On Monday, 17th June, a group of OSRL responders (Team 2A) headed down to Brixham, one of the South Coast’s busiest fishing ports, to carry out shoreline SCAT assessments, containment procedures, and recovery operations.
Working in partnership, The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), and responders from Ambipar Response, with the cooperation of the National Trust and Tor Bay Harbour Authority, OSRL’s responders carried out deflection and protection booming within the environmentally protected coves surrounding Brixham. Response equipment was ferried to the location by 4x4 vehicles and rigiflex boats, demonstrating that, with careful planning and execution, a response is possible in even remote coastal locations.
As part of the exercise, the OSRL team responded to a fictitious scenario involving a 78 foot sailing vessel with a ruptured fuel tank. Once a booming plan was provided by OSRL responder, Darren Hurford, the team used the rigiflex boats to manoeuvre the sea sentinel boom in position and contain the vessel alongside the pontoon.
The exercise proved a valuable experience for new and existing members to share knowledge, plan the logistics of a spill scenario, get hands-on experience with the new SCAT tablets, and coordinate with external stakeholders. Thank you to all the team for making it a great week!