Abingdon Volunteer Fire and Rescue hosted a training exercise on the York River on Thursday, Sept. 8, which simulated an emergency aboard the Schooner Alliance, Yorktown Sailing Charters (S/V Alliance) where all passengers had to be evacuated.

A unified command post was established at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science Boat Basin, where participants used the Virginia Port Authority mobile command center with representatives from regional fire and rescue, law enforcement, the U.S. Coast Guard, and emergency management officials.

On the water, 11 rescue boats comprised of local, state and federal agencies evacuated the S/V Alliance in a coordinated effort, delivering all passengers safely to shore.

In addition to the evacuation, a search and rescue scenario was included to simulate the possibility of missing persons in the water from a sinking passenger vessel. Additional resources were assigned search patterns to execute during the evacuation of the passengers.

This e...