[Scan-DC] Good bird's eye snow photos of downtown D.C.

[Alan Henney]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: David Schlosser
Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2010 3:33 PM
Subject: US Park Police Response To Blizzard



Historic snowfall in the Washington, DC area brought many challenges to
public safety personnel. This snowfall began on Friday February 5, 2010 and
continued until late Saturday February 6, 2010. Most of the roadways were
at times completely impassable because the almost two feet of snow coupled
with snow fall rates at times about 4 inches per hour almost overwhelmed
the plowing equipment. This snow was also very moist and dense. The weight
of the snow brought down hundreds of trees, obstructing many roadways and
downing power lines.

The United States Park Police responded with a vast array of resources.
Many of the areas we patrol in the Washington area have desolate sections
that concern us during such weather conditions because hikers, visitors,
and motorists could get stranded making it difficult to locate them. To
assure that we keep our community safe, one of our important resources to
patrol the deserted areas is aerial surveillance by United States Park
Police Aviation.

Clearly these patrols were initially limited by the snowfall and poor
visibility, but as soon as Aviation could fly, they made a detailed
assessment of the storm’s impact. Some of the patrols were in the downtown
Washington, DC area, a flight up the Potomac River to Great Falls, Fort
Washington Park, the areas near Mount Vernon, East Potomac Park and Haines
Point, and the Potomac River itself. The river patrols allow us to look for
anybody who may have become stranded in or near the river and also to
assess navigation hazards for the boaters using the Potomac River.

United States Park Police Rescue Technician/Paramedic Sergeant Klebaner
(Aviation Section) photographed some of the patrol areas when United States
Park Police Helicopter Eagle 1 made these flights on Sunday February 7,
2010.

Please enjoy these photographs as you grasp the impact of this blizzard.
Some of the scenes you will see are the Potomac River Gorge and Great
Falls, Georgetown in Washington, DC, Washington’s Reagan National Airport,
the Jefferson Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, Mount Vernon, the Lincoln
Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the approach
to the United States Park Police Aviation hanger in Anacostia Park, United
States Park Police Eagle 1 at the hanger, and a beautiful red fox running
across the snow on Haines Point.

All of these photographs have the unique vantage point of the United States
Park Police Aviation personnel.
All media outlets may use these photographs for legitimate news reporting
with proper attribution to the United States Park Police, Aviation Section.


I have NOT attached these photographs to this email as the sizes will
likely clog email accounts. These photographs are available at my blog
site, www.uspppressroom.blogspot.com. They are formatted as jpegs.


                                    ###





Sergeant David Schlosser
Public Information Officer
United States Park Police
1100 Ohio Drive SW
Washington, DC 20024

Office (202) 619-7163
Mobile (202) 425-4286
Fax (202) 619-7158
www.nps.gov/uspp/

For latest press releases please visit our blog at
www.uspppressroom.blogspot.com