San Francisco Fleet Week works with emergency responders, city departments for disaster response tabletop exercise

by Petty Officer 1st Class Marc Cuenca

08 October 2024
U.S. service members worked with San Francisco city employees as part of a Defense Support for Civil Authorities exercise to prepare for disasters in the region as part of San Francisco Fleet Week 2024 Oct. 8.

The exercise simulated emergency response activities related to route recovery and the transportation of emergency services personnel into San Francisco after an earthquake along the 700-mile-long Cascadia and San Andreas faults.

The exercise combined 87 participants representing Navy, Marine Corps, Army, and Coast Guard experts working alongside County of San Francisco departments and the San Francisco Fleet Week Association.

"We're sharing expertise across the board and we're learning a lot about operations with our DOD partners,” said Mary Ellen Carroll, the executive director for the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management,. “But we're also really building those relationships. We want to know what the DOD’s capabilities are, how those things are going to work and how that correlation should happen.”

Humanitarian assistance and disaster response are core military capabilities, and they are always conducted in a supporting role to assist other government agencies. Because of this, civil authorities may get help from the Department of Defense during a disaster as local, state, and other Federal resources are exhausted.

“This exercise is an opportunity for us to show San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management our capabilities and what we can do if we're called on to support local emergencies,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Vance Lambert, intelligence deputy for Expeditionary Strike Group 3. “Natural disasters do happen, so we need to be ready.”
As part of the transportation tabletop exercise, priority routes and available resources from various City departments to help clear them were identified. Coordination involved transportation providers such as ferries, buses, and trains belonging to Caltrans, MTC and surrounding counties.

Due to the influx of military personnel and assets for Fleet Week, community leaders and military disaster experts saw this as the perfect time to refine emergency response plans and practice.
“That is the huge benefit to doing these Fleet Week exercises every year,” said Carroll. “It is to me, one of if not the most valuable exercise we do every year and we can't do it alone, we're going to need those resources and relationships."

The exercise ended with the delivery of volunteers participating as evacuees at the muster locations at Piers 30-32. Docked at Piers 30-32 in support of San Francisco Fleet Week 2024 was the amphibious assault carrier USS Tripoli (LHA 7), which hosted a ship tour for the volunteers following the exercise.

San Francisco Fleet Week, now in its 43rd iteration, is a time-honored sea service celebration that allows citizens of the Bay Area to witness today’s maritime capabilities firsthand. Nearly 2,500 Sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen will showcase their capabilities and equipment, participate in various community service events, and enjoy the hospitality of the Bay Area during the event.