[PAO] SC Flood Response Overview

Michael Marek, Lt Col, CAP Michael.Marek at sm.capnhq.gov
Fri Oct 9 19:37:46 CDT 2015 

Yes, please.  I can forward to other places, plus we have a lot of 
people on this list who may get the information faster via our list.  :-)


-Michael-




On 10/9/2015 4:34 PM, Karen Copenhaver wrote:
> I'll be happy to do so.  I received release #4 about an hour ago, 
> however, it seems to have been sent to all the wing PAOs and wing 
> commanders.  Would you like for me to forward it to this list so 
> others may also follow?
>
> Karen~
>
> On 10/9/2015 5:06 PM, Michael Marek, Lt Col, CAP wrote:
>> Thanks for sending this, Karen.  Please feel free to send any further 
>> updates, as appropriate.
>>
>>
>> -Michael-
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 10/9/2015 8:38 AM, Karen Copenhaver wrote:
>>> ALCON:
>>>
>>> I have just completed a phone call with SC Wing Commander, Col 
>>> Francis Smith, and he as given permission to share this overview of 
>>> the situation in South Carolina, their efforts and the support they 
>>> are receiving throughout this disaster relief effort.  Please feel 
>>> free to share with your fellow units and members.
>>>
>>> Karen L. Copenhaver, Lt Col, CAP
>>> Deputy Director, Public Affairs
>>> Middle East Region
>>> 276-783-8022
>>>
>>> Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Air Force Auxiliary
>>>
>>> http://GoCivilAirPatrol.com
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> *From:*Francis Smith, Col, CAP SCWG/CC [mailto:fhsmith at scwgcap.org]
>>> *Sent:* Thursday, October 08, 2015 7:28 PM
>>> *To:* scwg at scwgcap.org; scwg-cc at scwgcap.org
>>> *Cc:* Maj Gen Joe Vazquez; Brig Gen Larry Myrick; John Knowles; Col 
>>> Dennis Barron; Jay Langley; Col David Crawford; Richard Greenwood; 
>>> Lt Col Andrea Van Buren; Boykin Roseborough; Larry Ragland; icp; 
>>> mark.obrien.3 at us.af.mil; losc at bellsouth.net; opscenter at capnhq.gov
>>> *Subject:* [SCWG] [ICP] SC Flood Response Overview - Thursday
>>>
>>> Good evening, everyone.
>>>
>>> Another good day working for the good citizens of the Palmetto 
>>> State.  At the moment, we have flown approximately 20 sorties and 46 
>>> hours.
>>>
>>> The taskings for today were more focused.  Over the last two days, 
>>> we have flown a LOT of “get out there and see what’s happening” type 
>>> sorties.  With all of the grids we flew, we had a lot more activity 
>>> in the sky yesterday.
>>>
>>> We’re still prominent today, but flew about half of the hours 
>>> because the areas of concern are now more specifically identified. 
>>>  The Georgetown area is of major concern starting right away, as 
>>> floodwaters are cresting further and further downstream.
>>>
>>> *Be clear on this:*  we are not responding to a disaster that has 
>>> occurred.  We are responding to a disaster that is still in 
>>> progress.  Major flooding is still occurring and will continue to 
>>> occur through the weekend.  This is even more dangerous because 
>>> people are seeing the blue skies and assuming that all is okay. 
>>>  This is resulting in many, many stranded people.
>>>
>>> Today CAP performed Impact Assessment and SAR flights over the most 
>>> affected rivers and in flood prone areas.  Unfortunately, most of 
>>> the flood prone areas are very large in the flatlands, and water is 
>>> literally running over the ground from river to river in some areas. 
>>>  We have no real way of knowing if we saved lives today, but I’m 
>>> betting we did.  CAP aircraft identified a number of flooded and 
>>> isolated areas, noted where there were vehicles in distress, located 
>>> two unsafe bridges that had no law enforcement or other barricades, 
>>> and provided hundreds more in the way of IA photos.  We also flew 
>>> roads in and out of Georgetown helping SCEMD folks plan for 
>>> evacuations and areas that are likely to flood and thus close roads 
>>> needed for those evacuations.  We are again getting real time 
>>> information to the EOC from the air and help is getting to the right 
>>> places.
