In the early morning of 14 October 2004, Marine Safety Office (MSO) Puget Sound received a tug captain's report of an oil slick near Tacoma, Washington. This routine report escalated into a major environmental incident -- the Dalco Passage "Mystery" Oil Spill -- and set the stage for unprecedented incident response support by District 13's Northern Area Auxiliarists.

Over the next eleven days, forty-nine Auxiliarists in the Northern Area of District 13 assisted the Coast Guard and the Washington Department of Ecology with this spill. Coordinated through the Northern Area Direct Support structure, they came from eleven Flotillas and all four Divisions in the Area. In total, they worked about 1350 hours and drove almost 7,000 miles.

Logistics Section Chief, LCDR Rick Rodqriquez, confers with DCP-2 Ted Schiesswohl and VFC-32 Karen Francisco on personnel requirements. Photo by Mary Ann Chapman

Contractor skimmers clean surface oil off Puget Sound. Photo by Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife

DCP-3 Shaheed Ali-Shiekh stands watch over beach cleanup crews. Photo by Karen Francisco

Auxiliarists were among the first to arrive at the Incident Command Post and the last to leave when it was demobilized. They filled functions too numerous to list - answering phones in the Joint Information Center, controlling access to the Incident Command Post, limiting access to beach cleanup crews, running the check-in desk - one Auxiliarist even became Deputy Logistics Section Chief.

Now members are preparing for the next incident -- refining processes, developing a formal Operation Plan to be approved by the Coast Guard, increasing the roster of members from throughout the Area willing to help on short notice, and putting together a "go box" of supplies, checklists, Auxiliarist rosters, and ICS forms.

In environmental protection and response, as in port security, the missions of the Auxiliary are expanding along with those of the Coast Guard, and Auxiliarists are coming to the plate.

Links to more information:

AUXULO MSO Puget Sound Report (PDF, 15KB)

True North News Special Edition (PDF, 1011KB)

Auxiliarists at Dalco Passage (PDF of PowerPoint presentation, 856KB)

NOTICE/DISCLAIMER: Links to non-Coast Guard entities are not under the control of the United States Coast Guard or the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, and are provided for the convenience of our visitors. They do not, in any way, constitute an endorsement of the linked pages.