| "Blue
Flame" joint exercise highlights safety
Posted: 23 April 2003
Ministry of Interior Civil Defence teams swooped on Jebel Ali yesterday
morning in a full-scale joint fire emergency exercise, organised
by EPPCO (Emirates Petroleum Products Company), the Dubai Ports,
Customs and Free Zone Corporation Fire Department and Dubai Civil
Defence and Dubai Police.
The mock-up scenario involved a gasoline overflow at one of EPPCO’s
state-of-the-art terminals, with teams activating EPPCO’s
Emergency Plan, evacuating injured parties and to test response
times of all involved.
Hussain Sultan, Group Chief Executive Officer and Board Member
of Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), the parent company of EPPCO,
said: “This sort of scenario will hopefully never happen,
but it is crucial our emergency Plan and Emergency Response Teams
are regularly tested. A day such as this is everyone’s worst
nightmare, but with regular drills and command activation systems
in place, events can be dealt with swiftly, efficiently and with
minimal danger to life and the environment.”
The Ministry of Interior’s objectives for the one and a half
hour long drill were to test safety systems, monitor response time,
and check the command group’s priorities and action plans,
as well as testing commuincations.
The event was attended by Brigadier Saif Khamis Al Kaabi, Director
of the Central Operation Unit, and Head of Fire Drill Assessment
Committee, Ministry of Interior.
EPPCO fielded its Crisis Management Team during the event, which
also involve hands-on participation from Dubai Ports Authority,
Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority, Dubai Civil Defence, Dubai Police,
Department of Health and Dubai Municipality.
Yousuf M. Kazim, Director of Environment, Health, Safety and Security
Division, Dubai Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, said:
“This has provided us with a fantastic opportunity to test
our overall ability to respond effectively to a major crisis. ‘Blue
Flame’ involves many different strands of the public and private
sector working together to avert a would-be crisis.”
“This exercise is one of a series of practical exercises
that the Corporation undertakes throughout the year in co-operation
with the Ministry of Interior and other government corporations.
This enables us to ensure that our Environment, Health and Safety
departments are in a constant state of readiness.
The exercise ran to a pre-planned scenario, affecting EPPCO’s
Terminal 4 storage facility. The ‘live’ exercise involved
actual response by local operations personnel, the site response
team and local emergency agencies, after gasoline overflowed from
tank number 404 a while receiving product from a marine tanker.
Fire extinguishing trucks from Al Qusais, Satwa, Al Karama and
Al Humraiyah attended the exercise, while a unit from Al Shahama
was also in a state of readiness with its extinguishing support.
There will be a post-event debriefing involving all parties on
Wednesday (April 23) to analyse and discuss the fire drill.
Those taking part in the drill uncluded Colonel Buti Salem Al Qubesi
Director of Operations, Civil Defence, and UAE Civil Defence representatives:
Major Abdul Aziz Khamis, Head of Operations, Major Mohamed Abdulla
bin Naseeb, Head of Centres, Major Jumaa Salem, Head of Administration
and Financial Affairs, Major Abdul Raheem al Marri, Captain Rashed
al Falasi, Leutenant Ali Hasan, Leutenant Motran Khalil, Leutenant
Mohammad Hasan, Leutenant Jamal Ahmad, 45 Firefighters and drivers,
11 extinguishing trucks from Dubai Civil Defence, and Fire Fighting
Units from Jebel Ali headed by Khalifa Al Shibani.
For further information see www.enoc.com.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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