Photo By 1st Lt. Zak Lara | Service members with Maritime Littoral Command 2, Maritime Command, California State...... read more read more
MORRO BAY, Calif. – Service members with California State Guard’s Maritime Command (MARCOM) conducted a training exercise here Aug. 14 to strengthen their emergency response capabilities in the event of a natural disaster that may threaten California’s coastal communities.
The service members trained in partnership with U.S. Coast Guard Station Morro Bay, Morro Bay Harbor Patrol and CAL FIRE to respond to a simulated tsunami. The interagency training gave MARCOM an opportunity to practice water rescue using their 47-foot motor lifeboat that was transferred to the CSG by the San Francisco Police Department, and 16-foot inflatable and rigid rescue boats that were purchased and donated by the California State Guard Foundation.
The training scenario utilized flotation dummies, as well as a trained swimmer, to simulate casualties in the water after a tsunami. Once the simulated casualties were located, rescue boats swiftly picked them up and transported them to a 20-ton motor lifeboat for further care. The training also utilized rescue divers to assist in the water rescue scenario.
The inaugural training was “momentous,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Nina Asbury, a rescue diver and coxswain for Maritime Coastal Command One, MARCOM, based in Vallejo, Calif.
“It’s the first [training] of its kind that we’ve ever had, so it’s momentous in that we have the opportunity to meet an entirely different unit of maritime that we’ve never seen before, to learn from them and to share the information we’ve gained to make us all operational, so in the case of an emergency we can interweave these groups to respond properly to any emergency in the state of California,” said Asbury.
“It just makes perfect sense to bring that synergy together to partner with our local agencies where we can help with the planning and execution of those coastal response plans for tsunami scenarios,” added Lt. Cmdr. Johan Lai, commanding officer of Maritime Coastal Command One.
CSG leaders said this training undoubtedly prepared MARCOM to respond to future emergencies.
“I thought the exercise was amazing,” said Maj. Gen. Jay Coggan, commanding general of the CSG. “It showed the ability for the State Guard to interoperate with other agencies, and we were able to show our capabilities in search and rescue during a tsunami event. We have finally gotten to the point where we’re operational and successful.”
California State Guard Capt. Robert Baird, commander of MARCOM, added, “It’s not a matter of if we have a maritime disaster, it’s a matter of when, and California State Guard Maritime is ready to respond.”
| Date Taken: | 08.14.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 08.16.2021 15:17 |
| Story ID: | 403177 |
| Location: | MORRO BAY, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 401 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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