Rocky Mountain Region
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Emergency Services - Exercises

Exercises   

Regional

- FEMA Exercise Program:  The Region VIII of the Federal Emergency Management Agency conducts an aggressive biannual exercise program with various venues and scenarios across the region. It is the intent of CAP's - Rocky Mountain Region ES program is to participate as much as possible in this series of multi-state exercises. 

- FEMA Virtual Table Top (VTTX) Exercise Program:   FEMA's Emergency Management Institute (EMI) conducts a series of VTTX using a virtual platform to reach community-based training audiences around the country and provide a virtual forum for disaster training. The VTTX process involves key personnel from the emergency management Community of Practice reviewing a prepackaged set of exercise materials and convening for a 4-hour tabletop exercise discussion of a simulated disaster scenario with a total of 10–15 other Community of Practice groups participating. The event allows the connected sites to assess current plans, policies, and procedures while learning from the other connected sites, as they provide their perspective and practice while exercising a similar situation. An internet
connection is required to take part and will be broadcasted using Zoom; there is no cost for this program. The RMR Emergency Services plans to participate in the following VTTXs and will ask each RMR to provide it Emergency Services Director, Director of Operations, or an Incident Commander qualified member attend. Each attendee will receive an attendance certificate from FEMA.

RMR "Rendezvous - Yellow Apron " Exercises

-- Yellow Apron 23/4, 19-21 September 2023, CAP Mission Number 23-T-5742:  This was a Table Top Exercise conducted at the FEMA Regional Response Coordination Center (RRCC) in Denver, Colorado. CAP/RMR will had one member (RMR/DOC) representing CAP in the Air Operations Branch. It had a two-part scenario fire and then flood. (COMPLETED)

- Yellow Apron 24/1: 11-16 December 2023. This was rescheduled for February 2024 and involved CAP staffing of FEMA R8 RRCC and training of new personnel to staff the RRCC from CAP. Live Fly Exercise was conducted by CO, ID, UT, and WY Wings under one Regional (Distributive) Unified Command. Exercise involved airborne imagery of a simulated earthquake incident in Salt Lake City. (COMPLETED)

    -- After Action Review: Yellow Apron 24-02 AAR

- Yellow Apron 24/2: 6-8 September 2024 - Scenario, involved the continuation of the Salt Lake City earthquake response. It included the standup of the RMR Unified Command Incident Management Team (IMT) and live fly of 20 aircraft and 32 sorties from UT, NV, ID, MT, and CO. flying airborne photography photos.(COMPLETED)

    -- After Action Review: Yellow Apron 24-02 AAR

- Yellow Apron 25-01: Scenario/Dates (9 - 16 June) in conjunction with FEMA exercise plan for FY2025. (See article in CAP PROPS at https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=6332e220c5&view=lg&permmsgid=msg-f:1839657780196395805 )

For eight days in June, nearly 200 members and 36 aircraft from CAP's North Central and Rocky Mountain regions participated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Region 8 Regional Response Coordination Center (RRCC) and U.S. Northern Command’s Defense Coordinating Element (DCE) in a combined disaster relief/flooding and homeland security/terrorism response exercise. Known as Exercise Yellow Apron 25-01, the multi-day training event involved a simulated dam breach caused by an extremist group, which generated a multi-region agency disaster relief and homeland security response.

During the exercise, FEMA called on CAP to assist in staffing the FEMA RRCC in Denver for five days while supporting both airborne disaster relief photography and homeland security Infrastructure reconnaissance missions over 12 states, making it one of the largest CAP exercises in history.

This exercise was the third in a series of Exercise Yellow Apron events since 2023, with another week-long exercise with FEMA scheduled for November.

(COMPLETED).

  -- After Action Review:  Yellow Apron 25-01 AAR

- Yellow Apron - Operation Scar-Face 25-02: Scenario/Dates (12-14 Sep 2025) support to National Weather Service. Exercise will be supported by UC-IMT and aircraft/crews from CO, ID, MT, and UT Wings. (See below for more details).

   -- After Action Review: Yellow Apron Final/AAR Brief

- Yellow Apron 26-01: Scenario/Dates (Flood/17-23 November 2025) in conjunction with FEMA exercise plan for FY2026). Location of the exercise is under review and approval by FEMA Region 8 staff, but will include CAP Agency Representatives in the Region 8 RRCC, the RMR Unified Command-Incident Management Team (UC-IMT) and all five states in the region providing Division Support to the UC-IMT.

