ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An interagency exercise was conducted late last week to test communication procedures and coordination between federal and state partners focused on incident response operations in the Arctic.
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Alaska Region Director Mark Fesmire, Rear Adm. Dan Abel, Coast Guard 17th District Commander, and leaders from the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) and Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) participated in the exercise on July 2 which simulated an emergency response incident.
The exercise kicked off when the Coast Guard 17th District command center in Juneau simulated receiving a phone call from the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center of an incident. The command center briefed Rear Adm. Abel who then immediately reached out to BSEE, DMVA and DEC leadership to set-up a conference call.
The exercise concluded following a discussion of agency roles and communication procedures during an incident in the Arctic.
The first of several planned communication exercises, BSEE, U.S. Coast Guard and state agencies will continue to work together to ensure preparedness and coordination for any potential events in the Arctic.
