Thick smoke, possible fire, bodies overboard, fuel spills and missing boaters.
It reads like a waterway emergency but in fact it was Tuesday morning’s multi-agency practice exercise at Lake Macquarie’s Marmong Point Marina.
The mock disasters, the first of its kind held in the area, involved local teams from Marine Rescue, NSW Lake Macquarie Police, Fire and Rescue NSW, NSW Rural Fire Service, NSW Maritime, and Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie Rescue Coordination Centre, overseen by Marine Area Command.
The group dealt with three scenarios including a vessel on fire at the Marmong Point fuel wharf, injured people in water, people stranded on jetty by fire, and vessel adrift in marina alight.
Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie Unit Commander Malcolm Druce said the training exercise was designed to ensure all emergency services were prepared for any situation.
“This is the first inter-agency exercise I’ve been involved in, and I’ve been involved in Marine Rescue for five years,” he said.
“We’re here to test how well our communications work, how well we integrate with other agencies.
“We need to make sure we’re getting the right instructions, we’re instructing our vessels and we’re dealing with the incidents as they come up.
Mr Druce said the groups would face a few surprises during the training.
“There’s a couple of crash test dummies in the water wearing tags that describe their injuries as well as some members of the public trapped at the end of the jetty,” he said.
“We’ll have to triage them and bring them to shore, and rescue the others.”
The exercise is the brainchild of Marmong Point Marina general manager David Randall.
Mr Druce is hoping it will be the first of many.
“We’re having a lot of discussions with agencies about combined exercises along these lines,” he said.
“You hope these scenarios never actually happen, but you’ve got to be prepared for them.
“We’re all here to protect the community and the better we are equipped to do that, the better it is for everyone.”
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