The highly predictable happened. The highly prepared took care of business. When the Gibraltar fire sparked up in the pre-dawn hours of October 29, our public safety personnel were fully engaged before the sun rose over the ridge. The multi-agency and varied asset response was highly coordinated, timely, and incredibly effective.
I had a chance to visit the command post that afternoon and was impressed by how quickly and efficiently all of the surrounding agencies and federal forces came together. No confusion, no bickering, no discussion of obscure protocols, just incident management. If only government could work like this all of the time …
Petroleum production and transport have been long established in our region and will be for the foreseeable future. Much of that infrastructure is aging, making another incident likely. If anywhere on the planet should possess the gold standard for response to oil spills, it should be our region. Our firefighters are experienced in responding to a multitude of disasters, including those involving hazardous materials.