LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
A yacht striking the Langley fuel pier would be a tragedy, but the ecological aftermath of such an accident could be catastrophic if a large amount of jet fuel was released into the Back River.
Langley personnel drilled Nov. 29 to counter that exact possibility, exercising the base response to a fuel spill into the waterways around the base.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard require bases like Langley to have tabletop and response exercises frequently over a three-year period.
Col. Brian Yolitz, 1st Mission Support Group commander, said the key to this exercise was communication.
"It's all about communication and having a good attitude," he said. "It's a mindset. You always have new people in new chairs, but once we got our team in place, information flowed well."
In the exercise, a civilian yacht crashed into the Langley refueling pier, pouring more than 12,000 gallons of JP-8 jet fuel into the water. At that point, containing the spill became a top priority and the Langley Fire Department deployed a boat with a boom, a piece of equipment designed to surround and absorb oil.
"We are required to have 1,000 feet of boom deployed within 60 minutes of notification," said Senior Master Sgt. Gerald Johnson, 1st Civil Engineer Squadron deputy fire chief. "We had it deployed between 35 and 40 minutes."
Sergeant Johnson said the boat crews train semi-annually for spills and dedicate a crew daily to water rescue.
"Every time the fuel barge is scheduled to come in, we get notified," he said. "We go out daily and do maintenance, making sure our boat is ready."
With the largest estuary in the world only a stone's throw away, Troy Andersen, Langley's natural resources manager, said Langley people know what the risks are.
"The water around Langley is home to a wide variety of environmental resources including wetlands, shorebirds, fish, invertebrates and mammals," he said. "If not quickly contained, a JP-8 spill has the potential to cause a wide range of environmental impacts on adjacent ecosystems. It has the potential to kill those resources through acute toxicity."
Mr. Andersen said the key to preventing damage is quick and early containment.
"Containment is the primary line of defense against oil spills in the marine environment," he said. "Immediate containment is crucial to limiting the ecological impact as well as reducing the amount of time and money required to restore the impacted area to its previous condition."
Sergeant Johnson said his people were up to the task.
"It's part of what we do," he said. "The old thought of our job being to just fight fires is years past. We come to work on a daily basis knowing we can take on different tasks. It's a part of who we are."