The weekend went relatively well