ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As Florida navigates the start of hurricane season, local leaders are encouraging residents to restock their emergency kit and have an emergency plan in place.

An even higher level of preparation is happening at local, state and federal agencies.

Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg serves the entire west coast of Florida from Alligator Point — just south of Tallahassee — to Marco Island in South Florida.

“Just as all Floridians make their own home preparations, we, the Coast Guard, along with other first responder agencies throughout the state, make our preparations as well,” said Cmdr. Fredrick Pugh.

With 800 active duty and reserve members, Pugh said hurricane safety is top of mind, and they’re prepared and ready to take the lead for any initial emergency response in our region.

He reflected on their effective search and rescue missions during Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Hurricanes Ian and Idalia in Florida.

“Katrina was a massive inundation of water into a massive American metropolitan area,” said Pugh.

“We saw the Coast Guard as the first agency on scene due to our helicopter being positioned and ready to respond," he continued. "So, all initial government actions were coordinated through the Coast Guard until we could flow in forces from the Army National Guard and the Army to help control the situation. Hurricane Ian was a major impact in the Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg area, so we worked with Charlotte County, Lee County and Collier County to ensure that we could evacuate folks out of the area.”

Pugh said the Coast Guard's strategy during the initial emergency phase emphasizes the importance of coordination and collaboration to protect people first, and then property.

“A planning system and emergency response system that we use across the whole of government at the state, local and federal level to ensure that we can all plug and play to work together to remediate a problem,” Pugh said. “The U.S. Coast Guard assumed the lead because we had air and marine assets in place and ready. Typically, our helicopter assets are our best asset as a Coast Guard to use. During Ian, for example, one of our rescue swimmers was lowered to assist someone that could not evacuate Sanibel Island due to the causeway being wiped out.”

Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg is also tasked with making sure the maritime transportation system is functioning properly after a major storm.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, 40% of all petrochemicals that are imported into Florida come into Tampa Bay.

To keep the supply chain of fuel and other goods moving throughout the state, the Coast Guard will launch designated teams and boats to remove any obstructions and clean up pollution in the waterways.