USCG, FEMA, Cal OES meet to discuss emergency response in San Francisco

Top officials from the Coast Guard, FEMA and the California Office of Emergency Services met in San Francisco and held a press briefing Wednesday at the San Francisco Ferry Building, the USCG said in its news release.

Adm. Karl Schultz, the Coast Guard commandant, Mr. Robert Fenton, the FEMA Region 9 administrator, and Mr. Mark Ghilarducci, the California Office of Emergency Services director, and several representatives from local partner agencies met to discuss shared concerns and issues facing the complex maritime environment in and around the San Francisco Bay Area while aboard Coast Guard Cutter Tern, an 87-foot Patrol Boat homeported in San Francisco.

Agency members discussed the importance of waterways, ports and the maritime environment during emergencies such as earthquakes and terrorist attacks and how multiple agencies will work together to meet the region’s economic and transportation needs. Schultz discussed the Coast Guard’s Maritime Commerce Strategic Outlook and its mission of keeping the waterways and ports open after an incident.

“Back in the fall, we rolled out what we call the Maritime Commerce Strategic Outlook,” said Schultz. “It’s a 10-year vision for the evolving, increasingly complex maritime environment. One of the things that’s essential to that is unity of effort, collaboration, and teamwork. These are deep partnerships and today was a strengthening of those partnerships.”