EASTERN SHORE — Fairhope’s oil point man, Ken Eslava, said operations at the Fairhope Pier Street Operations Post is increasing onsite assets from about 55 people and 13 boats to about 65 personnel and 20 boats.

The city’s containment boom effort is now complete, with nearly 24,000 feet of 24-inch boom installed, complete with gated/marked openings in all navigational channels. About 700 feet of absorbent boom is now deployed and in a testing phase. There is an additional 24,300 feet of 8-inch absorbent boom staged nearby and ready for deployment.

The Pier Street boat ramp remains closed to the public, but the restroom facilities are again open. Mobile Bay is open for boating and fishing, and Eslava asks those on the water to exercise caution while boating or using personal watercraft in the area of deployed booms.

In Daphne, the National Guard has started going from business to business handing out BP claims process information, according to Emergency Management spokesman Tom Walker.

“They started in the south on Highway 98 on Thursday and are working their way north,” Walker said.

Walker also confirmed that the city of Daphne has purchased four trailers in anticipation of oil contamination. Two will carry sections of boom for rapid deployment, one is a decontamination trailer to help workers clean up and another will transport rehab tents for them to rest in shade and re-hydrate. So far no oil or tar balls have come ashore in Daphne,Walker said.