Transneft Baltic holds large-scale firefighting and tactical drills at Ust-Luga Oil Depot
The Ust-Luga Oil Depot, a branch of Transneft Baltic, has held large-scale firefighting and tactical drills to eliminate a simulated fire in a tank farm.
The drill was held to practice the actions of employees and the facility's administration in the event of a fire and to check the operation of the fire water supply and automatic fire extinguishing systems. The headquarter functioning was practiced, as well as the interaction of the facility’s various services with fire guard units stationed in Kingisepp District of Leningrad Region.
According to the drill’s scenario, during the loading of an oil commercial batch in one of the tanks with a capacity of 50,000 m3, the floating roof skewed. The resulting spark “ignited” the hydrocarbons, causing the roof explosion and a partial collapse of the tank's upper belt.
All personnel not involved in extinguishing of the oil depot were promptly evacuated to a safe zone. Members of the volunteer fire brigade arrived at the “emergency” site. The firefighting systems of the neighbouring tanks were started. The work was complicated by additional drill tasks: simulated failures of equipment that had to be triggered manually. Environmental gas analysis posts were deployed. The oil loading onto the tankers was "stopped" and technological switching was performed to transfer the receipt of oil coming through the trunk pipeline from the "emergency" tank and the neighboring ones to the most distant tanks.
The crew on duty of fire rescue station No. 76, which protects the Ust-Luga oil depot, promptly started extinguishing the "fire". They performed combat deployment from the firefighting vehicles with the supply of portable fire monitors. Other units based in Kingisepp District were subsequently involved in extinguishing the "fire". First aid to a “victim” was provided.
Thanks to coordinated joint actions of the Ust-Luga oil depot employees and the fire guard units, the simulated fire was extinguished within the specified timeframe.
The oil depot personnel confirmed their high readiness for possible emergencies and the ability to efficiently interact in the elimination of their consequences. 50 people from Transneft Baltic and EMERCOM took part in the drill and 10 pieces of equipment were used.
