New London — Firefighters from around the region this week are participating in a specialized maritime, or shipboard, training course aimed at providing skills to deal with fires aboard vessels.

The course, called Harbor Incident Response Training, is being run by the Tri-State Maritime Safety Association and is paid for through a federal port security grant for the New London Port Area Marine Group.

Through two days of classroom work and hands-on training, the firefighters are learning more about fires aboard vessels and how to mitigate damage and reduce the potential impact of a fire to the surrounding community, Tri-State Executive Director Douglas Dillon said.

The Fishers Island Ferry Munnatawket is being used as the dockside training platform at the New London terminal. The Mystic Fire Department's boat is also an integral part of the training, Dillon said.

Firefighters from New London, Mystic, Groton, Waterford and the submarine base, along with staff from the Fishers Island Ferry, are participating in the training.

Tri-State is providing four two-day training sessions that began Oct. 5 and end Saturday.