PANAJI
The South Goa District Crisis Group, headed by the Collector and Chairperson Anjali Sehrawat, on Wednesday, conducted a mock drill of a petroleum storage tank catching fire at Zuari Indian Oil Ltd.
The mock drill was planned to ensure various line agencies display coordinated skills to arrest the fire and to ensure that loss and damage to life and property was well managed.
The off-site emergency was declared by the ZIOL at 9.56 am once its on-site team felt that the situation was going beyond its control. Fire fighters from Fire and Emergency Services along with the mutual-aid partners of ZIOL armed with necessary equipment required for fire fighting and rescue operations assisted the ZIOL team in the mock drill.
ZIOL Terminal Manager Shivkumar Naik, ZIOL Chief Safety Officer Valencio D’Souza and senior government officials from various government departments participated in the exercise.
During the exercise, water hydrants and foam was used to douse the fire. Dummy patients were evacuated from the site of fire and given medical treatment by the team from Health Services according to the severity of the burns. Patients who were earmarked to have received higher percentage of burns were shifted to GMC after providing due first aid.
The incident commander of the drill, Dy Collector Kedar Naik, speaking after demobilisation said that the SOPs were used in the right perspective by the line agencies. The shortcomings, though a few, can be worked out and improvised in the subsequent drills planned all through the year.
The motive of the exercise is to check the preparedness of the line agencies in the event of such incidents. The skills are also put to practice where the shortcomings are identified for improvement of the line departments by providing them an experience of real life situation.
It may be informed that the South Goa District Crisis Group has planned drills in all the eight Major Accidental Hazardous Units (MAH) in South Goa this year to create awareness among the residents of the locality on how to take safety measures and prepare themselves during such incidences.
The first mock drill – on an ammonia gas leakage was successfully conducted at Zuari Agro Chemicals Ltd. last month.
