b'FOGHORN FOCUS When keywords werepossible, point them in the direction of the best contacts at otheragencies.Eventuallytherewereover15organizationsused, critical decisionsrepresented,includinglocalfiredepartments,theU.S. Coast Guard, fellow San Francisco Bay ferry operators, the were made, or at PortofSanFrancisco,theirsalvageandmarinefirefightingcontractor, and more.Humphreys discretion, The UC TTX scenario was based on the Spirit of Norfolk the dice were rolled. .fire.GallupandFabrizioreviewedtheNationalTranspor-tation Safety Board reports and recommendations and let Variables included weatherthoseguidetheexercise.Fortheeventseveralpeoplemetinperson,whileothersfollowedalongviaZoom.Onlyaconditions, human error, smallselectionofpeopleintheroomwereactivepartic-ipants, the rest were observers. The participants couldreachouttoothersintheroomforadvice,butobserversor mechanical failureswere asked to mostly hold comments until the end. Ob-serverswereallowedtoaskthestatusofasituation,butall factors that may arise the answer may be unknown, as may be the case in a real-life incident. Participants were asked to stay in char-in an actual emergency.acter and keep all communications as realistic as possible. EveryonetooknotesthroughoutwhichwerehandedinattheendofthedayforGallupandFabriziotoreviewtohelp them create a follow-up document of takeaways and Thefull-dayexercisehadfourkeyobjectives:improvein- lessons learned. ter-agency communication, enhance firefighting training, refinecontingencyplans,andensureeffectiveevacuation. Inareal-lifeemergency,thereisalevelofchaosandthingsByinvolvingmultipleagencies,theywereabletopractice will not go as one may expect or hope. To bring a sense of coordinationandcommunicationbetweendifferentthe unpredictable to the experience, the UC TTX set up organizationsduringanemergency.Thescenario-basedwas inspired by Dungeons & Dragons with a set of dice exercise allowed participants to discuss how they would re- added to the exercise. The narrator or facilitator for the spondandtoworkthrougheventsastheyoccurredduring eventwasScottHumphrey,executivedirectoroftheMa-theexercise.Teamswereabletoidentifystrengthsandrine Exchange for San Francisco. His role was to describe weaknesses in areas such as communications, process, andtheenvironment,introducechallenges,anddeterminethedecision making. Tabletop exercises such as this one offeroutcomeofparticipantdecisions.Healsooversawtheroll-alow-riskenvironmenttotestandrefineresponseplans. ing of the dice. Theyarealsoavaluablewayforpersonnelacrossagenciestomeetandfamiliarizethemselveswitheveryonesroles When keywords were used, critical decisions were made, and responsibilities during an emergency.oratHumphreysdiscretion,thedicewererolled.He would tell the participants who should roll and would ex-It took months of planning to make the UC TTX a reality.plain what challenge the roll introduced, as well as the se-Gallup said the idea was spawned in October 2024 andverityofit.Variablesincludedweatherconditions,humangrew from planning a fire drill with local fire departmentserror, or mechanical failuresall factors that may arise in into the multi-agency tabletop exercise held in June. By Jan- an actual emergency. uary they were making calls, and he noted that it took some homework to get the right people in the room, as well as toGallup and Fabrizio talked about unexpected scenarios get buy in from each agency. Fabrizio noted that findingthat arose through this format and how it helped partic-people at the organizations who were enthusiastic about aipantsconsiderissuesthatmightnothavebeenapartofcollaborativeexercisewashelpful.Thesepeoplewould,if the actual Spirit of Norfolk incident. For example, at the FOGHORN 32'