North Dakota Wing CAP

Update on ground Operations 16 Mar 2010

2010-03-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

Sandbagging Operations Continue in the Red River Valley:
Fargo Mission Base Opened at 1000 hours and is operating on Zone 3 Channel 4.
16 members of ND119 are currently sandbagging in south Fargo.
5 members of ND031 (Jamestown) are currently in bound to Fargo Mission Base.
3 Units from MN Wing are inbound to Fargo Mission Base.

Operations Around ND
Jamestown is meeting this evening to discuss Sandbagging
No other units have reported in

Upcoming Missions:
Fargo expects to continue sandbagging through Saturday at the crest of the Red River.

Please locate a POC for ground operations from each squadron and report in to Lt Col Kay and me with availability. It is important we know what units are able to respond as more sandbagging missions pop up around the state.

Thanks!!

Lt Col Erik C. Ludlow
Ground Branch Director
North Dakota Wing, CAP

FLOOD UPDATE: Valley City declares state of emergency, prepares for sandbag volunteers | INFORUM | Fargo, ND

2010-03-16T12:49:00.001-07:00

FLOOD UPDATE: Valley City declares state of emergency, prepares for sandbag volunteers | INFORUM | Fargo, ND

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Ground Operating Instructions

2010-03-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

Fargo Ground Teams:
Monday: Begin operations after school supporting the Oberg farmstead.
Tuesday: Plan on reporting to Sandbag Central tomorrow for the normal meeting to fill bags.

All other areas:
Please do an emergency recall to all GTMs and those with GES and report back to Lt Col Kay and I with numbers of volunteers per day for the next 7 days.
Please check with your local areas and report in with requests for support.

Any sandbagging operations need to be approved by either Lt Col Kay or myself. We need to make sure we use the proper forms as well: Sign-in (of personnel and vehicles) using the ICS-211P-NDCAP and ICS-218-NDCAP forms (available of the Wing web site) and CAPF 109s and fuel receipts.

Please assign one POC in your local squadrons to keep in contact with us.

Lt Col Erik C. Ludlow
Ground Branch Director
North Dakota Wing, CAP

Sandbagging Efforts are heating up

2010-03-15T08:58:00.001-07:00

Ground Teams,
Requests for sandbagging are starting to filter in. We have requests for the Fargo area to sandbag now, starting at 1600 and going until dark. We also have another request coming in to assist again after school hours tomorrow. Bismarck and Beulah may also need assistance as well. Lt Col Kay has asked me to coordinate all sandbagging efforts throughout the state. This means that he and I need to know where requests are coming in at an how many people are needed so we can mobilize ground teams in the proper areas. Here are directions:

Fargo Ground Teams:
Monday: Begin operations after school supporting the Oberg farmstead.
Tuesday: Plan on reporting to Sandbag Central tomorrow for the normal meeting to fill bags.

All other areas:
Please do an emergency recall to all GTMs and those with GES and report back to Lt Col Kay and I with numbers of volunteers per day for the next 7 days.
Please check with your local areas and report in with requests for support.

Any sandbagging operations need to be approved by either Lt Col Kay or myself. We need to make sure we use the proper forms as well: Sign-in (of personnel and vehicles) using the ICS-211P-NDCAP and ICS-218-NDCAP forms (available of the Wing web site) and CAPF 109s and fuel receipts.

Please assign one POC in your local squadrons to keep in contact with us.

Lt Col Erik C. Ludlow
Ground Branch Director
North Dakota Wing, CAP

First Sandbagging Mission 2010

2010-03-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

Hooligans-

We have our first sandbagging job!

We will be working at 1st Lt. Chip Oberg’s farm starting around 3-4 pm and working until done (dark).

Food will be provided for the 6pm meal.

If you are interested please email me back and let me know if you need a ride in one of the CAP vans.

If you drive yourself, the address is: 14326 18th St N, Georgetown, MN. It’s about 20 minutes from Fargo/Moorhead.

The uniform is BDUs, don’t forget a light jacket. Bring a good pair of work gloves and make sure that your boots are water-proof or you bring a pair of rubber boots. Your 24-hour pack is optional.

Seniors: we may have to take two vans, one to leave right away (as soon as it’s full) and the other to leave a little later (4:00-4:30pm).

