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News Advisory RI Department of Environmental Management 235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908 (401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462
DEM TO PARTICIPATE IN OIL SPILL CONTAINMENT/RECOVERY TRAINING FOR PROVIDENCE, EAST PROVIDENCE, AND CRANSTON FIRE DEPARTMENTS PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management will participate in an oil spill containment and recovery efforts for the Providence, East Providence, and Cranston Fire Departments on Wednesday, September 27 at Collier Point Park in Providence. In the majority of incidents involving oil spills, fire department personnel are the first responders to the scene. The training session and mock exercise will assist all participants in learning how to stop an oil leak when it occurs, and provide hands-on instruction in how to lay boom to contain the release and stop it from spreading.This training session and drill will take place in the Port of Providence. The session will begin with fire apparatus being dispatched to Collier Point Park, in response to a call from fishermen that a ship is leaking fuel into the Bay. Fire apparatus will arrive at the scene and discover that the theoretical vessel, Glomar Explorer, is leaking fuel at Sprague Pier on Allens Avenue. The cause of the spill will be determined to be a large hole in the vessel's fuel tank. The Providence Fire Department will request mutual aid from East Providence and Cranston in order to deploy boom around the vessel and contain the spill. During the drill, they will place boom in the water surrounding the dock where the Glomar Explorer is deemed to be located. Finally, they will deploy DEM's oil skimmer recovery boat and work inside and outside the boom in order to vacuum and remove the oil from the water. One of DEM's three oil spill recovery boats is permanently stationed at Providence Harbor, where oil storage and transfer operations are concentrated. The 23-foot boats are flat-bottomed mini-barges that can be trailered and deployed at oil spills within half an hour. With a crew of two, each boat can lower its skimmer over the bow into the water, and advance into a floating spill to collect and separate oil from the water. Each boat can hold 1,300 gallons in its hull temporarily, before it is pumped to a larger storage container. Equipped with twin 50-horsepower outboard motors, the boats can operate at one- to three-knot working speeds continuously, and can transit at more than 20 knots. The boats were purchased with monies drawn from the state's Oil Spill Prevention, Administration, and Response Fund, which was established in 1996 after the North Cape oil spill. -30- |
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