The NYS DEC and Genesee County hazmat crews along with first responders from the Town of Batavia held a training session together for the first time.
After discussing response plans and designs for each community in the county, the group headed out to Kiwanis Park on Rt. 5 in the Town of Batavia to train on the new Emergency Response Trailer that was delivered to the county by the NYS/DEC.
The trailers are equipped to deal with spills anywhere in the county.
“Whether its rail or on the thruway, a tanker truck, it is here for each municipality to use in the county,” says Tim Yaeger, County Coordinator.
Spill Response trailers were distributed to 23 counties in the state after Gov. Cuomo wanted areas along the main line rails to be better prepared after the Bakken crude incident in 2014 in Quebec.
The trailers were delivered about 6 months ago.
Today’s training simulated a spill in a moving waterway. A boom was used to contain the pollutant and bring it to shore.
“We usually work together with the DEC after a spill, not before, this is the first time we have done this,” say Yaeger.
Plans are to have other first responders in the county trained on the Spill trailer also.