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Fleet Week exercises will test debris management and route‑reopening; planners warn of massive post‑quake debris
Summary
City emergency planners told the Disaster Council they will use Fleet Week exercises to test the new disaster debris management and route‑reopening plans, warning the plan anticipates about 10,000,000 tons of debris after a magnitude‑7 San Andreas quake and outlining staging at Pier 27 and other Bay Area coordination drills.
Louis Logan, executive director of the Fleet Week Association, and Department of Emergency Management (DEM) staff told the Disaster Council that Fleet Week is being used this year as an operational platform to exercise response plans, not just as a public event.
Logan described Fleet Week programming — from an F‑35 demonstration joining the Blue Angels to community concerts and a humanitarian assistance village — and emphasized the event’s public‑facing training elements. DEM staff and partners will use Fleet Week to display equipment, run public outreach and operate the Center for Humanitarian Assistance exhibits.
DEM presenters described a DEM‑led exercise program of seven drills this year and highlighted the city’s disaster debris management plan, which Cal OES has identified as a best practice. Presentation slides cited a projected 10,000,000 tons of debris following a magnitude‑7 San Andreas quake and offered visual comparisons (the speakers used football‑field and Salesforce‑tower analogies) to convey scale. Planners noted the plan is phased — immediate stabilization, staged removal, and longer‑term restoration — and said the city tested a middle phase earlier in the week with state and federal partners and with local public‑works, MTA, PUC and Treasure Island Development Authority staff present.
Speakers said a resource‑request drill next week will exercise requests from department operations centers up through the state operations center and that the full‑scale Pier 27 exercise will activate a command post and static displays of debris‑moving apparatus to test staging, care for operational personnel and interagency coordination. The panel urged policy‑level participation in a Senior Leaders Seminar that will discuss debris management, cybersecurity and sea‑level rise as national‑security concerns.
What happens next: DEM will continue the exercise series during Fleet Week, run a resource‑request drill with Bay Area ports and hold a senior‑leader seminar. The council encouraged members to assign policy representatives to the seminar so they understand the operational implications of debris‑management responsibilities.