I will leave with the early one. If you want to drive the 2nd one, let me know.

Have your parents call me if they have any questions.

Regards,

Kyle A. Grove, Capt, CAP | Squadron Commander
119th ANG Cadet Squadron | Fargo, ND
NCR-ND-119 | cell 701.205.6699

NCR Flood Response Staus Report 14 Mar 2010

2010-03-15T06:33:00.000-07:00

NCR Flood Response Staus Report 14 Mar 2010
Alert Level: Orange
Taskings: None shown in WMIRS
Missions: 10-1-4818 NE Wing and REQ-10-2787 SD WG pending approval

Forecasts:
NE: Highs in the 50's; Lows in the Low-mid 30's. Chance of Drizzle tonight Chancce of rian/snow Thu night
SD: Highs in the mid 40's- mid 50's; Lows in the mid 20's to mid 30's. Chance of rain tonight, slight chance of rain Thu night.
ND: Highs in the high 30's to 40's; Lows in the high 20's to low 30's. Scattered rain/slight chance of drizzle tonight and tomorrow
MN: Highs in the high 40's-mid 50's; Lows in the low 30's to 40's. Chance rain/slight chance rain tonight and tomorrow
IA: Highs in the high 40's to high 50's; Lows in the low 30's to the low 40's. Slight chance of rain Tues and Tues night.
MO: (East) Highs in the low 50's to low 60's; Lows in the high 30's to the mid 40'd. Chance of rain showers Tue night and Wed.
(West) Highs in the low 50's to low 60's; Lows in the high 30's to low 40's. No precip forecast at this time.
KS: No precip forecast.

Flood Warnings/Advisories:
KS: None in effect at this time.
NE: None in effect at this time.
MO: Mississippi River at Canton, Hannibal, Louisianna, Winfield, Grafton, St. Louis and Cape Girardeau.
Chariton River near Prairie Hill
Grand River near Chillicothe, Sumner and Brunswick
Missouri River at Sibley, Napoleon, Waverly, Miami, Boonevile, and Glasgow
Platte River at Sharp's Station; near Agency and Platte City
IA: Ice jams may cause locally higher stages especially north of Highway 20.
Des Moines and Raccoon River basins
MN: Long Prairie River at Long Prairie
Mississippi River at St Paul and near Hastings
Wild Rice River at Twin Valley
Marsh River at Shelly
Snake River at Alvarado and above Warren and Snake River
Minnesota River at Montevideo, Granite Falls, New Ulm, Henderson, Shakopee, and Savage. Near Jordan
Cottonwood River at New Ulm
Crow River at Rock ford
S. crow River at Mayer and Delano
ND: Red River at Wahpeton, Fargo and Halstad
S. Branch Buffalo River at Sabin
Buffalo River near Hawley and Dilworthy
Red Lake River at High Landing and Crookston
Two Rivers River near Hallock.

It appears that this week may be busier in ND, MN and possibly IA. Please keep me advised of what's happening in your wings. If you feel you have any newsworthy activities Al Pabon will assist your Mission Information Officers in any way he can.

Joe Casler

FLOOD UPDATE: Flood watch issued on Red River; overland flood warning in effect for Cass, Richland, Clay, Norman, Wilkin counties | INFORUM | Fargo, ND

2010-03-12T11:48:00.001-08:00

FLOOD UPDATE: Flood watch issued on Red River; overland flood warning in effect for Cass, Richland, Clay, Norman, Wilkin counties | INFORUM | Fargo, ND

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NCR Alert Status Elevated (3/11/10)

2010-03-12T08:49:00.001-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Due to the current flooding situation in NE Wing and imminent flooding in the other six wings, Col. Kuddes and I have decided to raise the NCR Alert Status to Orange. The definition is below.

Upon activation of two or more wings or if an activated wing needs assistance from other wings in the region, we will activate a region level area command to assist the activated wings.

The Region Level Area Command staff will be announced at that time, but initially it will be Col. Joe Casler as the IC and Major Al Pabon as the Mission Information Officer. This concept is new for the region and may need to be modified as operations move on. This alert status will be in effect until 18 March at least. Wing Commanders please pass this to your Wing DC's so they can get it out on the nets tonight.

