News & Events

Area agencies prepare for emergencies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                       April 22, 2009

AREA AGENCIES PREPARE FOR EMERGENCIES

Training exercise utilizes multiple resources

SHREVEPORT, La. - Members of 23 area agencies reviewed how to best respond to potential disasters that could occur at The Port of Shreveport-Bossier. The Hard Waters Functional Exercise was conducted Tuesday to improve the effectiveness of the Midsouth Area Maritime Security Plan.

"The Functional Exercise tests the strengths and gaps associated with the Area Maritime Security Plan (AMSP)," said Alonzo Jackson, who served as Facility Security Officer for The Port of Shreveport-Bossier. "By testing the effectiveness of The Port to plan for mitigation of a Transportation Security Incident (TSI), it will allow us to be better prepared in prevention, protection and responding to terrorism and oil spill incidents within the local port community."

These exercises are conducted approximately once a year and this year was held at the Caddo 911 Center in Shreveport. The training allowed various federal, state and local agencies, as well as potentially affected industries to communicate with each other and test the command operations.

"This was an excellent training event to exercise our communities' emergency response capabilities among city, parish, state and national responders," said LTC Gene Barattini (Ret), assistant director of operations for the Caddo Bossier Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (CBOHSEP). "This training experience will serve as a platform for even greater co-operation to ensure a more efficient multi-jurisdictional team effort response in possible future disasters.

The U.S. Coast Guard began the morning's session describing an imagined emergency scenario. During the remainder of the training, participants simulated their response to such an event, including evacuations, HAZMAT and other precautionary measures. This allowed first responders, as well as law enforcement, to practice communicating with each other to determine appropriate response and allocation of resources.

"I was very pleased with how everyone performed during Hard Waters 2009," said Capt. Mike Gardiner, captain of The Port with the U.S. Coast Guard, Lower Mississippi River Sector. "You hope a crisis never occurs in this area, but it's crucial everyone is prepared. We accomplished that today."

(continued)

The participating agencies included:

• USCG Sector Lower Mississippi River

• USAF Barksdale

• Joint Terrorism Task Force

• Federal Bureau of Investigation

• United States Department of Justice

• U.S. Attorney's Office

• LA Wildlife and Fisheries

• Eldorado Casino

• Region # 7 Hospitals

• LA Army National Guard

• Bossier  Sherriff's Office

• Caddo Sheriff's Office

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineer

• Shreveport Fire Department & EMS

• Caddo/Bossier Dept of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness

• Port of Shreveport-Bossier

• Red River Terminals

• Bossier City Police Department

• Shreveport Police Department

• Governor's Office of Homeland Security

• Red River Valley Association

• LA State Police

• Bossier City Fire Department

The 2,000-acre Port of Shreveport-Bossier is located at the head of navigation on the Red River Waterway in Northwest Louisiana. An inland multi-modal transportation and distribution center, The Port works hand in hand with the port system of Louisiana to successfully link customers throughout the Ark-La-Tex region to domestic and international markets via the Mississippi River, the nation's largest river system, and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

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Submitted by: Emi FitzGerald/ Gremillion & Pou and Associates, Inc. / 318.424.2676 x319 / efitzgerald@gpmarketinginc.com

Released by: Marilyn Haley, Public Affairs Manager / The Port of Shreveport-Bossier/ 318.524.2272 /

mhaley@portsb.com