Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) welcomed nearly 60 representatives from various federal, state and local agencies for its Emergency Response Orientation Day March 4.
This event focused on relationship building, emergency response capabilities and how representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, Virginia State Police, Virginia Department of Health, Virginia Department of Emergency Management, Huntington Ingalls Industries -Newport News Shipbuilding and the cities of Portsmouth, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Newport News, Hampton and Suffolk would integrate with the shipyard workforce and support a shipboard emergency.
Managing shipboard risk effectively through strong partnerships helps to ensure a more available fleet and ability to meet the shipyard mission of repairing, modernizing and inactivating the Navy’s warships and training platforms.
Shipyard Commander Rear Admiral Kavon “Hak” Hakimzadeh opened the event, discussing how NNSY is one of the largest, most historic and multifaceted shipyards in the nation. “The versatility of our work and the different platforms under our care demands that we have an equally robust emergency response program and can urgently and effectively respond to a number of different scenarios and across various ship types,” said Hakimzadeh. “You are all critical partners in this effort, so I thank you for your participation today.”
The event, hosted by NNSY’s Emergency Planning Division (Code 105.6), provided breakout sessions that combined networking opportunities for visitors and their counterparts who support the shipyard’s Emergency Response Organization (ERO), along with technical briefings, equipment demonstrations and tours of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) and USS New Hampshire (SSN 778).
Interactive breakout sessions allowed participants to explore the various facets of shipyard emergency response, including cutting-edge technology that supports the teams. Key demonstrations included the RS1 Thermite Firefighting Robot that can be remotely controlled from a quarter-mile distance. The RS1 is designed to traverse hazardous terrain, climb stairs and remove obstructions. It features a powerful 1,250 gallons-per-minute nozzle to effectively combat high-intensity fires. NNSY also showcased its fully outfitted Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV), a mobile command center designed for long-term response. The ERV is equipped with workstations, a meeting room and a weather station feature, allowing Incident Commanders the ability to maintain communications and manage complex operations from a variety of locations.
Alexis Miller, NNSY Director of Radiological Controls (Code 105), emphasized how vital these engagements are and the role they play in the shipyard’s ability to strengthen its partnerships. “Getting the opportunity to host so many of our partners from a wide variety of local, state, and federal agencies is incredibly valuable in continuing to advance our emergency response posture,” she said. “Additionally, this provides Norfolk Naval Shipyard with the chance to demonstrate our capabilities and discuss how we would operationalize a joint response. While the robust safety features and requirements of our shipyard programs mean we expect to never need to activate our emergency response, we will always be ready, and this event is just one way we continue to demonstrate that readiness to our partners outside our fenceline.”
Tiffany Cacace, Nuclear Test Engineering (Code 2340) Shift Test Supervisor and ERO Liaison Branch Director, said shipyard responders have previously met with state and local civil authorities at their sites, and this provided a unique opportunity to welcome them to NNSY. “I would say the best part of Orientation Day was being able to see familiar faces and build new relationships with our partners, which only strengthens our unified response,” said Cacace. “It was great being able to previously learn about the civil authorities through tours of their Emergency Operations Centers, but it was another level being able to show them all the great things about our Emergency Control Center response team. We were able to show our partners exactly how we would integrate with them as a team during an event and provide them the perspective on the bigger picture of NNSY’s mission even beyond emergency response.”