California Wing Provides Weather Damage Photos

View from above

California Wing members responded in the air and on the ground after torrential rainstorms drenched their state in January.

Beginning Jan. 12,  11 Civil Air Patrol aircraft carried out 65 flights. In all, 125 members participated, and 1,500 photos were generated for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.    

The wing provided damage assessment imagery to FEMA for 25 locations from Ventura all the way up the coastline and the Sacramento area.

The wing went on alert for federal disaster response Jan. 11, and members made sure all mission vehicle, aircraft, and equipment were checked out, charged, and fully operational. A mission was launched when FEMA requested imagery collection shortly afterward.

The wing sent liaison officers to sit in the State Operations Center for the duration of the mission to work directly with FEMA and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

“This was a challenging mission because of the multiple sites requiring imaging spread throughout the state,” said Capt. Charles Zigelman of San Diego Senior Squadron 57, one of the incident commanders.
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1st Lt. Brigitte Furra
Public Affairs Officer
San Diego Group 8
California Wing