PORT TOWNSEND — A joint training exercise involving local, state and federal agencies will take place Saturday on Port Townsend Bay and Memorial Field.
“This will give us an opportunity to conduct interagency training that will help us prepare for a real disaster,” said Bill Beezley, East Jefferson Fire-Rescue spokesman, who is one of the event’s organizers.
“As a result, the different agencies will be able to work together more efficiently and effectively.”
The training exercise will consist of three separate scenarios, all held on the state ferry MV Kennewick, which will be docked in Port Townsend.
Helicopters from the Coast Guard and Northwest Regional Aviation will interact with responders on the ferry and land at Memorial Field in Port Townsend between 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. as part of the exercise.
The consecutive exercises will explore different disaster scenarios and involve different agencies working together, Beezley said.
“One will have nothing to do with the one before,” he said.
Along with local Jefferson County emergency response agencies and Washington State Ferries, participants will include the Coast Guard, Navy Region Northwest Fire and Emergency Services, Seattle Fire Department, Central Whidbey Island Fire & Rescue, Oak Harbor Police Department, Jefferson County Department of Emergency Management, Jefferson Healthcare and Airlift Northwest.
During the exercise, the Kennewick will be stationed in Port Townsend Bay and at the Port Townsend ferry dock.
Beezley said there will be some noise and observable activity resulting from the exercises, but no significant public impact.
“We are asking the public for tolerance and patience,” he said.
“We also would ask that anyone out on the bay for [the Port Townsend Yacht Club’s] opening day to give us a wide berth.”
The activities will be videotaped and used in training sessions, he said.
Beezley said the exercise isn’t costing much for any of the agencies, as it is covered by their yearly training budgets, although some overtime will be involved.
Aside from active personnel, several staff members from various agencies will portray casualties in four categories: minor, serious, critical and dead.
Beezley said the idea for the exercises originated from Ted Krysinski, East Jefferson Fire-Rescue deputy chief, to take advantage of a two-day hiatus in ferry service between Port Townsend and Coupeville.
The break is to allow repair to the Coupeville terminal transfer span Saturday and Sunday. The terminal will be closed and all ferry service on the route canceled for the weekend.
Crews will replace a worn-out, 28,000-pound hinge and a 21-foot-long, 15-foot-wide moveable bridge used to connect docked ferries to the terminal, the state ferries system said.
This work permanently replaces temporary repairs made to the battered transfer-span hinge last fall.
Service is scheduled to resume with the 6:30 a.m. sailing from Port Townsend on Monday.
The late spring Port Townsend/Coupeville sailing schedule takes effect May 10, when the route’s second ferry, the MV Salish, will go into service through October.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
