Local firefighters and harbormasters, in coordination with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), practiced oil spill containment tactics last Wednesday in Lagoon Pond next to Safe Harbor Marina.
The drill tested a booming tactic used to contain oil if a spill ever occurred in Island waters. MassDEP framed the training scenario as a spill threatening Vineyard Haven Harbor, the marina, and nearby shorelines.
Julie J. Hutcheson, program coordinator for the MassDEP’s Marine Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act program, said the containment boom works like a curtain in the water. The device has a float on top of it, a skirt below, and a chain at the bottom that forms a physical barrier. Responders then use a vacuum truck or other equipment to remove the oil.
Personnel from the fire and harbor departments of Tisbury, Edgartown, and Oak Bluffs used the MassDEP oil spill response equipment and drone to oversee the drill. The goal was to familiarize local response teams with the equipment and develop the skills to respond to a spill within the first four to six hours before state or offshore support arrives.
“Local fire and harbormasters and other [local] departments are here faster than anyone else,” Hutcheson said. “Having this equipment now and being able to do things in a more rapid, less-impact way is better for everybody.”
No oil or liquid to resemble oil was used in the drill; only the deployment of the boom was practiced.
“It’s not 100 percent, but it’s better than no percent,” Hutcheson said. The training also showed local departments how long the work takes, how many people it requires, and how many moving pieces are involved.
Oil spills have occurred in the past. In January 2018, a large petroleum spill in Woods Hole’s Great Harbor required booms and a multi-day cleanup, and seven waterfowl died. In June 2023, a small liquid spill that was possibly oil or another combustible liquid closed a stretch of New York Avenue in Oak Bluffs; firefighters and state agencies contained it with absorbent material.
