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Multiple Boat Fire Drill
Make Your Drills Interesting!
Fire drills are very important to ensure that crew members react appropriately when a real emergency breaks out. When conducting a drill it is important to:
- Formulate a plan
- Review the plan with all crew members. If someone is unaware of a procedure, show them before the drill.
- Conduct the drill
- And most important, review the drill. Find out what improvements can be made, what items may have been overlooked and ensure that all crew members understand every aspect of the drill.
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PPE? Where is it!!! It may be a drill, but PPE always a requirement! |
Your drill does not have to be dull. Recently Relief Captain John Gonzales, M/V Jesse B Gunstream, and Captain Robert Nealy, M/V Miss Sarah, came up with a creative fire drill. The drill plan was to take place with the five boats that are at the Illinois Marine Towing Shipyard. This drill could easily be used for boats in other areas (ie Boones Fleet, Bolivar Terminal)
The Drill:
Vessels Involved: M/V Jesse B Gunstream, M/V Captain Jack Higman, M/V Miss Sarah, M/V Cumberland, M/V Drum Point
Possible Land Personnel Involved: Local Fire Department, EMT's, Illinois Marine Towing, Higman QI, NRC, and Coast Guard will be contact for simulation. Emphasize that you are participating in a drill.
Scenario: While maneuvering a barge in a fleet, a fuel line breaks and catches on fire. Fire quickly gets out of control and crew must abandon ship.
Actions by Vessels:
M/V 1: will be the distressed vessel and will simulate procedures from discovering the fire, fuel cut off, simulate CO2 activation, and the simulate abandon ship
M/V 2: Will assist with fire hoses to cool and fog tank barge and M/V 1
M/V 3: Will assist cooling other barges in the fleet
M/V 4: Will simulate taking control of barge.
M/V 5: Will recover crew member(s) from M/V 1 during abandon ship.
In the planning of the drill it is important to designate which vessels will take each action. Communication is key. Designate a working channel and distress word in the event there is a real emergency. (In this scenario they used the words "All Stop". Ensure that everyone involved understands "This is a drill".
Jay Frye has formulated a publication that you can use as a guide for planning your drill. Click here for the file. |
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The Passing of a Giant
Capt. James Krysztoforski...1942-2011
On April 17, 2011, Captain James Krysztoforski lost his battle with throat cancer. He found out about his illness in Oct/Nov of last year and his doctor gave him 6 months (untreated) to live and 12 months (treated) to live. Captain James
 | | Capt James receives the "Safest Boat Award" form Mr. George Thomas in 2003 |
understood the inevitable, and decided not take the treatment. According to his family, he was courageous until his last breathe.
For those of you that did not have the pleasure of meeting or working with Captain James, he was the kind of person you could never forget.
Joining Higman in 1999, he spent much of his time as Captain of the M/V ANNAPOLIS. He retired from the company in 2005 in order to care for his terminally ill wife, Aline. After the passing of Aline, Captain James came back on board as a trip pilot and a steersman trainer.
Here are some of the comments that came in from Higman employees upon the news of Captain James' passing.
From Port Captain David Devall:
"Every night before he would go to bed, he would complete a push up for every year he has been alive, wrote articles for the Houston Chronicle, published a book just before he passed, won numerous competitions with open sight guns from various distances, was a bag handler for the Mafia, traveled the circus under the witness protection program, and very confident in himself. He was so confident that he wore his pants higher than most and sported a speedo on the beach and dared people to make a comment."
From Jay Frye:
"After James retired a few years back I was talking to him on front porch of office, nicely dressed in pressed khaki slacks and black tee shirt , clean shaven, and acting the true gentleman he was known to be. I spoke to him numerous times about his favorite hobby "Guns". He told me he was going to Pasadena Gun Show that coming weekend....I had not been to a gun show in while and asked to meet him at the show . We could walk the rows of vendors and their goods. He nodded and said sure and then he proceeded to tell me about all the weapons in his collection and different shooting styles he used in typical tough guy "JAMES KRYSZTOFORSKI" fashion. No doubt he was classy and original person in a category of his own. He invited me into parking lot and popped the trunk of his vehicle, showing me his standby arsenal of weapons in his trunk, which he definitely enjoyed showing me.
