Pipeline safety tested

The Eunice Municipal Airport was the command center for Eunice and area first responders, along with TransCanada operations personnel and ANR pipeline developers and operators, to conduct a test of emergency and evacuation first response.
Once a year in the United States, major field operations meet to test emergency responders as well as cooperating with local responders, Brad Willoughby, regional director of TransCanada, said.
“Today is a test of all operations, and for all to work together. It’s a test of how well our emergency responders work together, cooperate together, in emergency situations,” he said.
Besides testing first-responders, the drill on Wednesday judged the effectiveness of meters set on the pipeline, he said.
“TransCanada operates on incidents and command international programs, to share good information and great cooperation,” he said.
Emergency responders at the command center included Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot and Deputy Police Chief Richard Daigle; City Marshal Terry Darbonne and Chief Deputy Robert Johnson; Eunice Fire Chief Michael Arnold and firefighters Chase Brown and Brian Miller; St. Landry Parish Homeland Security personnel; Louisiana State Police emergency services Sean LaFleur, technician supervisor, and John Porter, deputy command technician; Acadia-Evangeline Fire Chief Greg Savoy; and Capt. Cory Lalonde with LSUE Police.
At the command center, discussions, forms and details of emergency exits, evacuations, block-offs were discussed among the responders.