ORANGE (HIGH) High risk of terrorist attack or disaster operations

Action: CAP resources will be placed on ORANGE ALERT status. Selected staff personnel, rapid response teams, and selected mission aircrews and ground teams will be placed on TELEPHONE ALERT and should prepare for possible deployment. CAP resources including CAP emergency operations centers, aircraft and ground vehicles will be inspected to determine operational status. Communications nets, particularly HF-SSB nets, between Wing HQ's, Region HQ's, and National HQ will be conducted at least once daily during Orange Level Operations. Security of resources shall be checked. Report status as directed.

Joe Casler, Col, CAP
NCR/DOS

Aerial Imaging to Support ND Flood Response (3/11/10)

2010-03-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

As we did last year, all images taken in support of this year’s flooding will be uploaded to our Skydrive site. The site can be accessed by going to http://tinyurl.com/2010-ND-Floods. Please go to that site to practice uploading images and to make sure that it works properly. If you do, please use the “Practice and samples” folder. If you have any problems with the Skydrive site, let me know.

Speaking of the Skydrive site, we had problems last year trying to develop a file structure to load images. This year, we will use the file structure outlined in the attached document. Please follow this structure.

Last year, we lost a number of original images. They were either deleted, loaded on someone else computer, or just plain lost. This year, use the file structure outlined in the attached document for archived images. Once each week, copy that weeks images to a CD and send them to me. Sortie aircrew image logs will be scanned and loaded to the sortie directory.

Documentation requirements established by CAPR 60-3 will be strictly adhered to. The following documents will be required daily and must be sent to Wing Headquarters at least weekly.

1. ICS-211-NDCAP Check-In List (Personnel) - Personnel sign-in - available from Wing web site http://www.ndcap.us/pubs/forms.html

2. ICS-218-NDCAP Support Vehicle Inventory - Vehicle/aircraft sign-in - available from Wing web site http://www.ndcap.us/pubs/forms.html

3. CAPF 104 Mission Flight Plan/Briefing Form - On-line or hard copy; On-line preferred

4. CAPF 104b Reconnaissance Summary and Imagery Log - Use of spreadsheet style imagery log is authorized

5. CAPF 107 Flight Operations Log - completely filled in

ATTENTION CADETS: If you can assist, you are needed. We will need assistance with processing and uploading images to the computer and assisting the IC with other paperwork and the radio. If you can help, let your squadron commander know.

As I have said before, we did an outstanding job last year and I expect that we will do even better this year. Check your schedules, get prepared and keep your squadron commander informed about your availability. We will need everyone that can help.
As always, if you have any questions or concern, please let me know.

WILLIAM E. KAY, Lt. Col., CAP
ND Wing Director of Operations

Wing Alert Level Orange (3/11/10)

2010-03-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

The Wing Commander has placed the Wing on Alert Status ORANGE.

Due to the latest flood potential analysis from the NWS (sent out earlier in a separate email), the potential for at least minor flooding may begin as early as March 15 in some areas of the state. If that happens, we need to be prepared to respond to support requests from the state.

In addition, NE and MO Wings are starting to ramp up their status to support flooding in their states at this time. The Region is also establishing an Area Command to support the region Wings. Any assistance to/from the Region will be directed by the Wing Commander or the ND Area Command, Lt. Col. Kay.

All squadrons should start preparing to assist ND as we did last year. Each squadron should send daily personnel and asset availability reports to me starting Monday. I will need these reports for next day sortie planning and to keep the Region advised of our status and asset availability.

So, the fun begins.

WILLIAM E. KAY, Lt. Col., CAP
ND Wing Director of Operations

Spring Flooding Preparation (3/3/10)

2010-03-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

As we prepare, both mentally and professionally, for the upcoming spring floods, we need to be aware of what is going to be expected of us this year. We set the bar pretty high last year and now the state emergency managers at all levels expect us to provide a product that is usable and timely. Long gone is the image of flooding that may include parts of the aircraft and may be slightly out-of-focus. We must be the best aerial photographers that anyone has ever seen. That is what is expected.

I know that the weather has not been favorable to allow much training, but I hope that each squadron will concentrate on doing as much training on their own as they can. As you know, each unit has 8 hours per month for aircraft usage and I would like you to use those hours toward preparing your pilots, observers, and photographers for the inevitable.

