last modified: Monday, September 6, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MAXWELL AFB, Ala. — Civil Air Patrol members are already at work in Florida, helping assess damage from Hurricane Frances. More CAP aircraft and personnel are on standby to move into affected areas as soon as weather permits.

Seven CAP ground teams are working with the Florida National Guard and Florida Department of Transportation in the Palm Beach area. These interagency teams are assessing damage in an effort to identify the areas most critically affected by the storm. With widespread loss of electricity, the teams are communicating with operations centers by radio and satellite phones.

“Once weather clears enough to allow us to fly, we anticipate using our satellite-transmitted digital imagery systems to capture images of the affected areas from the air,” said Maj. Gen. Dwight Wheless, CAP national commander. SDIS allows CAP members to capture images from the air with digital cameras, download them to laptop computers onboard the aircraft, and transmit the high-resolution images in near real-time via satellite phone and e-mail. The aerial photographs help emergency relief agencies plan and prioritize rescue, repair and cleanup efforts. CAP provided the service successfully during Hurricane Charley only weeks ago.

As Frances continues to move through Florida, CAP is moving SDIS aircraft from its Great Lakes, Northeast and Middle East regions to a standby position in Columbia, S.C.

CAP, the official civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is working Frances-related missions under the direction of the Air Force National Security Emergency Preparedness Office, U.S. Northern Command and 1st Air Force. The CAP National Operations Center at Maxwell AFB, Ala. is coordinating missions and strategy to best use CAP assets in states surrounding the affected sites.

CAP currently has members onsite at emergency operations centers in Tallahassee, Jacksonville and Naples. CAP members are also providing communications support in Indian River County.

In preparation for their expected mobilization, some 27 CAP members met Saturday in Columbia, S.C. for a briefing on how the SDIS equipment would be used in the Frances missions. Georgia CAP members are also on standby for mobilization. Members of the CAP Alabama Wing are supporting the National Operations Center at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Ala.

Civil Air Patrol is a nonprofit organization with almost 62,000 members nationwide. More than 4,000 of these members are Florida residents.

CAP performs 95% of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members take a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the almost 27,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 60 years.

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