The city tests a volunteer flotilla to shuttle staff in an emergency.
With a carpeted salon, coffee maker, flat-screen TV and a leisurely top speed of 10-knots, the 65-foot yacht “Our Island” seems an unlikely emergency response vessel.
But if an earthquake, landslide or collision ever shuts down Agate Pass Bridge, the city of Bainbridge will be calling on Our Island owners Bill and Michelle Bressler, and a fleet of other volunteer boaters, to shuttle staff and supplies to the island. With 66 of its 148 city employees living off island, the “Emergency Flotilla” could provide a vital link to the mainland during a disaster.
Volunteers were given their first test Thursday morning, getting 28 city employees and community members from ports on Kitsap Peninsula to their offices on the island, then shuttling them home in the afternoon.
Our Island and three other volunteer vessels were called into action. Two power catamarans ran passengers from Kingston; the trimaran Frolic was stationed in Brownsville.
The warm cabin of Our Island was a welcome surprise for Mayor Darlene Kordonowy and a group of city and IslandWood staff who were welcomed aboard by the Bresslers at the Poulsbo Marina at 6:45 a.m.
Many were bundled up in jackets assuming an “emergency drill” meant a rough ride in an open boat.
“I was expecting it to be one of those little Boston Whalers,” said Bainbridge Police Executive Secretary Lezlie Arntz after settling into a cushioned chair with a magazine. “This is a nice way to start the morning.”
As Bill Bressler prepared to pull Our Island away from the dock, he warned passengers that the boat had lost control of a rudder that morning, and would be using the boat’s twins screws to steer.
“If it seems like its jerky on the way out, its because we’re doing things a little old school,” he said.
It wasn’t the only mechanical hiccup of the day. “The Frolic” was disabled when it wrapped a line around one of its props in Brownsville and the police patrol boat, already standing by, swooped in to pick up its passengers.
By 8 a.m. staffers had been delivered to volunteered private docks around the island where vans and drivers, provided by various community groups, were waiting to take them to work.
The Frolic returned for the afternoon, and all four boats delivered their passengers home safely.
City Emergency Coordinator Ed Call was happy with the success of the exercise, and even happier that there had been glitches.
“It was really good that everything was working smoothly but that a happenstance occurred,” Call said. “It allowed us to test our plan and also test our contingency plans.”
Call and Harbormaster Tami Allen have so far assembled a volunteer fleet of 20 to 30 boats, but they’re still looking for more boats of all sizes, docks and volunteer shuttle vans to add to their network. Eventually Call would like to have more than 100 boats at the ready to transport people, fuel, food and other essentials.
“You can never have enough of anything,” Call said. “From an emergency preparation standpoint I can be categorized as greedy. I want multiples of everything.”
He also wants island residents to know that a bridge closure is a very real possibility.
The 1,230-foot steel-trussed span over Agate Passage is now 58 years old. Its roadway is showing wear, and its steel will need a paint job soon.
But the bridge is in good shape, according to Chris Keegan, operations engineer for the state Department of Transportation’s Olympic Region. He said the structure is inspected every two years, and its submarine portions are checked by divers every five years.
“It should last 100 years if we keep it maintained,” Keegan said.
Still, a number of scenarios could knock the bridge out of service.
A vessel over the height limit could collide with the trusses and do significant structural damage, a tanker truck fire could close the roadway or a landslide could erode the highway.
An earthquake measuring 7.0 or greater of the Richter Scale would force the state to shut down both the bridge and ferry service until they could be inspected.
If the bridge was lost, the city’s top priority would be getting the needed emergency personnel onto the island, Call said.
Bainbridge Fire Chief Hank Teran said nearly all his department’s 50 volunteers live on the island, but a number of his career firefighters and paramedics live on the peninsula. The department’s fire boat would likely be deployed to pick them up.
Bainbridge Island Ambulance Association staff are required to live on island, said ambulance manager Rena Beyke, so service would not be interrupted. But the bridge would cut off access to Harrison Hospital and limit off-island emergency transport options to ferries and airlifts.
As for police, 15 of Bainbridge’s 22 commissioned officers live on the Kitsap Peninsula. With a minimum of two officers on duty at any time, there are usually at least eight officers on the island, said Deputy Chief of Police Mark Duncan. That’s enough to handle an initial 12-hour emergency shift while the police boat scooped up additional officers from the peninsula.
“We’ll get to work if we need to,” said Duncan, who commutes from Port Orchard. “We just can’t give rides to the whole city, that’s where the volunteer flotilla comes in.”
A bridge closure would have impacts on the island far beyond obvious emergency needs.
Due in large part to Bainbridge’s high cost of living, the majority of its basic service providers such as store clerks, gas station attendants and nurses assistants live off island, said Carl Florea, director of the Bainbridge Housing Resources Board.
In the event of a bridge closure, “I think things would pretty much grind to a halt,” Florea said.
A prime example is the Messenger House Care Center on Manitou Park Boulevard. Manager Mitzi Stern said that 40 years ago nearly all of the center’s staff lived on Bainbridge, now three quarters of its 90 employees live elsewhere.
Many of its residents require 24-hour care, and during a prolonged bridge closure Messenger House would need to share resources with Bainbridge Health and Rehabilitation Center until more of its staff could be brought over by the volunteer flotilla.
“So many of our employees live off island that it could be a life or death situation here if the bridge were to go out,” said Social Services’ Barbara Blumenstein, who has been working with Call to prepare the Messenger House and the surrounding Manitou neighborhood for a disaster.
The Messenger House was one of several community groups to volunteer a van for the drill.
The Bainbridge School District has also been coordinating with the city on its emergency plans this year, district spokesperson Pam Keyes said. One-third of the district’s certificated teachers and administrators live off island, along with one-third of its general staff.
While island agencies and businesses make their plans, individual households and neighborhoods should be preparing as well, Call said.
The island could experience both food and fuel shortages during a bridge and ferry outage. The city has stockpiled enough fuel to run its emergency response vehicles for a few days, but if the island were isolated for longer, fuel would have to be brought in by tanker trucks on barges.
According to Call, gas stations on the island do not have backup generators and are unable to pump fuel during a power outage.
During a disaster many residents could be on their own when it comes to powering generators and heaters.
Similarly, it would take the Red Cross five days to set up food centers on Bainbridge during large-scale emergency.
Families should have at least five days of food and water and pool their resources with neighbors, Call said.
“The only way a community can really survive in the aftermath of a big event,” he said, “is if everyone pitches in.”
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The city is looking for volunteer boats, docks and vehicles – both on and off island – that could be used during an emergency. To register, contact Harbormaster Tami Allen at 780-3733, tallen@ci.bainbridge-isl.wa.us.