On Wednesday June 13, 2007 the Salisbury Mutual Assistance Group (SMAG) conducted their annual drill on the Wicomico River. The Salisbury Mutual Assistance Group is made up of members of the petroleum industry, in Salisbury, that operate on the Wicomico River. The drill started at Cato Oil with an informal meet and greet. A briefing began for the drill, describing the scenario. A barge was scheduled to arrive and start off loading it contents of low sulfur diesel fuel. While moored and beginning to off load product, another vessel came by. The wake from the second vessel pushed another barge and disrupted the flow by dislodging the main off loading line. In addition to this possibly "unrelated accident" an individual had also boarded the tug and was holding the crew of the vessel hostage.
Several objectives were established to be evaluated. Two primary objectives were to see how the petroleum Industry would interact in a unified command system and to check the facilities' security plans and make recommendations. The drill was conducted with all facets going very well, Captain Gladwell (Salisbury Fire Department) was the Incident Commander for the fire department's assignments.
Participants were able glean additional skills and knowledge from this drill with the conclusion being a tour of the tug from Vane Brothers. This served as a valuable learning lesion for all members of the fire and police departments. Participants included the Salisbury Fire Department, Salisbury Police Department, Wicomico County Emergency Management, Wicomico County Sherriff???s Office, Maryland Department of the Environment, Vane Brothers, Delmarva Oil, Nu-Star, Cato Oil and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Photos of certain law enforcement officers are obscured to protect their identity.
