COWG CAP participates in tornado relief efforts

Started by wuzafuzz, May 25, 2008, 12:15:12 PM

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wuzafuzz

Some excerpts from a press release about CAP involvement in recovery activities in Windsor, CO.

"May 24th, 2008

At about 6:00p.m. Colorado Wing Civil Air Patrol received a request from the National Operations Center to assist the Salvation Army with distributing food and water in Windsor, CO.  On Thursday May 22nd, a tornado went through the town damaging hundreds of homes.  Several people were injured and there was at least one fatality due to the storm.  Golf ball sized hail also accompanied the tornado.

Ground teams from Civil Air Patrol have assisted Salvation Army with food collection and distribution.  Over 1000 CASES of water and food have been distributed to local residents and emergency responders.  In the last 48 hours, there have been over 30 ground teams sent to the area."

Personal Observations:
The work was hard but rewarding.  We helped unload huge food deliveries, conducted inventories, distributed food and drink, and did whatever else was needed.  Some of us even took push carts loaded with water and Gatorade into the damaged neighborhoods to distribute.  People were incredibly thankful for our efforts.  We played well with other agencies, and they seemed grateful for our presence.  Everyone was just there to help.  The Air National Guard even took some time out to give us tours of their on-site communications facilities.  A FEMA representative was quite interested in our CAP involvement and conducted on camera interviews with some of us.  Apparently those interviews will appear in some sort of FEMA documentary about the disaster response, among other things.

Since we were requested by the Salvation Army, we reported to them rather than integrating into the overall incident command.  We did have a CAP incident commander, but that person was not on site. 

It was interesting to see how we could help in a disaster, even though the primary functions we performed aren't really detailed in any of our ES jobs.  We still had liaison officers, mission radio operators, etc, but most of our work was simply moving supplies to lots of people.  I don't believe we were tasked with any flying missions.  All our work was on the ground.

It's great CAP was able to help out and improve awareness of our capabilities, but the damage struck awfully close to home.  Many of us were impacted ourselves.  My workplace took a direct hit and I don't know when I can go back to work (fortunately I can work from home on my laptop).  Other members were without power for some time.  Friends and family lost homes or suffered heavy damage.  CAP can be fun, but this was a great reminder for me that ours is a serious business!
"You can't stop the signal, Mal."