Emergency Environmental Response
Overview
For more than two decades, NRCES personnel have provided emergency spill response services throughout the West Coast. Our team of emergency response specialists are highly skilled in the planning, design and engineering of spill response systems ranging from marine spills and decontamination to land-based hazardous material spills.
 NRCES takes pride in our average response time of two hours to virtually anywhere in the West Coast. Our staff of more than 500 personnel is ready to respond to emergency spills of hazardous and non-hazardous materials in marine and land environments anytime night or day.
Specific discussions of our services are provided below.
Land Hazardous Materials Spill Response and Decontamination NRCES personnel and equipment remain on standby 24-hours a day, 7 days a week in all of our West Coast offices. Additionally, all standby personnel are trained in chemical response, health and safety, hazardous waste operations, and in the appropriate procedures for the proper use of personal protective equipment levels D through A.
The first task in a response action is to contain the spill to minimize environmental degradation and to protect health and safety. The hazardous materials are then collected and packaged for disposal with follow-up sampling and analysis conducted as required to verify the cleanup. At all times, NRCES personnel cooperate closely with local, State and Federal agencies.
Since the 1970s, NRCES has responded to more than 5,000 spills ranging from leaking drums to highway accidents involving regulated or dangerous materials. More recently, NRCES has expanded services to include response actions for trauma scene waste management as well.
Marine Oil Spill Response and Decontamination Services
As an approved contractor in California, Oregon, and Washington, NRCES has been classified as a Level A through Level E Oil Spill Response Organization (OSRO) for Inland and River/Canal Environments by the U.S. Coast Guard and as a Primary Response Contractor by the State of California , Department of Fish and Game and the Washington Department of Ecology.
 To react to spills in a marine environment, NRCES maintains a fleet of vessels in Long Beach , San Diego , Port Hueneme, San Francisco , Puget Sound , Grays Harbor , Neah Bay and the Columbia River . These vessels are equipped to respond to near-shore, harbor, or beach spills and are manned by trained personnel who use a variety of skimmers, containment booms, sorbent materials, and support equipment to arrange cleanup activities.
NRCES has earned a reputation as industry experts in oil/chemical spill response equipment and decontamination services. Within hours of a spill event, NRCES personnel can establish a full-service decontamination site where vessels and equipment are cleaned and readied for redeployment and demobilization. Additional remote or mobile decontamination sites are established on an as-needed basis for cleaning docks, vessels, infrastructure and equipment.
Trauma Scene Waste Management Services
NRCES personnel are certified as trauma scene waste management practitioners and have responded to dozens of bio-hazardous waste incidents.
Recent Project Experience Recent emergency response actions that have been managed by local NRCES personnel include the following cases.
Responded with Level A personal protective gear to a 24-hour freeway closure on a southern California Interstate. The response was prompted by an overturned semi that was transporting hydrofluoric acid.
Managed response activities related to a major oil spill in the Santa Paula Creek. A crude oil tank truck crashing into a ditch and releasing its contents into the creek bed precipitated the situation. NRCES personnel responded to the spill within one hour.
Provided bio-hazardous waste management activities at a trauma scene that resulted from an airline crash in the Pacific Ocean.
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