Joint Agency Training Planned in South Maui Waters, May 30

Coast Guard rescue. File photo by Wendy Osher.

By Wendy Osher

A joint agency search and rescue training exercise will be conducted in waters off of South Maui this Friday, May 30, 2014.

The exercise, conducted by the Maui Fire Department, the Ocean Safety Bureau, and the US Coast Guard, will run from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in waters offshore of Kamaole Beach Park III.

Fire officials say a fictional scenario involving a missing person from a commercial vessel will be played out during this Joint Training Exercise.

As part of the exercise, Maui Fire Rescue personnel, Ocean Safety Bureau lifeguards, and crews from the US Coast Guard will be alerted and a coordinated search will be planned.

“The purpose of this joint exercise is to continue training that began in September 2012, between responding agencies that would jointly respond to an emergency regarding a missing person in the ocean,” said Maui Fire Services Chief Lee Mainaga in a press release.

Objectives of the exercise, he said, are to “review and improve cooperation and communication between agencies; practice unified command; evaluate inter-agency briefing coordination; and improve inter-agency resource and protocol familiarity.”