Miles of skimmer booms are being dropped in the water to contain the spread of oil in the Gulf, but when it gets dark, how do boats keep from running over those booms or getting them tangled in propellers?
That's where flashing lights and Trenton's Tektite Industries comes in.
The company manufactures over 100 kinds of lights including a 10-inch submersible strobe.
President Scott Mele says one of the emergency response contractors in the Gulf called him two weeks ago and put in an initial order for 5,000 of them.
'They're designed so that boaters can see them from a long distance away, a mile or more, so they can change course and avoid running over them," Mele said.
The strobes usually cost $15 each and are typically used by scuba divers to keep track of each other underwater. But marking the skimmer booms in the gulf is another application for them that makes perfect sense.
"The type of lights the Coast Guard typically requires for this kind of operation cost about $100 a piece. It's just an adaptation of an off the shelf product to be used for helping the cleanup effort," Mele said.
The waterproof strobes lights run on three AAA batteries and last for a couple of weeks.
Anticipating they could get orders for as many as 30,000 in the near future, Tektite has stepped up production, added a second shift, and hired two new employees.
"I'm happy to be part of it. I hope everything goes well and I'm just happy to be here," employee Brian Coleman said.
"If this helps just a little bit to keep the booms in place so it doesn't continue with more destruction, it's a good thing," employee Marge Powers said.
The oil spill has been a disaster, but for this local company it's meant some extra and welcome business.
