Ascension Parish firefighters participate in drill at industrial facility

Local firefighters from Ascension Parish Fire District No. 1 and members of the Veolia Chemical Facility Emergency Response Team participated in a Table-Top Haz-Mat Drill at the Veolia Chemical Facility in the Darrow community, according to Chief Officer James LeBlanc.

“These types of training scenarios give our responders a hands-on learning experience as close to real life as possible,” LeBlanc said in a statement about the table-top  drill. “Many lessons were learned, along with building a better relationship with our Industry Partners and assets available to us when needed.”

As part of the exercise, members of the first district learned about all the chemicals manufactured, stored and shipped at the facility, and what equipment will be needed to respond to the area when needed, LeBlanc said.

These tabletop exercises are intended to provide an opportunity for our local volunteer fire departments to test their ability to respond to hazardous materials incidents. The exercises provide the opportunity to identify the response and coordination issues that could arise during a variety of hazardous materials scenarios and make the decisions to resolve those issues, LeBlanc said.

Ascension Parish Fire Dist. No. 1 would like to thank Plant Manager Kevin Robertson and the entire staff at Veolia Chemical Facility for the community invite to participate in the table-top drill.