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Update from Major Bill Kay
Director of Operations North Dakota Wing

Major Bill Kay has an update on operations in Western North Dakota and operations prior to Monday in support of this mission.

On March 19th ND Wing received a request from ND Division of Emergency Services (DES) to obtain images of the Red River Valley from Fargo to Wahpeton. They wanted to know how much water was running and where it was coming from. An aircraft from Fargo was launched and obtained numerous images of the area.

On March 20th, an aircraft from Bismarck was launched to image the Missouri River South of Bismarck including Apple Creek, Fox Island, and the Cannon Ball River. At the same time, an aircraft was launched from Dickinson to obtain imagery of the Hart River, Green River, the Little Missouri River and the Knife River in western ND. Both flights were successful and the images were posted to our web site.

On March 23rd, Major Sean Johnson, Bismarck Squadron Commander and member of the ND National Guard, was assigned to the position of Air Branch Director for the State of ND (working out of the State EOC) during the flooding and is coordinating all ND air assets, including ND National Guard, Highway Patrol, Fish and Game Department, USAF UAV, US CBP, Minot AFB Rescue Helicopters, and CAP aircraft. He has been doing a phenomenal job.

As of Wednesday Night North Dakota Wing has been given 12 separate tasks to fly. All of them are to provide aerial imagery of various parts of the State, mostly along the Red River in the east and the Missouri River in central ND. Due to extremely bad weather in the last couple of days, we have only been able to accomplish 5 of the taskings.

As of Wednesday Night, we have flown 17.5 hours supporting the State with aircraft and crews from Fargo, Bismarck, and Dickinson. (would have flown more if the weather were better)

Weather permitting, we will launch aircraft from Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot, and Dickinson today (Thursday 3-26) to provide up-to-date imagery for the state’s Emergency Operations Center.

I took a call yesterday (Wednesday 3-25) from Mr. John Perry, FEMA Hq in Washington DC, wanting access to our imagery for their use. After gaining approval from the State, I gave him the web link. He will be using them to keep his organization up-to-date and to assist in their planning efforts.

Due to the size of the State and the differences in actions being taken throughout the State, Col. Altenburg has been acting as the IC for Eastern edge of the State with the assistance of a ground branch and air branch directors.

I am serving as the overall Incident Commander for this incident. Major Darrel Pittman (Wing Admin Officer) is handling the tons of paperwork being generated and keeping track of funding issues. Lt. Col. Dean Reiter is the Planning Section Chief making sure that all sorties are properly planned and prepared for execution.

This is a State wide emergency and requires a State wide response from our members. All have performed admirably.

We will have images from these flight posted to the web later today.

 

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