Disaster Relief Missions Continue in ILWG

As record-breaking rainfalls continue to impact many Illinois communities, the requests for CAP resources is also continuing. After closing out a multi-day operation in the Mc Henry County municipality of Algonquin yesterday, today brought a request from the Lake County Emergency Management Agency.

The request was for aerial photography of critical infrastructure and impacted areas county-wide. Areas of concern were identified by the customer agency, and CAP aircrews were assigned those areas throughout the day. Using GIIEP technology and digital photography, CAP was able to assist with  validating the customer's flood model prediction.  The goal was to quantify where flood waters went, or where it is on roadways or shorelines, and to quantify the number of structures for Damage Assessment purposes.

Two aircraft were assigned this mission, and operations concluded for the day at 1600L, with over 500 photos taken and delivered to the customer. Mission staff and air operations were based at ILWG HQ, at DuPage Airport. Incident Commander, Major Andrew Welch, was very pleased with today's product and efforts: "Thank you to all of the dedicated members who responded to assist the Lake County EMA with photographs to assist their damage assessment efforts.  The County EMA director expresses his thanks as well."

ILWG Assists in Flood Relief Efforts

After days of record-breaking rainfall throughout the state of Illinois, many waterways in Northern Illinois were reaching overflow status. Among those was the Fox River and it's tributaries, which led to the first call-out for ILWG CAP resources.

A request for assistance came Thursday, 18 APR, from the Village of Algonquin, located in McHenry County. The request was for assistance in sandbagging operations, and eventually added ground-based assessments on flooded residential areas.

From the time of formal request to the time of first CAP personnel on scene was a little over three hours. Over 25 CAP personnel responded, and were immediately put to work sandbagging critical Public Works infrastructure along the riverfront. Those personnel also worked with village officials from Police and Fire departments to identify the areas most in need of evacuation by those departments. 

This Disaster Relief mission continued through Saturday, 20 APR, when it was finally closed out after the river had crested and municipal workers had shored up all their targeted areas. Personnel from ILWG HQ, 3 Groups and over 6 Squadrons assisted this activity, led through the days by 5 CAP Incident Commanders. The CAP incident command post was set up and running one hour after the initial request, as Incident Commander Lt. Col. Robert Taylor, IL-001, received Algonquin's request for assistance from the National Operations Center. 

A request for resources was sent out, and a forward base at the Village Public Works facility was established with Capt John-Paul Kilanski, IL-282, assigned as ground branch director. As work continued throughout the evening Kilanski  received the Village praises firsthand. "They were only expecting a small group of approximately 5 to 7 members to help. When we showed up with over 20 members, and were able to set up a forward command post  that knew how to work in a multiple jurisdictional relationship using NIMS, they were impressed. I was personally impressed by our members  who went into a community that had no clue of Civil Air Patrol, or our abilities, and showed them in their time of need the professionalism and resources that CAP brings.

Safety was key here also, seeing IC Taylor himself later assume a shift as Mission Safety Officer. "Due to the river's continued rising and additional rain forecast, first priority was the safety of all CAP responders." Later in the evening, Taylor visited the forward base to see firsthand the "can do" attitude all Illinois Wing members, senior and cadet,  exhibited while performing arduous tasks.

Photo credits: Capt Mike Grenz (IL049), Capt Tom DeMaeyer (IL049) and 1st Lt Jim Wresch (IL282)

CY13 Missions Continue in Face of Budget Uncertainties

Even as CAP is dealing with budget and funding issues for the current year, ILWG members are still getting mission work. And the typical ‘season’ of recreational flying and boating has begun with a mission that garnered 2 separate FINDs.

Earlier this week, ILWG was assigned a 406 mhz mission that was originally being handled by the US Coast Guard, where the registry information on the EPIRB had it assigned to a tugboat which had been sold or scrapped previously. The Coast Guard was able to isolate the co-ordinates and rough vicinity at an inland location after a day of DF work. They were, however, unable to acquire the transmitter signal near where the GPS data placed it, so there was concern that the co-ordinates were unreliable.

So, on 04APR at approx 1500L, the ILWG was alerted and an IC was assigned. Multiple ground teams and an aircrew responded to take up the search. After some initial phone calls around the large target area, it was identified that an active beacon was being heard on the ground near Waukegan Airport. Ground teams and an aircraft were dispatched to that location and prosecuted a DF search, ending in a successful non-distress FIND. The aircraft was a privately owned US Navy T2B Buckeye trainer that had been undergoing maintenance.

Silencing that beacon did nothing to effect the 406 beacon, as it was still transmitting from ‘somewhere’. The aircraft left the Waukegan area, and flew directly to the site that the co-ordinates were putting it at, but were only barely able to acquire an intermittent signal. They did note it was adjacent to auto malls and salvage yards that may have been likely spots for boats.

The mission was suspended until first light next morning, where multiple ground members arrived in that general area. At the site where the beacon was ultimately found, the signal was so minimal that it had to be located with a ‘home made’ device by a ground team member! Traditional DF gear couldn’t lock the signal even as close as 300 yards away from where it was, so persistence won this battle.

Major Andrew Welch, one of the IC’s on this “2-for-1” mission had praise for those who responded. “I want to express my thanks for all the dedicated and persistent members, over 20 of them here, who gave up their Friday night and Saturday prosecuting this mission.” The mission closed out at approx 1840L Saturday.