Moving To Richmond Ahead Of Ivan

Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters, located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery (AL), was getting ready Wednesday to move its operations center to Richmond (VA) if necessary. The Montgomery area was bracing for damage or power outages as Hurricane Ivan moves into Alabama Wednesday night and Thursday.

CAP members have been working hurricane impact assessment in Florida since hurricanes Charley and Frances struck the state. They will continue to work in Florida, as well as other affected states, after Ivan passes through.

The CAP National Operations Center coordinates CAP personnel, aircraft, vehicles, and communications equipment for large-scale missions. If the Montgomery-based NOC cannot be manned, CAP will move its national operations center to the CAP Advanced Technology Center in Richmond (VA). The 24/7 contact number, 888-211-1812, will remain the same. The CAP National Headquarters director of operations, John Salvador, will be on site in Richmond to receive the shift in operational support.

In the meantime, CAP National Headquarters closed Wednesday and was to remain closed Thursday, except for staff manning the NOC. As the hurricane moves into the Montgomery area, CAP officials said they would make the decision on whether to shift operations to Richmond.

Once Ivan is no longer a threat, CAP will respond to requests from emergency management agencies to provide ground and aerial reconnaissance to assess the impact of the storm. For hurricane support, CAP has been operating under the direction of the Air Force National Security Emergency Preparedness Agency and with the support of 1st Air Force under the US Northern Command.

Even before Ivan became a threat, CAP wings in other states had sent in their own aircraft and satellite-transmitted imaging equipment to support the teams working in Florida.

CAP members use this equipment to capture digital images of damaged areas from the air. They download the photos to a laptop computer onboard the aircraft, and then transmit the images from the air via e-mail and a satellite phone link.

"We're able to transmit these images in near realtime," said Maj. Gen. Dwight Wheless, CAP national commander, "and that helps state and federal officials more quickly prioritize the allocation of disaster relief resources."

FMI: www.cap.gov