PORT ANGELES — More than 100 U.S. Coast Guard personnel will engage in a tsunami exercise next Wednesday, culminating with them boarding a boat that would leave their Ediz Hook base during a Cascadia subduction zone earthquake.
Cmdr. Scott Jackson, commanding officer of U.S. Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles, described the practice session Thursday during an interview following a presentation to a luncheon meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Port Angeles.
During the get-together at Joshua’s Restaurant, attended by more than a dozen club members, Jackson also described ongoing efforts to initiate a $1.3 million project to build a new entrance gate and sentry building to replace the tiny guard shack.
The new entryway, which will include a turnaround for 18-wheel trucks, could be built beginning this fall, Jackson said.
During the meeting, he also thanked the North Olympic Peninsula community.
Numerous residents made donations earlier this year to help Coast Guard personnel in both Clallam and Jefferson counties who worked without pay or were furloughed during a partial federal government shutdown, which also affected Olympic National Park employees.
“It was amazing,” Jackson told the audience.
He noted “how everyone stepped up to the the plate and were so generous with all that support for our members, especially junior members.”
The Coast Guard has 10 active duty personnel for the cutter Adelie in Port Townsend, and stations in Neah Bay and La Push.
In the interview, Jackson said the Coast Guard base at the tip of Ediz Hook could be inundated with at least 6 feet of water during a projected Cascadia earthquake of 9.0 magnitude.
“That’s what the experts say,” he said.
The subduction zone off the Northwest coast generated its last major earthquake in 1700.
“The zone has produced earthquakes measuring [magnitude] 8.0 and above at least seven times in the past 3,500 years,” according to the state Military Department.
“The intervals between quakes vary: from as little as 140 years to as much as 1,000. The last one occurred just over 300 years ago.
“Although scientists cannot predict when the next earthquake will occur, the region is within the window for a significant event.”
Jackson estimated it will take 30-45 minutes for a tsunami wave to reach Port Angeles.
It could be as high as 70 feet on the coast at the Coast Guard’s Station Neah Bay and Station Quillayute River at La Push.
On the coast, “their plans are, they hope to get to deep water, or, if they get enough warning, going to higher ground,” Jackson said.
“There are safe spots.”
Coast Guard crews staff five cutters at Port Angeles, a 13th Coast Guard District spokeswoman said Thursday.
Those crews also could evacuate on the cutters and rescue boats, Jackson said.
“A quarter mile or so off the Hook, and you’re in deep water,” he said.
The drill Wednesday for the approximately 120 Air Station personnel who fly and tend the base’s rescue helicopters and perform other duties will be coordinated with Puget Sound Pilots, Jackson said.
“We’ve done exercises before with Puget Sound Pilots,” he said.
“This is the first one where we are making all our guys walk out to the pier and meet the Puget Sound Pilot boat and get on the boat.”
The Pilot vessel will have room for 80 people.
The intention would be for base helicopters to aid in rescue efforts in the wake of a severe earthquake expected to last up to about 10 minutes — if the helicopters, hangars and other buildings are still standing, Jackson said.
The helicopters would use William R. Fairchild International Airport in Port Angeles as a base for further rescue operations if Ediz Hook is destroyed or under water, he said.
“In a worst-case scenario, there aren’t always the people that are there in harm’s way that are the rescuers, because they are dealing with the emergency themselves,” Jackson added.
Coast Guard assets from other areas of the state and the country would be mustered and make their way to the North Olympic Peninsula, much like the Coast Guard helps in hurricane relief elsewhere in the U.S., like a Port Angeles unit did during Hurricane Harvey in Texas, Jackson said.
“The Coast Guard will push forward, and there will be assets,” he promised.
“They will funnel in.”
Jackson said how fast the new base entry way is built will depend on the length of the bid process.
“Several companies have come forward to try to do bids,” he said.
“I don’t have a lot of visibility until civil engineers and the contract folks run through the process.”
Jackson said during the meeting that the facility, the oldest Coast Guard air station on the Pacific Coast, has a new $32 million Maritime Force Protection Unit facility that includes a new alert forces facility and a pier that measures 425 feet built by the U.S. Navy.
Crews of vessels that flank submarines from the Navy’s Bangor submarine base dock at the pier and rest at the base.
Jackson jokingly admitted to “a little jealousy” when contrasting the new Navy facilities with the older Coast Guard buildings.
“I’m very proud of what my Coasties do,” he added.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
