CTWG: Live Press Press Release for 2010 NER Exercise "Hurrican Hailey"

LIVE PRESS RELEASE on NER Hurricane Exercise

30 July, 2010
Connecticut Wing Headquarters, Civil Air Patrol
United States Air Force Auxiliary
Public Affairs Office
Middletown, CT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Middletown, CT — Connecticut’s Civil Air Patrol participates in nine states hurricane disaster drill

Connecticut’s thirteen all volunteer Civil Air Patrol squadrons will combine to practice hurricane disaster response this weekend.

Connecticut’s CAP Incident Command Center, covering all of the state, is already actively engaged with the nine states North East Area Command Center, located on Long Island, New York.

In this simulation, CAP began watching the development of a simulated hurricane named “Hailey”, last week. As the simulated catastrophe level 4 hurricane approached the north east, they set into place plans to deploy. Throughout the drill, CAP will be testing many aspects of the region wide incident command system. Regional and state command centers will be activated and Air Crew and Ground Teams will be deployed.

To attain a realistic feel, some aspects of the drill will be pre-scheduled and others will come as a complete surprise. This will require the Connecticut Incident Commander, Major Philip Hirons of the Connecticut Wing and the various forces in the field to adapt to ever changing circumstances, preparing CAP for any future real life events.

The Civil Air Patrol is a multi-capability organization. Some storm related missions they may undertake include, but are not be limited to, air and ground search and rescue, disaster center services, searching for stranded survivors, monitoring of evacuation routes, digital imagery assessments of storm related flooding and critical infrastructure impacts, transportation of critical personnel, materials and supplies, and location of safe landing zones for other rescue aircraft.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U. S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 59,000 members nationwide. CAP performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and saves an average of 80 lives per year. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the nearly 24,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 69 years. For more information on CAP, visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com, or the Connecticut Wing and it’s over 700 members, at www.ctwg.cap.gov.

THIS IS ONLY AN EXERCISE

Robert Johnson
Public Affairs Officer/Exercise PIO
CT Wing Headquarters
Middletown, CT
Civil Air Patrol – USAF Auxiliary