THE EVOLUTION OF MARINE FIRE-FIGHTING CONTINGENCY PLANNING AND EXERCISING AT THE MARINE SAFETY OFFICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY

Abstract

ABSTRACT Because no one entity has the resources to deal with a major vessel fire, contingency planning and exercising within the port community are critical. Achieving the highest level of response readiness is an evolutionary process made more difficult by today's fiscal constraints on both government and industry. This paper will discuss the steps taken over the last 15 years (workshops, table-top exercises, hands-on drills) to develop a comprehensive marine fire-fighting contingency plan that was tested during a recent area PREP exercise. The PREP drill scenario involved a collision between two vessels that resulted in a large spill and fire well away from shoreside access. Participants included over 200 personnel representing 50 federal, state, and local agencies. Shipboard flammable liquid fires are never easy to extinguish; however, the degree of difficulty escalates exponentially when an event does not occur pierside with adequate access for local fire departments. Mutual aid agreements and state-of-the-art response strategies and equipment are essential to resolving this unique situation. Proper use of the incident command system helps ensure smooth, efficient waterside command and control of the fire attack assets. Special logistics systems and staging techniques need to be developed to bring adequate water and foam delivery (8000+ gpm) resources to bear on an away-from-shore incident. These requirements were shown to be well within the response capabilities of the San Francisco Bay fire-fighting community when dedicated fireboats and vessels-of-opportunity were converted to foam master stream delivery platforms.