The Port of San Diego and local public safety agencies will hold a demonstration next week into how multiple agencies would share resources if traditional water sources were cut off.
The demonstration, which will take place next Tuesday at 9 a.m., will show how contract fire tugboats used by the military will be available for the Port’s Police Department, firefighters and other regional fire agencies to draw water from the San Diego Bay in a large-scale emergency:
The tugboats would hook up to a specially made manifold that allows up to four fire hoses to be attached. The fire hoses are connected to fire trucks which would then be able to receive the water being drawn from the fire tug. Each fire tug is capable of discharging 3,000 gallons of seawater per minute.
The Port of San Diego, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard and Edison Chouest Offshore Operations entered into a collaborative support agreement in October 2006 that would allow multiple agencies to share resources to assist in fire fighting. The agreement was part of a contingency plan to prepare for a potentially catastrophic fire where fire hydrant water pressure was lost in or around the Port of San Diego.
The demonstration will take place at Berth 24-1 of the National City Marine Terminal, National City.