Mock ferry wreck tests international rescue coordination
U.S. and Canadian rescue agencies rushed to the scene of a simulated ferry boat wreck in the Juan de Fuca Strait this week to test international cooperation during marine emergencies.
The exercise near Port Angeles, Wash., involved a mock scenario where about 500 people were forced to abandon ship after their ferry hit debris and started taking on water.
"We made it as real as possible by not letting some of the operational units know," said Lt. Dana Warr, a public affairs officer with the U.S. Coast Guard.
Several dozen survival suits were placed in the water to simulate people who required rescue.
"Those suits were tagged with people's names and condition and when the crews brought them in they were met with real actors that had those real symptoms," Warr told host Gregor Craigie on CBC Radio's On The Island.
The joint exercise was designed to help all the agencies involved better understand each other's capabilities. Time is of the essence for rescues in the area because of the water temperature, Warr said.
"One of our biggest concerns here is being able to respond rapidly and start pulling people from the cold waters," he said. "If somebody goes in the water, we don't really have a lot of time."
The U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards, Royal Canadian Air Force search and rescue and the Joint Rescue Co-Coordination Centre in Victoria were among the agencies that took part in the exercise.
Policies on co-operation across the international border between B.C. and Washington State are well established, Warr said.
"That allows each country to go into the other person's country to rescue somebody," he said. "So, in this scenario, whether they were on the Canadian side or the U.S. side, we would both work together."
The Juan de Fuca Strait is a high traffic area for ferries and freighters.
The U.S. Coast Guard conducts mass-rescue exercises every three years. The last one simulated the response to a downed aircraft in Elliot Bay, Wash.
With files from Dave Biro, On The Island
