b'FOGHORN FOCUS Firefighters may be with the Coast Guard and how they test such systems as the fire hoses. They had the chance to see the sprinklers familiar with the sight ofand the pressure of that system as well. the vessels but may haveThey did a walk through in Falmouth in summertime so thatthefiredepartmentcouldseethevesselsandoperationnever ridden them so theseat one of the busiest times of the year. It was an eye opener for them to see all the cars and how they were jammed in experiences are essentialthere, explained Hennessy. He said some of the young firefightersheadsseemedtobeonswivelsastheytookitallfor them to gain an in.Henotedthatseveralfirefightersmaybefamiliarwiththesightofthevesselsbutmayhaveneverriddenthemsothese experiences are essential for them to gain an under-understanding of the vessels standingofthevesselstheycouldbecalledtoaid.they could be called to aid.TheSteamshipAuthorityhasfiveterminalsandworkedon its first MOU with the fire department in Hyannis. They are currently work with Falmouth on an MOU, ex-plaining that for each land-based fire department, a new MOUiscreatedandapprovedbyallstakeholders.Sofar,The team at the Woods Hole, Marthas Vineyard & Nan- therehaventbeenanysignificantchangesfromlocationtotucketSteamshipAuthorityhavebeenworkingonMOUs location, but each area has its own nuances and will make with the local fire departments in the communities theysomeadjustments.Falveyhasalsoreachedouttothetownsservice.ToddFalveyandPaulHennessyfromthecompany on Marthas Vineyard to begin the process with those agen-sat down to talk us through their process.cies. They noted that the process can take longer than one might expect, which operators should keep in mind as they FalveyexplainedthattheMOUprocesshastakentheteam work on MOUs with their own fire departments. approximately a year and a half, possibly two. It began with a year or two of consistent engagement with the largest lo- FalveyandHennessyworkwitheachfiredepartmenttocal fire department in their area which in turn led to thearrangevesselwalkthroughsandnotedthatitcanbechal-developmentofthefirstMOU.Representativesfromboth lenging finding times that work. For their operation, one of organizationsmetthreeorfourtimes,forseveralhours the ports is used seasonally, some are a significant distance each time, discussing such topics as marine firefighting,from the repair facility, and other ports are so busy that in whatotheragenciesmaybeinvolvedinanemergencyre- peak season scheduling is difficult. In some cases, theyll sponse, the roles and responsibilities of each group, and thewaitfortheoffseasontoarrangeavisit.authorityofeachpartyinvolved.An additional consideration is whether a local fire depart-In addition to talking through details, Falvey said they mentisstaffedwithfull-timefirefightersorisvolunteerprioritizeddoingthoroughin-personwalkthroughsofbased. Hennessy explained that the departments on Mar-theirvesselswithfirefighters.TheteamattheSteamship thasVineyardarevolunteerand,withalimitednumberofAuthority showed the firefighters all the hose connections,peopletomanthefirestation,theymayhavetoscheduleexplained their firefighting capabilities, pointed out wheremultiple walkthroughs with small groups to allow enough there is fixed firefighting with water, and showed themcoverageatthefirehouse.Thismakestheoverallprocessthe COfirefighting systems. Hennessy noted that theylonger, but they find a way to make it work so that all the 2brought the fire department teams to the companys repairfirefightershavetimeexploringthevesselsinperson.facility when they were doing a U.S. Coast Guard certif-icate of inspection (COI). This allowed the firefighters aAmong the items addressed in their MOU was establishing first-handlookathowtheSteamshipAuthorityworksa unified command. This included the senior management FOGHORN 10'