>>>
>>> We had three new (in the original wrapper) camera systems arrive 
>>> from the NOC today.  These are small Garmin cameras that attach to a 
>>> wing strut and take “straight down” photos on a particular flight 
>>> profile.  We’ll be taking a look at the first sortie using those 
>>> cameras tonight - we have high hopes but we are the test case for 
>>> sure.  If we had good success, we’ll be flying all three of them 
>>> tomorrow.
>>>
>>> Today, we flew aircraft from SC, NC, VA, and MD wings, with thanks 
>>> to the two aircrews from Georgia that were ready to come at a 
>>> moment’s notice.  This is allowing our aircrews and mission base 
>>> staff to be rotated out a bit for some badly needed and well earned 
>>> rest.  We appreciate you, and hopefully we’ll see you in the next 
>>> few days.  Our mission base staff was augmented by a GA-8 and 
>>> several van-loads of cadets from Lowcountry, Columbia, and 
>>> Lexington, as well as senior staff from North Carolina and Maryland. 
>>>  We set up a debriefing section in the main meeting room at SC Wing 
>>> HQ, and have support personnel in that section to help get WMIRS 
>>> populated with complete and meaningful debriefing information.  That 
>>> information is also being cross-decked quickly to the EOC.  We are 
>>> taking advantage of our fiber connection to the internet here to 
>>> upload photos to FEMA at rates about 30 times faster than typical 
>>> high-speed internet.
>>>
>>> We are very fortunate to have had donations or steep discounts from 
>>> vendors who have brought us food, water, and soft drinks.  We are 
>>> well cared for here!
>>>
>>> Tomorrow we will be flying affected and likely affected roads, 
>>> possibly with the new camera system, both early and late in the day. 
>>>  We also expect to receive a long list of photo targets (spot 
>>> targets) along 4 or 5 of the affected rivers.  We won’t receive 
>>> those until in the morning, but that list will be completed in the 
>>> morning and repeated in the afternoon for comparison purposes.  We 
>>> won’t be launching the majority of our aircraft (or don’t expect to) 
>>> until after 9am, which is a welcome short break.
>>>
>>> Again, so very blessed to have had great assistance from everyone 
>>> involved.  Thank you all for your continued efforts. *You are making 
>>> a difference.*
>>>
>>> *Col**Francis H. Smith, Jr., CAP*
>>>
>>> South Carolina Wing Commander
>>>
>>> (W)
>>>
>>> 803.490.0180
>>>
>>> (C)
>>>
>>> 803.261.4981
>>>
>>> U.S.Air Force Auxiliary
>>>
>>> GoCivilAirPatrol.com <http://GoCivilAirPatrol.com>
>>>
>>> scwgcap.org <http://scwgcap.org>
>>>
>>>
>>> <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Civil-Air-Patrol/107647995924164><https://www.flickr.com/photos/civilairpatrol/sets/>
>>>
>>>> On Oct 6, 2015, at 10:17 PM, Francis Smith, Col, CAP SCWG/CC 
>>>> <fhsmith at scwgcap.org <mailto:fhsmith at scwgcap.org>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> SC Wing and friends:
>>>>
>>>> Today the Civil Air Patrol really got spun up as part of the SAR 
>>>> and disaster relief effort in South Carolina.  The weather was 
>>>> great in some areas, good enough in others, and unfortunately 
>>>> almost good enough in a few places.  Our priority has been on 
>>>> flying and identifying locations that need or will shortly need SAR 
>>>> assets and getting rescue to those locations.  Right behind that, 
>>>> and sometimes simultaneously with that, we provided impact 
>>>> assessment reports and photography.  Even now, there are CAP 
>>>> members that are compiling reports and continuing to plan for the 
>>>> next operational periods.  We’ll kick off again early in the morning.