I have attached a map that indicates the approximate areas that each squadron will be responsible for covering this year. The red areas indicate those areas that have a high probability of flooding this spring.

As to imaging, please practice getting linear shots that cover a large area and would show how much area is flooded as well as shots of specific anomalies like ice jams, eroding dykes/dams, in-city flooding, etc. We will be asked for these types of images. In addition to getting the actual images, we need to have people comfortable with processing those images on the computer and uploading them to a web site. We will probably use a Skydrive site like we did last year. To that end, we need to establish a standard file schema. The easiest schema would be:

Image Date Folder – One main folder for all of the days images for the entire Wing – example: 20100325 (YYYYMMDD)

Sortie Location/Number/Brief Description – example: FAR001Red_River or BIS023Apple_Creek

This will allow us to match the sortie number listing (CAPF 107) to the images easier after all is said and done. Processing of the images can easily be done by cadets just as easy as by seniors. Please involve them in your training sessions. Let’s face it, most cadets know their way around a computer better than most seniors; well some anyway. The aircrew MUST assist in the processing phase. The aircrew cannot just dump an SD card and log off and expect the processor to get it done. Many times, the processor will need clarification from the crew.

Speaking of the aircrew; they must use current forms. That means use of the on-line 104 and the paper 104b. The 104b MUST be turned in and sent to Wing at the end of each day. We can print the on-line 104 from anywhere if needed. Therefore, it does not need to be mailed but it must be completed by the aircrew after the sortie. You know the old saying; “The job isn’t complete until the paperwork is done.” This applies more now than ever. Each unit should also download and use the new personnel and aircraft sign-in sheets. They are on the Wing Forms web site and are numbered ND Wing ICS 211 and ND Wing ICS 218. Please use them and send them to Wing daily along with fuel receipts, 55-2 forms, and sortie documents.

I would also expect you to maintain an archive of both the original and labeled images. The easiest way to do that is to use the same file structure that we will use on the Skydrive site, except to put the original images and labeled images in separate folders under the sortie number that they apply to. When we are all done, burn all images to CDs or DVDs and send them to me. Last year, we lost a lot of original images because we did not have a structure or a plan. This will not be the case this year. I have attached a directory schema for your reference. Please use it.

Jay Manley, would you work with Microsoft again this year to make sure that we do not have problems using their Skydrive system like we did last year. That will help a lot.

So, train as much as you can as often as you can. Let me know of any problems that you have or of any suggestions you have.

More to follow.

WILLIAM E. KAY, Lt. Col., CAP
ND Wing Director of Operations

Red River Flood Watch Begins (2-25-10)

2010-03-12T08:26:00.000-08:00

Flood fight is on again in Fargo With another potentially massive flood looming, Fargo's mayor declared a state of emergency Wednesday, the first step in preparations to protect the city.

By BOB VON STERNBERG, Star Tribune

Last update: February 25, 2010 - 10:44 AM

At ground zero in the Red River Valley, the
flood fight has begun -- again.

Well before melting snow is expected to bring
another potentially massive flood to Fargo
and Moorhead, Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker
declared a state of emergency Wednesday for
the biggest American city along the river.

The declaration is a formality that will allow
city officials to apply for federal assistance if
the Red rises as high as flood forecasters
have predicted.

Walaker, a veteran of the city's repeated
flood fights, also asked the Army Corps of
Engineers to assist in building a clay dike that
would protect Fargo's City Hall and several
other locations in the city's riverside

downtown.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the city plans to
launch this year's first volunteer sandbagging
effort, with a goal of filling a million
sandbags.

The volunteer operation will be conducted
six days a week until the goal is reached. Last
year, during the city's all-time record flood,
six million sandbags were deployed in Fargo
and Moorhead.

Last year, the Red reached a record 40.84
feet in Fargo. National Weather Service
hydrologists pegged the probability of major
flooding in Fargo and Moorhead at 98
percent.

RICHARD J. SPROUSE, Major, CAP
Public Information Officer
Group 2 Headquarters
Minnesota Wing
USAF Auxiliary - Civil Air Patrol
"Citizens Serving Communities: Above and Beyond"