Photo By Lt.Cmdr. Sandra Arnold | Naval Air Station Kingsville personnel participate in a fuel spill exercise. The...... read more read more
NAVAL AIR STATION KINGSVILLE, Texas – Naval Air Station Kingsville conducted an emergency response training exercise Dec. 4 to evaluate the Naval Facilities Engineering Command South East Public Works Department and NAS Kingsville spill response teams’ procedures during a simulated fuel spill caused by an earthquake.
“Any type of major disaster onboard an installation takes coordination from all the first responders available and will likely require assistance from our surrounding community partners,” said Emergency Manager Monette Walker, NAS Kingsville. “These type of drills test our strengths and weakness in both our plans and response capabilities.”
The scenario included a 4.0 magnitude earthquake that hit six miles west of Driscoll, Texas, with minor tremors identified as far south as Kenedy County.
“Shortly after the fuel farm supervisor arrived, he identified a strong odor of fuel and discovered a six-inch crack in the west end berm with fuel leaking out at approximately 20 gallons per minute,” said Walker. “Upon further investigation, we learned that fuel was present within the containment area of the tank, which indicated that there was a possibility of a catastrophic failure if the dike were to breach.”
Emergency response exercises like this one are held throughout the year at NAS Kingsville to test a variety of scenarios and according to Walker, results from this event will be used to improve and coordinate our planning both on and off the installation.
As a significant amount of fuel spilled out of the containment tank, notifications were made to base security, Commander Navy Region South East and the installation's spill response team made up of personnel from the Emergency Management Office, NAVFAC, environmental, safety, security and Fire and Emergency Services.
“This type of scenario required the activation of the station's emergency operations center,” said Environmental Director Norma Barrera, NAVFAC SE PWD. “We activated the EOC, assessed the fuel release to determine how to manage the incident and executed spill response procedures which included containment, mitigation and cleanup efforts.”
With approximately 60,000 gallons of fuel unaccounted for and the significant environmental impact this type of spill could have, NAS Kingsville notified surrounding officials and local fuel containment contractors to request assistance.
Periodic updates every 30 minutes from exercise representatives provided Capt. Christopher Misner, commanding officer of NAS Kingsville, with critical information about the response efforts to manage the event.
“This was a terrific opportunity for our teams to work together to manage an environmental containment scenario,” said Misner. “It provided us with an opportunity to test our abilities to respond to a large-scale accident as well as our response times and communication capabilities.”
The exercise’s main goals were to test the station’s response for an environmental spill and containment procedures to control, mitigation and clean up the fuel release as well as to keep employees and service members assigned to NAS Kingsville and the public promptly informed as the event unfolded.
For more information about NAS Kingsville visit http://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrse/installations/nas_kingsville.html.
| Date Taken: | 12.04.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 12.04.2014 16:23 |
| Story ID: | 149428 |
| Location: | KINGSVILLE, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 283 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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