Fire safety drill in the Koenigsmacker lock
VIDEO 1
Commentary by Jean-Pierre Vuillaume – Manager of the Operations Division at UTI Moselle.
Today, a fire broke out on a pushing tug which was approaching the Koenigsmacker lock. It broke out in the engine room. The captain of the pushing tug immediately informed the lockkeeper on duty today. The lockkeeper, seeing that the captain was unable to bring the fire under control, immediately informed the emergency services in Yutz so that they could intervene as quickly as possible to bring the fire under control.
Commentary by Dominique Schirmer – Plant Director
First of all comes the call to the fire brigade. The duty officer is then informed. We explain the situation, what is happening, to the fire brigade. In this particular case, there was a victim, who was trapped in the engine room, and two people on board. This will enable them to intervene quickly. We ensure that there is no pollution. To do this, I close the gates upstream in order to contain it and keep it in the lock. I also ensured that the boat stayed high in the water, so, by opening the sluices, I managed to stabilise it so that the fire brigade could intervene under optimum conditions.
Commentary by Jean-Pierre Vuillaume – Manager of the Operations Division at UTI Moselle
We have already had two similar cases which occurred a little while ago this year (2009). This is why we considered it appropriate to organise a drill, to target the strong points and the weak points in our internal organisation, so that we can put a reliable emergency plan in place.
VIDEO 2
The fire on the boat is simulated in the engine room. The alarm is relayed to the Moselle fire brigade, at the Yutz centre, and, while awaiting their arrival, the lockkeeper will check for victims and raise the boat to the top of the lock to facilitate the evacuation of victims and put out the fire in order to prevent damage to the lock wallsby the heat radiation caused by the fire.
Boat: “There's a fire on boardand my colleague is trapped in the cabin”
Lockkeeper: “OK, I'll call the fire brigade straight away. I'm going to raise the reach quickly so that you won't have any problems with suffocation.”
“Hi, Dominique Schirmer, the lockkeeper at Koenigsmacker. I'm calling you to report a fire on a boat coming upstream at Koenigsmacker lock. It looks like there's one victim trapped in the boat and two other people on board”, “Is the victim injured?”, “I don't have any details but I know he's trapped”, “Where is the fire located?”, “It's in the engine room”, “I'm sending help”, “Thanks”.
The lockkeepers then inform the duty officers of the situation, as well as their colleagues at the locks upstream and downstream so that they can stop any other boats approaching the location of the fire.
The lockkeeper takes stock of the situation with the captain of the fire brigade.
Captain of the fire brigade: “The barge is moored to contain any pollution and keep it in the lock. We're going to close the lock gate. Is there anything else we should know? Transport of hazardous materials or other issues...”
Lockkeeper: “The forward hold is empty but there's the barge's fuel tank, of course.”
At the end of the drill, the fire brigade takes stock of the situation with the lockkeeper and the people present in order to target the strong points and the weak points in the drill.