b'beginning of the exercise, when the emergency was on boardthevessel,thedecisionwasmadetoanchordown. COMPANIES With a roll of the dice, it was determined that they hadAND AGENCIES anchoreddowninashippingchannel.Now,partici- REPRESENTED AT THE pants such as the Coast Guard had to decide how theydSAN FRANCISCO BAY handle shipping traffic and rerouting ships around the vessel.Anotherrollofthediceledtothediscoverythata UNIFIED COMMAND crew member had tied off the anchor incorrectly and theTABLETOP EXERCISEvesselwasadrift. 2025 Asthescenariounfolded,decisionsandactionswould lead to dialogue among participants with possibly con- ACTIVE ROLESflicting perspectives. When the vessel captain decided Ship companyHornblowerto tow the boat into the Port of San Francisco, the port representativepushedback.Asthelargestcommuterhub U.S. Coast Guardintheareawithferryboatservice,theydidntwantavessel Local fire departmentsonfirecomingintothatlocation.DiscussionfollowedQualified individual/Incidentabout where to take the ship instead. They needed a cen- management teamWitt OBrienstrally located dock with the necessary infrastructure forSalvage and marine firefightingemergencyresponders,somewheresupportvehiclescould contractorDonJon-Smitaccess,haveproximitytoahospital,andbeaplacetheycould manage crowd control.Port of San Francisco Theydiscoveredalocationonlyafewminutessouththat SUPPORTING ROLES wasseenasabetterplacetodockavesselwithafireonboard. Gallup said that this will influence training of theirU.S. Coast Guard captains as they further explore options of where to dockSan Francisco Fire Department in an emergency. Fabrizio noted that they may consider cre- San Francisco Marine ating a list of locations to safely dock based in part on whatFire Department type of emergency a captain may be facing.San Francisco Marine ExchangeAtonepointintheUCTTX,everyonewasaskedtowrite California Office of down who they thought was in charge. Answers rangedEmergency Services fromthefiredepartmenttotheCoastGuardtothevessel National Response Center captain. Gallup shared that hearing the fire departmentWitt OBriens recognize that there was value in the captain and the DonJon Schmitknowledge that he has, and hes still in charge of his boat was an eye-opening experience.Port of San FranciscoBlue & Gold FleetHe explained that its a great lesson for all operators inRed & White Fleetterms of training captains. We do the shipboard firefight- Golden Gate Ferry ing stuff all the time, he said, but they still need to be(Golden Gate Bridge, Highway incontrolandcommandoftheirvessel,evenwhentheyre and Transportation District)at shore with the local fire departments. Both agreed thatHarbor Safety Committee of captainshavearesponsibilityintheirroleandshouldbeapart of inter-agency discussions during an emergency, step- the San Francisco Bay Regionpinginandintroducingthemselvestothosepresentasthecaptainofthevessel.Iftheyrehuddling,Fabriziosaid,33 AUGUST 2025'