NNS - Sailors and Marines worked in collaboration with first responders from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and with the city and county of Los Angeles during a Defense Support of Civil Authority (DSCA) exercise held in conjunction with Los Angeles Fleet Week (LAFW), May 24.
The exercise consisted of using landing craft, utility from the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland (LPD 27) to get personnel, along with heavy equipment, fuel, debris removal equipment, and transportation and hospital capabilities onto Cabrillo Beach.
“We’ve been working over the last few months with the city of Los Angeles, L.A. County, the state of California and FEMA to identify what a potential response to a southern California earthquake would look like if the U.S. military was asked to assist,” said Cmdr. Brian Sauerhage, U.S. Third Fleet’s DSCA planner. "This exercise was developed to establish a baseline regarding future joint multi-agency planning, training, and to show the capability to resupply the city of Los Angeles by sea if the highways were blocked by earthquakes or another disaster."
Among the units that supported the DSCA exercise were the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit command element, 1st Landing Support Battalion, 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Medical Battalion, Amphibious Construction Battalion (ACB) 1, L.A. Port Police, L.A. Fire Department, L.A. Police, and numerous other civilian entities.
“Among its many purposes, we want fleet week not just to be a great place to recruit, to educate, to inspire, but also a place where we get work done creating those relationships between public servants to make sure we’re kept safe in an emergency response together,” said Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles. “You can see what this equipment is all about; and the men and women who keep it going. And how, around us, you can see in a major crisis how seamlessly we are integrated at the local and state level with our military counterparts, whether it is heavy trucks used to transport critical supplies, city, fire, and police command centers would be deployed to help coordinate efforts."
LAFW is an opportunity for the American public to meet their Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard teams and experience America's sea services. During fleet week, service members participate in various community service events, showcase capabilities and equipment to the community, and enjoy the hospitality of Los Angeles and its surrounding areas.