How to decrease CAP's spin-up time for disaster response

Started by Holding Pattern, January 16, 2020, 05:39:26 PM

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NIN

Quote from: CAP9907 on January 17, 2020, 07:12:02 PM
This is not the case, at least as far as the regulations are concerned. Your Wing may do it that way, but the Wing Commander need not be the first call, or any call at all to start an AFAM. I'd refer you to 60-3 and the C-1 tab of the CI process (on the NHQ IG page). I'm not a CC or deputy at any level, but I am a WAO and IC. When I get the call from AFRCC, I am able to commit the Wings resources and accept the mission on behalf of the CC without involving him. WMIRS 1.0 has every Wings alert roster, and that's what they use to alert. Go check your Wings roster, I'd bet your CC is not on that alert list, as most are not.

Of course I'd give him a courtesy call to keep him advised about the event, but the missions do not stop because the CC is in the john , at work, or on a safari.

As a new Wing Commander, this would be my preference as well.  Fire alarms don't require the fire chief or a battalion chief to authorize the run. The dispatch tones out the resources and away they go, Dalmations in trail.

Same here: If my wing is alerted at 0300 for an air SAR coverage mission and its within our capabilities and all the criteria are met (ie. IC, FRO, etc) to execute the mission, it does not require my imprimatur to execute.  And it especially doesn't need it if waiting for me to green light is going to delay our normal response.

I'm either way late on the list or really at the very end after the machinery is spun up and moving.

Now, if the folks need a special release, a sign off due to a high ORM score before they can launch, etc, thats a different matter.
Darin Ninness, Col, CAP
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JayT

Quote from: Holding Pattern on January 16, 2020, 05:39:26 PM
In my CERT thread, one comment was made about CAP's long spin-up time for response.

Anyone here have thoughts on how to decrease that spin-up time?

Depends on the type of incident as well.
"Eagerness and thrill seeking in others' misery is psychologically corrosive, and is also rampant in EMS. It's a natural danger of the job. It will be something to keep under control, something to fight against."

sardak

Our wing has a single 800 alert number provided to AFCCC, the 64 sheriffs and state OEM (county OEMs normally work through state OEM). Our WMIRS alert roster, like the one CAP9907 mentions, has only the contact info for ICs who also serve as duty alert officers.  The wing CC is not on the list unless he/she is a duty alert IC, and I don't recall that being the case in 22 years.  We provide a printed copy of the alert roster to OEM and the sheriffs. On the reverse side from the alert officers is a list of our capabilities and the contact info for the wing CC and CV as command, not as alert staff.

We rotate the on-call alert officer duty among the list. The members who are notified when someone calls the 800 number usually includes the wing commander, but it's their choice whether or not to be notified.  This notification can go to a text message, a pager and/or an email. The on-call has 10 minutes to acknowledge receipt of the alert back to the group. If that doesn't happen, the DOS or WAO jumps in. There have been a few times on delayed acknowledgements when a wing commander has replied back to the group asking if anyone has answered the alert.

The alert officer who replies to the alert can take the mission as IC or offer it to other ICs, those on or off the alert roster. Taking the mission as IC does not require wing commander notification or approval.

I'm also an alert coordinator for our volunteer county SAR team. We're notified by text from sheriff's dispatch, which goes to any text capable device and email. The procedure works pretty much like above, except for no wing commander in or on the perimeter of the system (the team president is an alert coordinator). We can also respond back to dispatch by radio.

Mike

etodd

Quote from: xyzzy on January 17, 2020, 11:47:51 AM

For example, an ambulance is driving down the street and sees a house on fire, so the crew chief is the incident commander until the fire department arrives.


Yep.  Its constantly drilled into us to never "self deploy".  Sit back and wait.
"Don't try to explain it, just bow your head
Breathe in, breathe out, move on ..."

THRAWN

When I was wing DOS, I used a rotating task force structure I stole from the Marines. Ground and air, each group would be the initial response unit for the week with their supporting MMS. I have it laying around somewhere. If I find it, Ill post the details.
Strup-"Belligerent....at times...."
AFRCC SMC 10-97
NSS ISC 05-00
USAF SOS 2000
USAF ACSC 2011
US NWC 2016
USMC CSCDEP 2023

arajca

Quote from: etodd on January 18, 2020, 03:23:28 AM
Quote from: xyzzy on January 17, 2020, 11:47:51 AM

For example, an ambulance is driving down the street and sees a house on fire, so the crew chief is the incident commander until the fire department arrives.


Yep.  Its constantly drilled into us to never "self deploy".  Sit back and wait.
There's a difference between stumbling across an incident and self-deploying to an incident.