UK to end Maritime Incident Response Group (MIRG)
Published: 16 September, 2011
Chief Fire Officers Association says the continuation of MIRG is ‘essential for public safety’.
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport Mike Penning MP said in a written statement (15 September) that since the establishment of MIRG in 2006, it had responded to just six fire incidents and had not had a significant impact on the outcome of any of those.
‘Feedback from the shipping industry suggests that the most valued service provided by the MIRG is their initial fire assessment advice. The MCA (Maritime and Coastguard Agency) had therefore initially hoped that the Fire and Rescue Services providing the current MIRG capability would be able to provide such a service, but agreement on this has not been possible. The Government therefore intends to establish alternative arrangements for such a fire assessment and advice service using commercial salvors.’
In July 2011 CFOA issued a position statement highlighting an independent review by consultancy BMT that considered commercial alternatives to MIRG, and which found none were appropriate: ‘commercial options cannot provide availability with affordability – the cost of providing a MIRG-equivalent service would be higher and longer term continuity of such services would not be guaranteed.’
Under the new arrangements put forward by Mike Penning, a 90-day notice period began yesterday and the existing MIRG arrangement will end 14 December 2011. After this time: ‘professional personnel will be deployed to an incident to make an assessment of the status of a fire and to provide advice on the best course of action and - as in many cases today - reassure port authorities that a ship can be safely accepted into a port so that shore based fire fighters can attend to the fire. This approach recognises that international legislation already requires that all ships’ crews are trained and equipped to fight fires on ships.’
CFOA has also highlighted that although the UK FRS has no statutory duty to respond to incidents at sea, they have been acting in support of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency who have a duty to initiate a response to a fire on a vessel when requested by the Master: ‘The reassurance provided to Masters, crew and passengers by MIRG over the last five years has been invaluable and its loss, on the grounds of cost (£380,000) and against all of the credible evidence is unsettling especially in light of the increased risk around London 2012.
Written evidence submitted in January 2011 to the Chair of the Transport Select Committee by the former Project Manager for the National Firefighting at Sea Project, Mervyn Kettle, has countered claims that MIRG's activities have had little impact: ‘This statement is without foundation. For example, within four weeks of the MIRG going live in 2006 a MIRG team was deployed to a serious fire on the cruise ship MV Calypso in the English Channel with 480 persons onboard. Only recently we have seen in the South West approaches a major rescue at sea following a ship fire to which another MIRG team was deployed - the fishing support vessel "Athena". These are just two major incidents of note - several others have occurred where MIRG has not been deployed, but these could have escalated into a major incident requiring the support of MIRG.
‘Having a deterrent to reduce escalation of an incident at sea and the probable outcomes of that escalation far outweigh the disadvantages of having no deterrent at all! As I am sure you well appreciate as does that of your own constituents.
‘There is no doubt that the Government has to reduce the budget deficit but it would be extremely unwise, having spent in excess of £3 million in researching and introducing the MIRG, to just "end it"!
