Operations Policy
Washington Wing Operations Policy
MEMO 05-1, 30 April 2005
Washington Wing Readiness and Response to Emergencies
The Group is designated as the operational unit in Washington Wing. Each Group geographical Area Of Responsibility (AOR) is defined based on county lines, unit locations, the Washington State Department of Transportation Aviation districts, and Washington State Regional Homeland Security Coordination Districts (RHSCD). Group Commanders, coordinating with and being assisted by the Wing Operations Staff, are responsible for coordination with local county and city authorities for Homeland Security (HS) and Emergency Services (ES) issues. Group AORs are as follows: Group 1 will be the primary responder for Chelan, Douglas, Ferry, Grant, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pend Oreille, and Spokane Counties. Group 2 will be the primary responder for Island, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom counties. Group 3 will be the primary responder for Clark, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Lewis, Pacific, Pierce, Skamania, Thurston, and Wahkiakum Counties. Group 4 will be the primary responder for Adams, Astonin, Benton, Columbia, Franklin, Garfield, Kittitas, Klickitat, Walla Walla, Whitman, and Yakima counties. Group 5 will be the primary responder for Clallum, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, and Mason counties. Group 1 will be the primary coordinator for RHSCD 7 and 9. Group 2 will be the primary coordinator for RHSCD 1. Group 3 will be the primary coordinator for RHSCD 3, 4 and 5. Group 4 will be the primary coordinator for RHSCD 8. Group 5 will be the primary coordinator for RHSCD 2 and 6.
Each Group Commander will form and have ready a minimum of 1 rapid response Air Team, 1 rapid response Ground Team, 1 Mission Staff Team, and 1 Disaster Response Team. Each team will have a Team Coordinator and a primary and alternate Team Alert Officer. The Team Coordinator will be responsible for the manning, training, equipping, and scheduling of team members and team resources. The Team Alert Officers are responsible for alerting the teams. Each team will be made up of members of more than one squadron in high population density areas. Teams will train to be capable of responding rapidly and conducting operations on a 24 hour basis. Each Group Commander will designate a primary and alternate Group Alert Officer to assist in alerting teams. The CAP Interactive Personnel System and MIMS will be the sole source of alert contact and mission qualification information. Group Commanders will coordinate with Group Web Security Administrators to provide Group Wide Interactive Personnel System Access and FMS resource report access to Alert Officers and Mission Staff personnel. All personnel will maintain current contact, emergency contact, and qualification information in the Interactive Personnel System and MIMS. Emergency Services personnel will be activated and respond to incidents as part of a team, not as individuals.
Air Team capabilities will include visual search, electronic search, reconnaissance, coordination with ground teams, aerial digital still and video photography, airborne radio relay, personnel transport, and critical cargo transport. Team aircraft will be expected to remain on station during major operations with crews being shuttled back and forth by van or designated transport aircraft. Aircraft maintenance status and location will be entered in real time using the on-line Web Mission Information Reporting System (WMIRS) located at [here].
Ground Teams will serve as mobile communication and liaison teams and will be capable of acting as liaison to other agencies and will be able to advise local authorities on the optimum employment of air assets. They will be capable of providing voice and video communications links between local authorities and air assets. Other capabilities will include ground foot search, ground vehicle search, the ability to brief county search and rescue teams on aircraft search clues and procedures, the ability to rapidly locate and identify objects and debris identified by search aircraft, radio relay, road surveillance, critical infrastructure surveillance, aircraft vectoring, landing zone setup, medical aid, radio direction finding, radiological monitoring, and augmenting mission staff at a search base. All Ground Team members will comply with State Emergency Worker and State Department of Transportation regulations and registration requirements.
Disaster Response Teams will consist of a Ground Team plus 10-20 General Emergency Services qualified personnel. The Ground Team will form the nucleus of the Disaster Response Team and will provide the initial alerting, radio communication, logistics support, and on scene leadership of the Disaster Response Team. Team capabilities will include sandbagging, crowd control, passive law enforcement support, evidence search, and communications support. Teams will also be capable of providing support to military exercises and government homeland security exercises. All personnel with General Emergency Services qualification may be alerted to respond as a Disaster Relief Team member.
Mission Staff Teams will be capable of setting up and operating a command post or mission base. Each Group Commander should train and maintain a minimum of 2-4 fully qualified personnel for each ICS staff position. ICs will normally activate an air and ground branch director, finance/administration officer, safety officer, planning officer, and information officer for all missions. A press release will be accomplished for all public exercises and missions.
Teams will be placed on alert and will be expected to respond within a certain time as specified by the current Wing, Group, or Team readiness condition. Readiness condition will be tied to the homeland security threat level color, National Headquarters CAP alert system color, SAR pre-alerts, and other factors. Readiness conditions are listed at http://wawg.cap.gov/operations/alert . Response times will vary from 12 hours at the lowest state of readiness to 20 minutes at the highest state of readiness. Alert notification will come through the Wing Operations Staff Duty Officer. The Duty Officer will determine the area affected, notify the appropriate group or teams, and identify an Incident Commander/Agency Liaison. CAP communications stations will broadcast the alert notice over all CAP radio nets and repeaters for all public missions. To the maximum extent possible, only CAP communications will be used for alerting, team readiness status change reporting, and mission tracking. A positive communications link will be established to and from the Wing Command Post/Seattle West repeater for all missions. A positive communications link will be established between the IC and all field assets on all missions. The alert system will be activated for all exercises. The alert system will be activated or tested at least once a month.
A minimum of two Wing-wide exercises (or actual missions) will be accomplished each calendar year in addition to the Air Force monitored/evaluated exercise. When feasible, training will be accomplished using real world taskings or by tying in training to exercises being conducted by other local, state, and federal agencies. Limited notice and no notice Rapid Response Exercises will be accomplished for selected teams at least once a month. All search and rescue training will be coordinated with Washington State Department of Transportation Aeronautics Division and local county sheriffs. Joint training will be conducted whenever possible. An After Action Review (AAR) will be accomplished after all missions and exercises and the results and lessons learned will be recorded by the Wing Operations Staff. AAR results will be used to develop and improve checklists and procedures and will be applied to future operations. Exercise definitions will be posted at [here]. All assigned emergency services equipment will be expected to be utilized and all personnel with General Emergency Services qualification or greater will be expected to participate in the Air Force monitored/evaluated exercise and practice.
Initial Emergency Services qualification training will normally be accomplished through Wing approved Formal Schools consisting of structured academics, canned scenarios, scripted missions, and simulations to save money and get the most training bang for the buck. Units and teams may also conduct Wing approved Field Training Exercises to accomplish initial qualification for new members. Approval for local training can be obtained at [here]. All emergency services task evaluators will be approved by the Wing Director of Emergency Services and may be required to attend an evaluator qualification course.
All personnel who become ES or CD qualified will be expected to contribute if called upon. Equipment will be assigned based on operational need and demonstrated use.
//SIGNED//
GARY W. JOHNSON, Major, CAP
Director of Operations, Washington Wing
U.S. Air Force Auxiliary - Civil Air Patrol