Coast Guard, Coast Guard Auxiliary support multi-agency exercise

KA’ANAPALI, Hawaii – Coast Guard members from Station Maui, Air Station Barbers Point, and Coast Guard Auxiliary are teaming with local agencies to conduct a series of search and rescue exercises off the coast of Ka’anapali Beach, Maui, Wednesday.

Also scheduled to participate are Maui County Fire Department, Maui County Police Department, and Ocean Safety.

The participants in the exercises will be responding to several events including a disabled vessel with a crew member who needs medical assistance, and a missing snorkeler. These exercises will allow the agencies to test communications equipment, including the 800 megahertz trunked system.

“Through a Memorandum of Agreement signed this past January between U.S. Coast Guard Sector Honolulu and the County of Maui; Station Maui has recently begun utilizing the same 800 megahertz trunked system that Maui County responders are utilizing. This allows a better flow of real time information throughout local and federal agencies during response operations.” said Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Derrenbacher, chief of the Incident Management Division at Sector Honolulu. “This will mark the first time the Coast Guard has practiced utilizing this system with local and state agencies.”

The exercise is intended to help the different agencies improve search and rescue response, share knowledge, and asset capabilities.

The exercise is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. and end at approximately 2 p.m.