>>>>
>>>> In the roundest of numbers, we had approximately 100 personnel 
>>>> involved, flew 14 aircraft, and logged about 85 hours in the air 
>>>> today.  We expect similar numbers tomorrow.  We have received all 
>>>> of our taskings and have planned and sorted those amongst several 
>>>> aircrew.  Kudos to everyone involved in our operations from the 
>>>> mission base staff to the aircrews to the communications operators 
>>>> stationed all over the state.  We have had incredible work by Col 
>>>> Lindler and his helpers at our state EOC for the past 72 hours or 
>>>> so - truly an integral part of the response effort being put forth 
>>>> by all levels of government.  Outstanding work by the members of 
>>>> Columbia and Lexington Composite Squadrons who were called and 
>>>> showed up within minutes yesterday to prepare and staff our 
>>>> headquarters.  They were back today making sure everyone had what 
>>>> they needed, no one went hungry, or didn’t have a place to stay. 
>>>>  Mrs. Kim Phillips, our Wing Administrator worked (approved) 
>>>> overtime - well above and beyond the call of duty.  There are so 
>>>> many names out there deserving of commendation and recognition - 
>>>> we’ll definitely get to that.
>>>>
>>>> Included in all of this, we have two aircrews and aircraft each 
>>>> from North Carolina and Georgia flying with us right now.  A GA-8 
>>>> airvan and an aircrew from Maryland arrived today, and are tasked 
>>>> first thing in the morning.  We have a Cessna 206 coming from North 
>>>> Carolina tomorrow.  Every bit of support we have asked for we have 
>>>> received without hesitation.  This is the concept of No Borders, No 
>>>> Boundaries in action, and it is working better than you could ever 
>>>> imagine for the citizens of the Palmetto State.  Thanks to everyone 
>>>> who is here, who will be here later, or who just volunteered to 
>>>> come.  Kudos to Lt Col Jay Langley, the MER/DO, who simply answered 
>>>> the phone, heard my request for him to “just handle” coordination 
>>>> of all out-of-wing assets, and said, “I got it.”
>>>>
>>>> Tomorrow we will start the day with more SAR runs in flooded and 
>>>> flood-prone areas.  We’ll then continue to work on Aerial 
>>>> Photography and Impact Assessment missions.  As was so prevalent 
>>>> today, we will also have a couple of aircraft and aircrews set 
>>>> aside to fly federal, state and local officials that need to see 
>>>> what they’re dealing with.
>>>>
>>>> Please be sure your minds are on safety as we continue forward. 
>>>>  It’s very easy to get your mind so wrapped around what we need to 
>>>> do that we forget about the little things that can cause incidents 
>>>> and accidents.  We have mission requirements and we need to meet 
>>>> them, but remember to plan your response so that you can respond to 
>>>> those needs safely, effectively, and efficiently (in that order.)
>>>>
>>>> I am immensely proud be a leader and a servant in the Civil Air 
>>>> Patrol today.  You should be too.
>>>>
>>>> Semper Vigilans,
>>>>
>>>> *Col**Francis H. Smith, Jr., CAP*
>>>>
>>>> South Carolina Wing Commander
>>>>
>>>> (W)
>>>>
>>>> 803.490.0180
>>>>
>>>> (C)
>>>>
>>>> 803.261.4981
>>>>
>>>> U.S.Air Force Auxiliary
>>>>
>>>> GoCivilAirPatrol.com <http://gocivilairpatrol.com/>
>>>>
>>>> scwgcap.org <http://scwgcap.org/>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Civil-Air-Patrol/107647995924164>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Subscribed Email Address:Michael.Marek at sm.capnhq.gov
>>> CAP-PAO mailing list
>>> CAP-PAO at lists.sempervigilans.org
>>> http://lists.sempervigilans.org/mailman/listinfo/cap-pao
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Subscribed Email Address:karenc at smyth.net
>> CAP-PAO mailing list
>> CAP-PAO at lists.sempervigilans.org
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>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Subscribed Email Address: Michael.Marek at sm.capnhq.gov
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