North Shore Environmental Construction, Inc (NSEC) participated in a boom deployment drill at Horicon Marsh. The drill scenario was a release of 50,400 gallons of diesel fuel that entered the Rock River, West Branch and traveled south along the river. Emergency response agencies were stationed at various river banks and locations surrounding Horicon Marsh. No oil or petroleum products were used in this exercise, only the actual deployment of containment boom.
The purpose of this exercise is to ensure that emergency response personnel are trained to respond to a marine spill. Most training and drills are multi-agency led, and attended by local response agencies. The joint response teams for this drill comprised of various Fire Departments, Hazmat teams, Hazmat contractors, EPA, Wisconsin DNR, local businesses and the Oil Spill Response Organization (OSRO) personnel.
The exercise consisted of hands-on boom deployment, which provided local responders with practical training in boom handling, deployment, watercraft maneuvering, and testing of local response capabilities.
The purpose of placing boom in a body of contaminated water is to divert the contamination to a collection point. Booms help concentrate oil and petroleum in thicker surface layers so that skimmers, vacuums, or other collection methods can be used more effectively to remove the oil and petroleum from the surface of the water.
NSEC discussed proper placement of the boom in the river with the emergency response personnel. NSEC had their marine spill response unit on site. Project Managers from NSEC discussed how to use their marine equipment with the emergency response personnel. The marine equipment consists of containment boom, a double drum skimmer, a jon boat and motor and a truck skimmer.
For more information about boom deployment and responding to a marine spill, please contact NSEC.
