PORT TOWNSEND — An influx of ships and equipment to Naval Magazine Indian Island will begin in mid-May in advance of the June 7-10 Cascadia Rising 2016 Exercise, Navy officials said Wednesday.
The public will see several large container ships docked around Indian Island, civilian consultant Chris Cervantes told Port Townsend, Jefferson County and Port of Port Townsend officials at the meeting.
Small boats and tactical vehicles will be unloaded and used; the area will be restricted.
“We will need to keep people out of there because these operations are inherently dangerous,” Cervantes said.
Noting that crabbing and fishing are popular in the month of June around Indian Island, Jim Pivarnik, Port of Port Townsend deputy director, said it is important to let people know what they can expect.
“There will be an outcry from all the recreational people so whatever you can do to mitigate that will help,” Pivarnik said.
Earthquake preparedness
The Navy will participate in Jefferson County in the inter-agency earthquake preparedness exercise.
The exercise will include coastal communities throughout Washington, Oregon and British Columbia and their emergency responders.
“This is an opportunity for the military to be involved in humanitarian aid operations,” said Cmdr. Nicholas Vande Griend, commanding officer of Naval Magazine Indian Island.
“It sets up an interaction between the DOD [Department of Defense] and civilian aid agencies,” he said.
Designed as a worst-case-scenario model, Cascadia Rising will be an exercise for response to a hypothetical magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the Oregon coast in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a fault area that runs about 600 miles off the coast and includes a 700-mile area from Northern California to Vancouver Island.
The exercise is to include local, state and federal agencies along with the Army and the Navy.
Wednesday’s meeting took place in the Jefferson County commissioners’ chambers and was also attended by Port Townsend Mayor Deborah Stinson; Bob Hamlin, Jefferson County Emergency Management director; County Commissioner David Sullivan and County Administrator Philip Morley.
Most of the information was presented by Cervantes with assistance from Vande Griend and facilities manager Gene King.
Indian Island hub
Naval Magazine Indian Island will serve as the hub of the Navy’s involvement in the exercise, although it probably would not be a base of operations in a real disaster.
“It’s unlikely that Indian Island will be used because it is connected to the mainland with a single bridge that could be destroyed,” Hamlin said.
Cervantes acknowledged this, saying the exercise’s purpose was to determine how different agencies can work together.
The Indian Island base will include a medical facility, a seaplane landing area and a command center.
Cervantes said that during a real disaster, services such as providing water, fuel, trash collection and food would be contracted out to local businesses.
None have been lined up because of a disaster’s unpredictable nature, he said.
“Once things settle, there are always people who are willing and able to work,” Cervantes said, using San Francisco’s 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake as an example.
Tours planned
Cervantes said that communication about the exercise will involve two meetings where visitors can get tours of the operation.
On June 8, dignitaries and elected officials will be briefed while the media will be invited the following day.
The events are separate, Cervantes said, because tactical and classified information will be discussed at the first meeting.
The public is also in the loop.
The Army, along with the Army Corps of Engineers, has prepared a draft environmental statement which will be available for public comment until April 8.
The statement is viewable at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-exercise along with a comment form.
Public comment
The form on the website can be mailed to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District, Attn: PM-ER JLOTS, P.O. Box 3755, Seattle, WA, 98124-3755
Comments and questions also may be sent to JLOTS_Cascadia_Rising2016@usace.army.mi.
Comment will be taken at open houses. Both are set for 6 p.m. One will be Tuesday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The second will be Wednesday at Chimacum High School, 91 West Valley Road.
A version of Cervantes’ presentation will be shown at the open houses, Vande Griend said.
The exercise is the only discussion topic. Vande Griend said that questions about training exercises will not be addressed.
He said there were no plans to give the presentation in Clallam County.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
