An oil spill can have catastrophic affects on humans and wildlife alike, and emergency responders in Brewster, Orleans and Eastham recently went through a mock oil spill to prepare for this potential disaster. According to Capecod.com, the drill in late April had firefighters and harbormasters working to combat a potential spill in Rock Harbor, Rock Harbor Creek and Cape Cod Bay. Using a Geographic Response Plan (GRP), which is designed to target specific areas for protection, teams guided boom deployment.
“The response plan is a map-based strategy that can save time during the critical first few hours of an oil spill response. It shows responders where sensitive areas are located and where to place oil spill protection resources,” said the article.
Funded by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), the GRPs for specific areas along the coast are updated based on drills such as the one in the Rock Harbor area. The drills also test two areas: “The first was to show the ability to assemble a spill-response organization and implement on-site incident management and tactical operations. The second was to demonstrate the ability to effectively communicate between multiple local, state and federal agencies using both UHF and VHF communications,” according to the article.
Other participants in the exercise included the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office, the Barnstable County All-Hazards Incident Management Team, and the US Coast Guard.
Sources:
http://www.capecod.com/cape-wide-news/agencies-exercise-oil-spill-response-capabilities/
For more information on Geographic Response Plans, check out this article: https://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/5779/1892385/Geographic-Response-Plans
For other examples of exercises, visit:
