BALTIMORE, MD, Sept. 6, 2024 —
In the early hours of 26 March 2024, Merchant Vessel Dali, a 984-foot containership collided with the I-695 Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, which resulted in eight persons in the water, severe damage and grounding of the vessel, catastrophic collapse of the bridge into the Patapsco River, and complete obstruction of the federal navigational channel.
After the initial shock and a swirl of stories speculating about the “how,” and the “what,” the arduous recovery process began with the Coast Guard as part of the Unified Command alongside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Maryland Department of the Environment, Maryland Transportation Authority, Witt O’Brien’s, and the Maryland State Police.
LCDR Trent Lamun (Safety and Environmental Health Field Operations Deputy Branch Chief), LT Michael Gonzalez (Safety and Environmental Officer for District 5), and Mr. Dave Erezo (Industrial Hygiene Program Manager) spent 21 days working on the response, where they were responsible for a variety of health and safety matters.
LCDR Lamun took on the job of Safety Officer, overseeing safety for the entire response operation. “We had crane operations happening, personnel working aloft, some conducting hot work (ie, welding, cutting), dive operations, vessel movements – we were responsible for the safety of everything involved.”
Assistant Safety Officers LT Michael Gonzalez and Mr. Dave Erezo spent the bulk of their time in the field observing to make sure the site safety plan was followed, ensuring hazard notifications were routed up to LCDR Lamun, and mitigating any hazards.
The team arrived onsite about four days after the initial event, when the incident command system, communications, and other critical aspects of the massive, multi-agency response were just getting started. That led to some 16-plus hour days just building the foundation for the safety section. “There were so many parts,” said Erezo. “Multiple layers of contractors, subcontractors – it was challenging just to try and learn their names and what their safe work practices were.”
There were some particularly unique and challenging safety concerns with this specific response from the very beginning. Lamun recounts meeting with a power supplier and learning that just underneath the stranded Dali lay a large natural gas pipeline. The power company had concerns about flushing the pipeline and what they’d have to do to bring it back online later. “So, on day one I had to explain to both the Unified Command and the power company that any leaving any residual amount of natural gas in the pipeline was a significant hazard to responders because of the flammability and they’d have to flush it completely,” said Lamun.
One hazard down, many to go.
Erezo and Gonzalez jumped in to conduct industrial hygiene sampling on the mangled Key Bridge, where there were concerns about asbestos and lead-containing paint. Thankfully, they found no asbestos, but they did find lead containing paint and were able to make recommendations about cutting operations and material disposal.
And they still weren’t done. “It was a long list of hazards,” said Lamun.
Gonzalez reflected on the challenge presented by the sheer number of people who wanted to be involved in the response efforts. Naturally, efforts were made to keep members of the public away from the Dali, the damaged bridge, and the surrounding area. But this team was also responsible for ensuring individuals that needed to get an up-close look – including divers, members of Coast Guard leadership, Maryland government officials, and media members – did so safely.
“A lot of people were wanting to get out on the water and get a closer look at the vessel itself,” said Gonzalez. “So just managing the span of control, knowing where folks were, having that accountability, I think for me that was the biggest challenge.”
In the early days, some visitors were heading right out onto the water, among significant marine construction hazards, and not letting anyone know where they were going or taking personal protective equipment. “That certainly wasn’t acceptable, so we worked with operations to establish requirements for visiting these sites and ordered a significant amount of PPE,” Gonzalez said. “Our biggest object was to safeguard the folks on the water throughout the entire operation.”
If you’re keeping score, so far we’ve stacked up a natural gas pipeline, lead-containing paint, potential asbestos, and curious visitors on our list of safety hazards at the response site.
Then came the possibility of unexploded ordinance. Yes, you read that correctly.
The Army Corps of Engineers brought up the concern that there could be unexploded ordinance (possibly dating back to the time of the Revolutionary War) in the section of the Patapsco River where dredging operations and debris removal needed to take place. Thankfully, the Army Corps had expertise in that area and helped mitigate the serious hazard.
In the end, the Key Bridge Response effort included 1,000 federal, state, and local partners directing over 100 diverse surface and air assets in completion of over 500 dynamic and high-risk missions. These many agencies were able to come together to remove over 50,000 tons of wreckage, refloat and removed the M/V Dali, and reconstitute the Port of Baltimore.
“This team participated in 21 of the 50-plus days of the response. Remarkably, the entire response went without a single safety incident despite the incredible hazards that plagued all responders,” said Coast Guard Deputy Incident Commander and Deputy Sector Commander CDR Caren Damon. “They managed subsurface (dive) and surface operations, aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems operations, crane barges conducting heavy lifts daily in a constricted waterway, hazardous materials and oil pollution, three different salvage companies operating in close proximity of one another with over 14,000 tons of steel wrapped like a rubber band underwater and across a ship’s bow, a 984-foot ship impaled on a concrete pillar with hull and hazmat falling debris, a natural gas pipeline, overhead power lines and draft restrictions, all occurring around the clock.”
Bravo Zulu to that!
The Coast Guard safety team took away some incredible experiences from their work on the Key Bridge response. “Every incident has something you can learn,” says Lamun. “I learned a lot about what each of the agencies involved do on a regular basis and their expertise. I think that will help us and the whole DCMS organization use that expertise in future incidents."
Gonzalez noted that inspecting things like welding equipment was something he’d normally do as part of his job, but that the size of the Key Bridge Response made for a different experience. “This worksite was so much larger than anything I’ve been a part of. I had to learn to take a step back and really break down each piece of what I was looking at.”
The team’s advice for other Coast Guard members and employees participating in responses like this?
“Get your qualifications and go to as many incidents as possible, because it helps in many aspects of your Coast Guard career,” says Lamun. “Every incident is going to give you a unique perspective and a deeper understanding of the Coast Guard’s role in these responses and the role of Mission Support.”