Clean Rivers Cooperative Membership conduct Mutual Aid Deployment Exercise

Clean Rivers Cooperative Membership conduct Mutual Aid Deployment Exercise

On July 21, 2022, Clean Rivers Cooperative conducted a Mutual Aid Deployment Exercise with its membership. This training exercise is part of Clean Rivers Cooperative’s Annual Membership Training Program, one of four quarterly trainings aimed at enhancing membership preparedness for response. This training event focuses on developing skills for boat crews at member facilities to respond to an incident and effectively implement response strategies.

The premise of these training scenarios is to present the members with a callout to conduct initial response during a hypothetical situation where the Cooperative is engaged in a simultaneous and separate response and needing support in deployment. This simulated exercise presented a scenario of a 50-barrel spill of diesel fuel which impacted the Willamette River at Saltmans Creek. Members were informed that product was observed downstream of Willbridge Cove. The entry point was boomed by the Responsible Party but they were unable to stop a heavy concentration of the Diesel from entering the river and moving downstream. Clean Rivers Cooperative response personnel called and requested a Mutual Aid response to deploy three Geographic Response Priorities (GRP’s).

Member participants in the exercise were given the instructions for each of the response strategies and took appropriate response equipment and personnel to deploy these strategies. Members worked during the exercise with Clean Rivers Cooperative personnel and contractors to ensure successful deployment of these strategies. Drone footage captured the successful deployment of these strategies and the lessons learned by each group were shared during a Microsoft Teams meeting where the footage was reviewed collectively.

Trainings such as these are essential in ensuring that stakeholders in the region are aware of proper response techniques and trained to effectively deploy them in a real incident. Clean Rivers Cooperative is proud of the collaboration and capabilities of the stakeholders in the region.