From 1 July, a specialised team of firefighters from the Rotterdam-Rijnmond region are on stand by for deployment to fires on board ferries or cruise ships on the North Sea.
The team has been named BroNS (Brandweer op de Noordzee pre SAR/Firemen on the North Sea pre SAR). Rijkswaterstaat (part of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment and responsible for the main infrastructure facilities in the Netherlands) and Veiligheidsregio Rotterdam-Rijnmond (Dutch safety region) have signed an agreement to this effect.
More Cruise Ships
Ever more and ever larger ferries and cruise ships visit Amsterdam and Rotterdam. International regulations state that these ships have to be able to fight fires themselves. When a fire occurs at sea, acting quickly is of the utmost importance to the safety of the ship, crew and passengers. This can prevent or delay a large scale evacuation.
Although ships’ crews are trained in this, sometimes additional, specialized support is needed to extinguish the fire as soon as possible. For that reason, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment has decided to deploy a special team for firefighting at sea.
Helicopter Transport
The specialist team consists of fifteen people and is permanently available from 1 July onwards. The team members are transported to a ship with helicopters of the Coast Guard and will then assist the crew. The captain of a fire struck ship on the North Sea can request for the BroNS-team through the Coast Guard.