That Saturday morning my youngest son met him at Pasadena Convention Center, walked and talked about all the different accessories; weapons, antiques and modern, what was a bargain, and what was not. My son enjoyed his presence obviously and James gave back to him by showing him the different weapons, and telling some history on each in his north of I-10 accent.
When I was my son's age, I would go to gun shows with my father. I felt lucky to take my son to the gun show to do what my father I did when I was younger. What was really special was that my son and I were able to attend the gun show with "Captain James". I will never forget that Saturday morning with him, the walking and discussion about guns was awesome....Only do I wish I had a opportunity to do again with James Krysztoforski. He was a man from a different generation than mine, which will never be reproduced."
From Adrien South:
"He wrote a short story about how he met his wife and it was published in the Houston Chronicle. The story tells how they were "introduced" on a beach by a dog. It was love at first sight. By the time he met her he had decided to be a bachelor sailor. Needless to say, she changed his whole life. He adored her.
Ginger loved working with him because he always volunteered to take on the guys that were having problems. He would mentor them."
From Captain Mike Taylor:
"I first met Captain James on 9/10/2003. That was my first day with Higman and I was assigned to the Annapolis under him. At first meeting, I asked myself "Why was I put on here with this guy?"
We were totally opposites.
Well I got on the boat at Creole Bridge W/B for Texaco Island with two empty barges, strung out. In three hours, I had made it from Creole Bridge, mile 220 to Sweet Lake Tank farm, mile 224. Not a good start.
Captain James came up to the wheelhouse screaming, cursing, spitting and pointing. None of that mattered; I don't know what he said because I couldn't get past his outfit. He had on a white bath robe that fit him just barely below his waist.
He says to me "Go get your smokes and come straight back. We need to talk."
Well while down there I washed my face with a cold towel I must have taken too long because he had started down stairs when I was coming back up. I made the mistake of looking up and under the robe; he was completely nude.
Well, we get upstairs and he tells me to "sit your f*&#%n ass down and let me talk to you."
"Are you truly a pilot or are you Bulls&^%'n the company?"
I told him that I had been working tows with loads on rivers and never in the canal with emptys. He said I'm gonn'a give you until we get to Texaco Island. We stayed up from mile 224 to mile 288.
That was my introduction to a man that became my mentor, my confidant and my friend. To this day I am thankful I was with him. He was someone who gave me a chance instead of making a quick judgement."
Memorial Service
A memorial service is being planned for Captain James later in May. Details for the service and a chance write a tribute to him will be available at Legacy.com starting about May 7th. |
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Helping You Find a Silver Lining in Uncertain Times
401k investing during a recession.
From time to time the Principal Financial Group, our 401(k) administrator, sends web presentations to help with your long term financial and retirement planning. For most of us, retirement seems way off and does not take center stage in out thinking; not a good plan!
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Nav Zone
Mississippi River Expecting Record High Levels
Monday night the Army Corps of Engineers blew up the Birds Point levee to relieve some of the water from the Mississippi. US ACE used 265 tons of liquid explosives inside the levee wall to breach approximately 2 miles of levee. The move will flood 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland and about 100 homes. This is expected to lower the water levels in Cairo, IL by about 4 feet and prevent the city from being destroyed. Monday night the record high for Cairo had already reached 61.55 feet, 2 feet over the record set in 1937. The river in Cairo is expected to start receding Thursday.
The water continues to rush down river, with more records expected to be set. If you are transiting any part of the river you need to be on the look out for:
- Levees that may be underwater
- Buoys may be underwater or off station
- There will be a lot of debris in the water
- Condition of your lines, replace if necessary
- Formation of new sandbars
You can check your river stages at: www.rivergage.com
USCG Navigation General Questions
A vessel's position should be plotted using bearings of ________________.
A: buoys close at hand
B: fixed known objects on shore
C: buoys at a distance
D: All of the above
When using a buoy as an aid to navigation which of the following should be considered?
A: The buoy should be considered to always be in the charted location.
B: If the light is flashing, the buoy should be considered to be in the charted location.
C: The buoy may not be in the charted position.
D: The buoy should be considered to be in the charted position
Green lights may appear on _______________.
A: horizontally banded buoys
B: vertically striped buoys
C: yellow buoys
D: spherical buoys
Under the U.S. Aids to Navigation System, a lighted buoy with a spherical topmark marks _________________.
