Page 95 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Fall 2016

Area. By no means was the coordination of Urban Shield TTRDA unit from Taiwan at Urban Shield tactical scenario.
strictly an exercise. There have been real-world events The team responds to an attack on a dignitary convoy by
that have interrupted Urban Shield. In 2013, high winds terrorists. The team was required to neutralize all threats,
forced the closure of scenarios on the Bay Bridge and secure the scene, and manage casualties while working in
at the Altamont Pass area. Heavy-duty four-wheel-drive conjunction with a rescue task force.
vehicles were used to safely transport participants from
the Altamont Pass scenario. In 2015, fire strike teams
were pulled to fight various forest fires in California.

In 2016, Urban Shield expected more than 70 teams of
different disciplines from the local and regional area of
the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as agencies through-
out the State of California. National and international
teams included Mexican Federal Police, Republic of Photo compliments of Kristi Lanzisera
China (Taiwan), Orange County (FL) Sheriff’s Office,
and Las Vegas Metro Police. EOD/Bomb squads from
the local law enforcement agencies, the United States
Army, the United States Air Force, and the United States
Marine Corp are also participating. Additionally, the
Department of Homeland Security Domestic Nuclear Urban Shield kicked off on Thursday, September 8, with
Detection Office (DNDO) co-hosted a scenario. Close Yellow Command and the critical distribution of water
to 7,000 volunteers and participants were expected to after a severe earthquake. The scenario tested the re-
be part of Urban Shield 2016. gional capability of water delivery via C-Pod. On Friday,
September 9, there were training seminars and the ven-
Urban Shield 2016 incorporated a continuous, 48-hour dor show located at the Alameda County Fairgrounds
FSE involving regional fire departments, emergency in Pleasanton. Saturday and Sunday, September 10 and
medical services, and local, state, federal, and interna- 11, provided numerous scenarios for all disciplines, and
tional law enforcement teams. First responders were Urban Shield concluded on Monday, September 12,
challenged to take part in 67 grueling exercise scenarios with the final banquet and hot wash.
based on real life critical incidents. These training sce-
narios took place at a number of locations, throughout The hot wash always includes a tremendous keynote
the counties of Alameda, Marin, San Francisco, and San speaker. In 2015, the keynote speaker was the Secretary
Mateo. Scenario sites incorporated major infrastructure of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. This year’s keynote
locations, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Area speaker was Sheriff John McMahon of San Bernardino
Rapid Transit (BART), AMTRAK and CalTrain fa- County; his agency was the lead agency with the Decem-
cilities, East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), ber 2015 San Bernardino massacre. The winners from
Oakland and San Francisco International Airports, law enforcement, fire, and EOD were announced and
Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC), as well as numer- presented with their trophies and medals.
ous city and county government facilities throughout
the Bay Area. Agencies in the aforementioned counties, Urban Shield continues to be the leader in public safety
as well as Contra Costa, Monterey, Santa Clara, Solano, training for first responders in the San Francisco Bay
and Sonoma, participated in a 6-hour FSE/functional Area, California, the United States, and beyond. The
scenario that included four full-scale points of distribu- collaboration between public and private stakeholders
tion, using the Incident Command System (ICS). Unified grows stronger every year as we all strive to be as well
Command was implemented to manage the multiloca- prepared as possible for the next “big one,” no matter if
tion and multidiscipline response exercise. it is an attack or natural disaster. It is through the efforts
of all the participants that we are better prepared for
Hosting agencies for Urban Shield 2016 included the these intense times.
Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Gregory
Ahern, the San Francisco Police Department and Chief
Toney Chaplin, the Alameda County Fire Department
and Chief David Rocha, and the San Mateo County Captain Mattison is the Urban Shield 2016 Incident Com-
Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Carlos Bolanos. Supporting mander. He is captain of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office,
agencies included the Bay Area Urban Areas Security Court Services and Civil Section, Oakland, California. E-mail:
Initiative, the California Office of Emergency Services, DMattison@acgov.org.
and the US Department of Homeland Security.

Urban Shield 2016 77