Colorado Flooding

[wuzafuzz]

I'm not the PIO or IC for the flood related missions, but it is safe to share links to already vetted news reports! 

Listed below are links to TV and print news stories I'm aware of.  Congrats to my wing and squadron mates who were featured by the media.  :clap: :clap: :clap:

Civil Air Patrol assesses damage from the sky
http://kdvr.com/2013/09/20/video-civil-air-patrol-volunteers-fly-critical-missions-over-flooded-areas/
http://www.9news.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=2683574542001
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l2zdkfN_GOc
http://www.capvolunteernow.com/todays-features/?colo_wings_flood_damage_photo_mission_enters_5th_day&show=news&newsID=17418
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/9/prweb11141542.htm
https://www.facebook.com/ColoradoWingCAP

The positive news has netted at least 5 prospective members for my squadron. 

[Smithsonia]

I am a PIO with the Colorado Wing. However, not on this mission. I was running an Image Download Office at Centennial Airport most of the mission.

Here's what I got in a briefer a few hours ago from the IC.
Since he posts to this site as SARDAK, I'll leave it to him to update. SARDAK was FEMA/OEM Liaison AND IC for most of the mission. He did one Heck of a Job.
As far as I know we all did.

FEMA - 47 air sorties for 85.7 hours, 27 ground sorties
DHSEM - 18 air sorties for 34.9 hours, 0 ground sorties

8,239 photos uploaded to the FEMA GeoPlatform:  http://fema.maps.arcgis.com/home/   The 2013 Colorado Floods icon links to a map which may take a minute or so to load. The green dots are the locations of CAP ground and air photos and clicking on the dots will bring up links to the photos.

89 personnel providing about 2,100 hours of volunteer service

I want to thank everyone who has participated so far in this mission and I know there are others who wanted to but couldn't. FEMA and the State are appreciative of the time and effort Colorado Wing members have put into this historic event.

[Eclipse]

View photos and locations here: http://fema.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=16055a012a4c4bfdb972c90e20b5e7b8

Unselect all but the CAP layer to see those photos.

[Smithsonia]

When we started the missions - The Weather guys said it was a once in a decade event. As it rained another day to two they said it was a hundred year flood. On Saturday they said it was a once in 1000 year event. It would be good to keep CAP going through the year 3013. Likely, I'll be a little too tired to mission-up. Because today I feel like a thousand years old.

[Smithsonia]

We actually got a personal briefing from FEMA Chief Administrator Craig Fugate. There were 2 other members and myself seated at a table in the reception area at Denver Jet Center. Mr. Fugate came into Centennial Airport onboard one of those Blue and White Gulfstreams the Vice President or Secretary of State fly. We were putting a mission together on Monday morning (I think) Mr. Fugate walked through the lobby. The Region FEMA Coordinator was there to meet him. After initial handshakes and greetings he brought Mr. Fugate directly over to us at a table and we introduced ourselves. This was all unbidden by us but a very nice happenstance.

Mr. Fugate said the what we do for FEMA is important. The Airborne imaging is ready when they need it and at the right price. The Maps and images are intuitive and the photos are better than anyone else delivers. "We get more done with your photos than you might believe." Everybody likes it. Everybody uses it. He spent 5 minuets briefing us on what we were planning. He knew the general area we were to fly that day. He stated unequivocally that he was happy to have us on the FEMA team.

The take away here is simple. The briefing was specific, generous, enthusiastic, and had particulars right off the top of his head. So the next time you hear a member say something like - "FEMA doesn't know us" or "FEMA doesn't have a clue what we do." or "FEMA doesn't have our phone number." Why don't you tell them this story. Tell them that Craig Fugate came back to our table 2 or 3 times and stated. CAP does GREAT WORK!

[LTC Don]

:LIKE:  :clap:  :clap:

[arajca]

We frequently hear about how FEMA likes CAP from the Echelons Above Reality. It is very nice to hear the same from those in the trenches. It adds a more immediate, personal touch to the messaging put forth from National. Not that we don't believe National's statements, but hearing it from a local adds a whole lot more punch to the story.

[Smithsonia]

We just got this note from our Wing COmmander with the numbers so far on the Flood Missions:

Colorado Wing:
Things are getting back to normal slowly from the recent FEMA and State missions over the past few weeks.  Your support of the missions is greatly appreciated and you, the unpaid professionals, made the successful prosecution of the missions possible. There is still a Disaster Relief mission on going being headed up by Maj MaryBeth King and a number of other members.  Following we have some statistics from FEMA and State CAP missions:

Personnel - 94 total participants for a total of 2,763 man-hours
Aircraft - 10 (142.4 hours flown, 116.4 hours of the total were for imagery)
Vehicles - 12 (3,308.1 miles driven)
Communications - $0 spent, used existing CAP radio equipment and network
Other - $0 spent, members paid for their billeting

Thank you to the 94 participants and for those of you who did not participate directly, thank you for your thoughts and prayers for a safe and productive outcome.

Earl B. Sherwin, Col, CAP
Colorado Wing Commander