Emergency Response Division Responses in FY 2020
OCTOBER 5, 2020 — Over the past fiscal year, October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020, OR&R's Emergency Response Division (ERD) was notified of 200 incidents and activated for 174 incidents. 82% were oil spills, 4% were chemical spills, and 14% were other incidents.
These "other" incidents involved hurricanes, requests for search and rescue (SAR), marine debris events, dead whales, and other incidents where scientific support and forensic oceanographic modeling is requested. 2020 was one of the busiest years in the past decade, despite the additional challenges of the pandemic and staff working from home for over half the year. These numbers do not include several larger incidents, such as the sinking of the RO/RO Golden Ray in Brunswick Georgia, that occurred in the prior fiscal year but the response continued into FY 2020.
For further information, contact Doug.Helton@noaa.gov.