Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service Newsdesk

at 29/04/2008 10:44

On Tuesday 22nd April at 10am, Firefighters from Cornwall County Fire Brigade worked with the RNLI and the coastguard to carry out a Maritime Incident Response Group (MIRG) exercise at County Wharf, Falmouth.

The exercise simulated the procedure for dealing with a stricken vessel on fire at sea and involved 24 specially trained Firefighters from across Cornwall. The Cornwall MIRG, which is funded by the Maritime Coastguard Agency, is made up of Firefighters who volunteer to be part of the group. These Firefighters undergo specialised training to deal with incidents at sea involving fire, hazardous materials and industrial accidents that not only endanger life on the vessel but may cause harm to marine life and the environment. There are 15 MIRG Fire Brigades throughout the UK, each of which are on call to assist each other when needed.

The exercise started with the call coming from the Master of the vessel requesting assistance, explaining that there were crew, 6 passengers and cargo that included hazardous substances on board and that he had a fire in the machinery room, the engine being lost. The MIRG team, led by Divisional Officer Steve Brown, were then called to respond and a helicopter was deployed at Falmouth Docks to take 12 firefighters to the scene. Cosmetic smoke was used on the vessel so that the team knew where to locate the simulated fire.

Once the helicopter arrived at the scene, 4 crew were winched onto the vessel as the ‘Reconnaissance’ team, to assess the situation at which point the Officer in charge of that team called for back up and the ‘Strike’ team, a further 6 Firefighters were winched onto the vessel. Finally, a further ‘Strike’ team of 8 arrived by boat with fire fighting equipment including hoses.

Firefighters, wearing breathing apparatus then entered the smoke filled machinery room and pulled casualties from the area. This was done with help from 2 of the ship’s crew who also wore fire suits and breathing apparatus to help guide the firefighters around the unfamiliar and smoke filled area.

Lead Officer Steve Brown said, “We are carrying out this exercise as part of our MCA audit process. We need to make sure that the Cornwall MIRG Team’s training is up to the required standard and that we maintain our kit correctly in order to be as efficient as we can be in a real emergency situation.

It’s important for the crew to experience something as real as possible so that they experience they gain can be put into practice when we are called upon for real.”