STATES OF EMERGENCY - Patrick Lagadec

46 Technological crises and the actors involvedespecially in the reports from parliamentary committees. There were 42people on board; they were all saved. The helicopter worked at night inwinds reaching 110 kilometers/hour. The fumes from the oil could have setoff an explosion destroying everything, including the helicopter. So the firstpoint was, the crew was saved, with remarkable skill, by the Navy. Bravo forthe Navy!A second point: when you've saved human lives, what else can you dobetween one and two o'clock in the morning during a storm? Absolutelynothing. So I said to the prefect, "We'll meet with all the authorities in youroffice tomorrow morning at eight."Friday, March 17Meeting in the prefect's office. The Minister of the Interior, ChristianBonnet, sends instructions: "Marc Becam, you have the authority to takepreliminary measures." In particular, this meant deciding whether to set fireto the ship - or to avoid it at all costs. This was a major issue, and wecouldn't do the wrong thing. Contact with emergency management: "Here arethe technical characteristics of the ship and the oil in question. Please consultthree international experts successively, requesting their opinions and thenanalysisof what was learned in Spain [in April of the preceding year, agrounded oil tanker had been burned]. You are to give me your answer at theend of the morning. I will be at the Navy Staff Headquarters in Brest." In themeantime, I go on-site with the emergency management helicopter to try toestimate the extent of the disaster - though I'm not an expert.End of the morning: I decide not to burn the ship. The admiral and thesailors had gotten their own information. The consensus was, "You could tryto set it on fire, though it might not take. But if you manage, you'll have afire that will last some 20 days, with heavy smoke and serious atmosphericpollution. The smoke will carry tar particles that will settle up to 30 or 50km away, depending on the winds." I could just imagine the oil particlessettling on the heads of cauliflower in this major vegetable-growing area.At that time, I wasn't yet in charge of coordinating the clean-up battle.The line between the land prefect's authority and that of the maritime prefectwas not clearly defined, so there was a lot of "see him, see me." That's wherethings stood on Friday.Saturday, March 18The Prime Minister, Raymond Barre, came on-site. There were hostiledemonstrations, especially by all the Breton-language organizations, whobelieved that "France is a foreign country that has occupied Britanny forcenturies." The atmosphere was ugly. Obviously, the press campaign burstout really fast. The Paris journalists were there, meeting with anyone whowould talk to them (I'll come right back to this issue). That meant ecologistsand unions, especially the CFDT [Confédération Française Démocratique du