About Us

• 1982 – Protector Alpha fire in Kalama, Washington on the Columbia River.
• 1984 – The Lower Columbia Maritime Fire Safety Plan was developed.
• 1986 – The Fire Protection Agencies Advisory Council (FPAAC) was formed.

FPAAC was formed to set forth a comprehensive system to ensure effective response shipboard fires in the Lower Columbia Region, and then purchased and delivered the first specialized equipment to participating fire agencies for fighting shipboard fires.  The FPAAC is currently comprised of 13 fire agencies located throughout the river system.  These agencies voluntarily contribute both staff time and equipment costs for participation in meetings, drills and other training exercises.  Realizing the importance of maintaining a stable funding source, the MFSA Membership approved a per vessel assessment, which is collected from all ocean-going vessels that call at a member’s dock.  This funding goes towards the purchase of specialized marine firefighting equipment and provides for the ongoing training and education of member fire agencies in the response to vessel emergencies.  Then in 1991, the Lower Columbia Maritime Fire Safety Plan was revised to include oil spill response and preparedness which brought the development of MFSA Umbrella Oil Spill Contingency Plan (now the MFSA Vessel Response Plan or “the Plan”) in the beginning of 1991.

• 1990 – Passage of the Oil Pollution Act in direct response to the Exxon Valdez spill.
• 1992 – The MFSA and Clean Rivers Cooperative, Inc. signed a memorandum of agreement.
• This agreement allowed MFSA to designate Clean Rivers Cooperative response equipment and resources in the Plan.  Clean Rivers Cooperative serves as the state approved Primary Response Contractor (PRC) to MFSA and provides oil spill coverage for its own membership’s facility response plans in addition to the vessels MFSA provides coverage.
• 1993 – The contingency plan received approval from Oregon DEQ and the Washington Office of Marine Safety.