Area volunteer firefighters and staff from Emergency Services were at Kiwanis Park in Batavia this morning to learn about setting up a system of booms over water that would be deployed in the case of an oil spill.
The idea is, say, a tanker overturns and accidentally dumps its cargo and it flows into the Tonawanda Creek, which could cause significant environmental damage, including damage to farm fields.
The booms would float on the top of the water and divert the water into an outlet where it could be collected for proper disposal.
The boom system is deployed with a rope gun and consists of booms that are each 50-feet long and can be locked together.
The instructor was David Sweeny, of Gallagher Marine.
