Traffic may be backed up on St. Thomas Tuesday because the V.I. Police Department will close streets near the V.I. Water and Power Authority and the Lionel Roberts Stadium for much of the day for a full-scale multi-agency, multi-hazard emergency exercise.
The exercise, titled “Operation Tide Breaker,” is designed to test emergency responders’ incident management capabilities using the Incident Command System developed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. More than 30 local and federal government agencies and the maritime industry will participate, according to information from the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency. The daylong exercise will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 13.
Between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m., police will prevent motor vehicle traffic from traveling near WAPA’s Randolph Harley Plant at Subbase, according to a VIPD statement. Officers will also close Route 304, which begins near the Doctor’s Choice Pharmacy at Nisky and ends on Airport Road near the Emerald Beach Resort. Sections of Route 304 are also known as Sub Base Road and WAPA Hill.
From noon until 5 p.m., Police will restrict motor vehicle traffic on Mafolie Road from traveling south toward the Lionel Roberts Stadium. Only safari taxis will be allowed access. All other vehicles will be rerouted to Dronnigens Gade, commonly referred as Bunker Hill. Police will also close Kanal Gade, which runs from where Mafolie Road and Hospital Ground Road and intersect to Veterans Drive on the waterfront. Motorists will also not be allowed to cross Kanal Gade onto Norre Gade.
Police officers will be posted along the closed streets to enforce traffic restrictions.
The daylong exercise will be held at several venues on St. Thomas, including the VI Water and Power Authority, the Lionel Roberts Stadium, WICO, the University of the Virgin Islands field, and the Cyril E. King Airport.
“In recent years, national preparedness priorities have steered the focus of homeland security toward planning for uncertainties because we can never tell when the next danger might be,” VITEMA Director Elton Lewis said in a statement Friday. “Operation Tide Breaker encompasses three scenarios that require a cross section of local and federal emergency response agencies interfacing in response to various incidents, including an active shooter, a maritime hazardous release incident, and medical airlift. This type of exercise helps us assess our capabilities and the desired outcome is that the territory as a whole is better prepared to respond to a wide variety of incidents.”
The full-scale exercise will test intelligence and information sharing and dissemination, communications, onsite incident management, emergency triage and pre-hospital treatment, medical evacuation, weapons of mass destruction, hazardous materials, and explosive devise response operations, according to VITEMA.
Operation Tide Breaker scenarios and venues include:
- a V.I. Water and Power Authority plant evacuation from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., in response to a mock bomb-threat
- a maritime weapons or hazardous materials incident and evacuation on board the Royal Caribbean’s Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship from 10:30 a.m. to noon.
- the VIPD will respond to a fictional "active shooter incident" which will be staged at the Lionel Roberts Stadium.
The maritime weapons and hazardous materials incident will simulate a substance release onboard a cruise ship with people acting as passengers becoming ill. The scenario will ultimately require the governor to activate the V.I. National Guard’s 23rd Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team. As part of the exercise, the Schneider Regional Medical Center will conduct triage and patient-tracking, and cruise ship officials and government agencies will work jointly to coordinate medical evacuation. The Florida Advanced Surgical and Transport Team will practice patient transport using a C-130 aircraft and patient simulation mannequins. The cruise ship will be docked at Havensight for the exercise and exercise players are working to ensure minimal disruption to the ship and its passengers.
As part of the fictional "active shooter incident" scenario, police will conduct perimeter security, active-shooter entry, and negotiation activities. A suspicious package also will be discovered at the scene, prompting response from other law enforcement entities, as well as the 23rd Civil Support Team. For this segment of the exercise, VIPD will close streets surrounding the Lionel Roberts Stadium between 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., for the safety of Operation Tide Breaker participants and the public.
The territory’s annual full-scale exercise is funded through a Homeland Security grant, funneled through FEMA to VITEMA.
For more information on Operation Tide Breaker visit the V.I. Joint Information Center at www.governordejongh.com/jic.
