Maritime Incident Response Team

Our Mission

The primary mission of The Port of Virginia’s Maritime Incident Response Team (POV MIRT) is to provide immediate on-scene maritime advice and to act as an agency liaison to the United States Coast Guard and other State and Local Incident Commanders responding to all hazard type incidents in the maritime environment. The POV MIRT will promote maritime response capabilities in The Port of Virginia through an ongoing program of training, drills, resources, and continued support and coordination through port partnerships.


Our History

The POV MIRT is the first organization of its kind in the United States, and unique to any port. The concept of a coordinated maritime response team originated in 1984 when Bill Burket, now the MIRT Director, attended a Coast Guard hosted Train-the-Trainer course for marine firefighting. Up to this point, Hampton Roads had never seen a collaborative response team capable of responding to a fire or hazardous materials release in a port environment. Combining efforts with the Virginia Maritime Association, Coast Guard Sector Virginia (then MSO Hampton Roads), and the Navy Fire Fighting School, the Maritime Incident Response Team was established.

The POV MIRT hosted its first Marine Fire Fighting School in 1991 and attendees were comprised mostly of firefighters from local, Hampton Roads fire departments. It was from these attendees that the cadre of MIRT personnel was formed. Since 1991 the POV MIRT Marine Fire Fighting School has continued to grow and now hosts students from all across the United States as well as the world.

In 1995 the POV MIRT really began to grow. The Virginia Maritime Association, through the state general assembly, was afforded special appropriations to fund the team’s first large-scale fire pumps and response vehicles. It was also in this year that the Virginia Port Authority offered to formally accept management of the team.

After 9/11, federal grant programs, primarily the FEMA Port Security grant, began to provide additional funding and support for the growth of MIRT and its missions. Once a regional fire-fighting-only team, the breadth of capabilities expanded to include hazardous materials and eventually an all-hazards response posture.


Today

Today the POV MIRT is a task force of personnel comprised from the following Federal, State and local agencies providing Law Enforcement, Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services:

  • The City of Chesapeake
  • The City of Virginia Beach
  • The City of Norfolk
  • The City of Portsmouth
  • The City of Suffolk
  • The County of Surry
  • The County of Isle of Wight
  • The City of Hampton
  • The City of Newport News
  • The County of York
  • The City of Poquoson
  • The City of James City
  • The City of Hopewell
  • The County of Henrico
  • The City of Richmond
  • The County of Chesterfield
  • The County of Northampton
  • The County of Accomack
  • Fredrick County Sheriff’s Office
  • The County of Prince George
  • The County of Gloucester
  • Abingdon Volunteer Fire Department
  • The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
  • Virginia Marine Police
  • Virginia State Police
  • United States, Navy Regional Mid-Atlantic

With the support of these agencies the POV MIRT is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to respond to and provide assistance to all hazardous maritime incidents. The POV MIRT assists in the coordination of several regional and international training events including the Search and Rescue Forum, Annual Fire Fighting Symposium, Mid Atlantic Dive Forum, quarterly hazmat training, and any additional requests received from local departments.

The POV MIRT has a key role in the Area Maritime Security Committee (AMSC) and assisting Sector Virginia in reconstituting the port after a major storm or natural disaster where port operations have been reduced or ceased due to safety or security reasons. The POV MIRT participates in the following AMSC sub-committees:

  • AMSC Executive Committee
  • Area Committee
  • Law Enforcement Committee
  • Port Readiness Committee
  • RAD/NUC Committee
  • Harbor Safety Committee

 

The Port of Virginia’s internal MIRT team also coordinates its emergency operations program.  Those responsibilities include:

  • Virginia Port Authority Emergency Coordination – provide familiarity with the Commonwealth of Virginia Emergency Operations Plan (COVEOP), coordinate with VDEM and local agencies, monitor state websites for updates to the COVEOP and ensure an emergency action plan is in place. Provide annual updates of the COVEOP to VDEM.
  • Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) – implementation of the continuity plan by direction of the Executive Director and facilitation of annual required training and exercises.
  • Virginia Homeland Security Working Group – The VPA is represented as a member of this working group, which focuses on disaster recovery and COVEOP.
  • Virginia Emergency Response Team (VERT) Representative for ESF-1 (Transportation) – Support of ESF-1 functions at the State EOC during a response and/or declaration of emergency.

 


Links

 

Contacts

Bill Burket, Director, MIRT/Emergency Operations
Email: bburket@portofvirginia.com
Phone: (757) 683-2199

Tracy Freeman, Manager, MIRT/Emergency Operations
Email: tfreeman@portofvirginia.com
Phone: (757) 683-8950