A: safe water
B: a fish trap area
C: a hazard to navigation
D: a bifurcation in the channel
As you enter a channel from seaward in a U.S. port, the numbers on the starboard side buoys _____________.
A: decrease and the buoys are black
B: increase and the buoys are green
C: decrease and the buoys are red
D: increase and thebuoys are red
As your vessel is heading southward along the east coast of the United States, you encounter a buoy showing a red flashing light. How should you pass this buoy?
A: Pass it about 50 yards off on either side.
B: Leave it to your starboard.
C: Leave it to your port.
D: Pass it well clear on either side.
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Stern Shots
 | | Wilson Dam spilling during April 2011 high water. |
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Taken from the M/V BAFFIN BAY near Florence, AL on APR 27, 2011 during a tornado outbreak were 236 people were killed state wide. |
 | | What a difference after the storm on the M/V BAFFIN BAY. |
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Advanced Pilot House Management at SCI - April 2011
From Right- Mitch Gorman, Mike DeCesare(SCI), Carl Millet, David Carriere, Iry Duplantis, Brad Rogers, John Stoltz, Bryan Williams, Bryan Wilson and Stephen Polk(SCI) |
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Nautical Trivia
The Great Flood of 1927
The flood began when heavy rains pounded the central basin of the Mississippi in the summer of 1926. By September, the Mississippi's tributaries in Kansas and Iowa were swollen to capacity. On New Year's Day of 1927, the Cumberland River at Nashville topped levees at 56.2 feet, a level that remains a record to this day, a record about to be broken.
On April 15, 1927, 15 inches of rain fell in 18 hours. This rain caused flooding which overtook the levees causing the Mounds Landing to break with more than double the water volume of Niagara Falls.
The Mississippi River broke out of its levee system in 145 places and flooded 27,000 square miles. This water flooded an area 50 miles wide and more than 100 miles long. The area was inundated up to a depth of 30 feet. The flood caused over $400 million in damages and killed 246 people in seven states.
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| | Levee in St Bernard Parish being dynamited to protect New Orleans |
The flood affected Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma and Kanas. Arkansas was hardest hit, with 14% of its territory covered by floodwaters. By May 1927, the Mississippi River below Memphis, TN, reached a width of 60 miles.
According to the National Weather Service, the Mississippi River will crest in Vicksburg on May 18 at 57.5 feet - more than a foot above the previous record. Two days later, Natchez is expected to hit 65 - seven feet beyond the record. |
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Dates to Remember
2011 Tankerman's Seminar
Fifth Session MAY 23
Sixth Session JUN 8
Seventh Session JUL 11
Eight Session AUG 15
Ninth Session SEP 20
Tenth Session OCT 11
Eleventh Session NOV 3
2011 Advanced Wheelhouse Management (Simulator)
Third Session AUG 1 - AUG 3
Fourth Session OCT 17 - OCT 19
Fifth Session DEC 12 - DEC 14 2011 Higman Management & Leadership First Session SEP 22 - SEP 23 Second Session OCT 6 - OCT 7 To schedule training please email Kelly or call at 281-864-6011.
CBT Certificates earned by Higman employees from JAN 1, 2011 to date........1996! DO ALL CREWMEMBERS HAVE ACCESS TO THE HIGMAN TRAINING NEWSLETTER? - PEASE MAKE SURE A HARD COPY IS PRINTED AND MADE AVAILABLE FOR THE CREW.
- Add your email address with the "Join our Mailing List" button (above, page 1, left side) to get your own copy!
Answer to this weeks Navigation General ....B,C,A,A,D,B |
Time for diligence....
High winds, tornados and now the highest water ever seen on the Mississippi River are the challenges we are facing.
The Spring of 2011 has become one to remember. Thirty years from now our Pilots, new to the game today, may be telling their steersmen about the Spring of 2011!
If there has ever been a time when all cylinders need to fire, when all crews need to be at their very best, that time may be now. The training and the preparations of the past years now come into play when near the Mississippi.
Before each task, gather your crew and talk through the operation ahead. Communicate with each other, no matter how small the issue may be.
You are in control and the goal should be to keep it that way.
Have a great and very safe week!
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GORDIE KEENAN
KELLY CLEAVER
HIGMAN MARINE SERVICES, Inc. | |
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