On Saturday, October 25, 2025, members of the Calvert County Marine Group met on the Patuxent River for the group’s first joint training session. Maritime assets and personnel from Solomon’s Island Rescue and Fire, St. Leonard Fire, Huntingtown Fire, Prince Frederick Rescue Squad, Calvert Advanced Life Support, and the Calvert Dive Team participated.

Drill coordinators Paul O’Conner from North Beach Fire, and Donald Gibson from Dunkirk Fire, supported by Cameron Gibson and John Tippett from NBVFD, set up the incident at the Benedict Bridge. The scenario involved the bridge tender reporting a boat traveling at high speed striking one of the bridge piers, with multiple victims ejected and the vessel taking on water. Units were dispatched to the site and evaluated on performance metrics including, command and control, search coordination, and radio discipline. Following the drill, an after action was conducted to review positives and improvement needs to be better prepared for a real emergency incident.

By all accounts, the participants found the exercise invaluable as many had worked together on land based incidents, but not an incident on the water involving all of the companies. The group agreed to take the lessons from this event, memorialize them in standard operating procedures, complete a list of asset availability, and conduct another exercise in the spring that will invite other agencies with responsibilities on the water.