   -- After Action Review:Yellow Apron 2601 Final/AAR Brief

- Yellow Apron 26-02: Scenario/Dates (Flash Flood/Mud Slide Preparedness/10-12 April 2026),  in conjunction with FEMA exercise plan for FY2026). Locations of the exercise will include a Virtual RMR Unified Command-Incident Management Team (UC-IMT) and all five states in the region providing Division Support to the UC-IMT. It will include a three-day live fly Field Training Exercise component with photo targets Lat/Longs provided by the National Weather Service offices in the region. UC-IMT members will begin planning meetings on Monday night at 1800, 

   --  Exercise Brief: 

History: The Rocky Mountain "Rendezvous - Yellow Apron" was an annual rendezvous, held 200 years ago at various locations across the Rocky Mountain Region and organized by  mountain men. The first Mountain Men organized a group of independent free trappers to the first ever gathering as early as 1825 at the junction of the North Platte and Laramie Rivers.  A Rendezvous was a trading fair and Mountain Man "networking" affair that usually lasted several days. It is a French word for an appointment or meeting place. Missouri trader Captain William Ashley held the Rocky Mountain Region's first Rendezvous in 1825. Traders like Ashley brought trade goods--rifles, powder, traps, knives, tools, cloth, and beads--from St. Louis to the Rocky Mountains. The traders exchanged these items for the trappers' and Indians' beaver pelts.In the evenings they sat around fires sharing wisdom, lore, lessons learned, and experience. Each year the site of the Rendezvous was usually in the center of trapping country. A Rendezvous was held every summer between 1825 and 1840. Such events were held for many years throughout Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Colorado and twice in Montana. The "Yellow Apron" was worn and exchanged between Mountain Men (and some Mountain Women), Indians, Soldiers, and others, when they danced around the big camp fire at night, and it became the symbol of the event. Today Rendezvous are still celebrated as gatherings of "like-minded" individuals. The Rocky Mountain Region "Rendezvous" Exercises - "Yellow Apron" Series is hosted twice a year to offer "like minded" CAP ES members to participate in multi-Wing missions; training in regional disaster and other emergency responses. Most of these events will be tied to FEMA quarterly exercises/scenarios.

Exercise Program Objectives:

  •               Setup and staff a RMR C2 organization capable of sustaining a multi-wing/region response Unified Command (UC).
  •               Assign and train personnel to work in a FEMA Regional Response Coordination Center (RRCC) – FEMA R8 RRCC.
  •               Select and train qualified overhead staff members into a regional Incident Management Team (IMT) for the RMR UC.
  •               Leverage current off-the-shelf technologies to support distributive C2 operations. ReadyOp and TEAMS.
  •               Plan and conduct sorties within the C2 framework.
  •               Integrate other non C2 areas for future (FY2025-26) exercises

Operation SCAR-FACE  Exercises  

Operation Scar-Face is a new real-world operation in support of the National Weather Service offices throughout the RMR.   The National Weather Service (NWS)  monitors burn scars for increased flash flooding and debris flow risks, especially after recent wildfires. Burn scars alter the landscape, causing water to run off more quickly and increasing the likelihood of flash floods and debris flows, particularly in steep terrain. This can lead to catastrophic flooding, loss of lives, and major property destruction/damage. The NWS provides detailed information on monitored burn scars and associated hazards, including current conditions, outlooks, and specific warnings. To assist the NWS monitor the status of these burn scars, and assist in supporting their warnings and watches, the RMR conducts airborne reconnaissance and imagery photography over the identified risk areas. It is not just about taking photos of burnt areas in the five state region, but about focusing on specific reported risk areas around major highways, infrastructures, and residential areas. To do this mission the NWS routinely provides Latitude and Longitude coordinates for CAP to over fly and photo. So it is also a navigation training exercise, as well as a rewarding training opportunity for the CAP aircrews, and the RMR Unified Command-Incident Management Team to plan and flight follow.

State Exercises

Colorado - Training & Exercise Calendar | Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (colorado.gov)

Idaho - Idaho OEM Learning Management System :: Course Catalog (idahoprepares.com)

Montana - Final-MT-Integrated-Preparedness-Plan-2021.pdf

Utah - Exercises | DPS – Emergency Management (utah.gov)

Wyoming - https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=42fd398fa8f449fb930f2d3755c5a1bb  Then click on the Training/Exercise Tab at the top of the page. Then click on Upcoming Exercises on left side of page,

 

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