By Pat Culverhouse

Safety for the residents of Webster Parish is a top priority of Sheriff Jason Parker, and being prepared for emergency situations means training for the unexpected.

Webster Parish is home to miles of oil and natural gas pipelines. Although there’s been no major event involving those lines in recent years, Parker and members of his command staff were part of a drill Tuesday designed to review response to a potential crisis.

Parker, accompanied by Chief Deputy Hank Haynes, Patrol Commander Maj. Robert Hayden and Chief of Investigations Maj. Phillip Krouse joined Energy Transfer LP staff to conduct a simulated gas leak in a transmission line.

Energy Transfer LP is engaged in the pipeline transportation, storage, and terminaling for natural gas, crude oil, NGLs, refined products and liquid natural gas.

“There’s a lot of pipelines in the parish and they’re located in both heavily populated and rural areas,” Parker said. “We have to be prepared to immediately take action and that’s what this training session was designed to study.”

Parker said the drill showed how cooperation and coordination between private and public agencies is critical to preventing an incident such as a pipeline failure from becoming a catastrophe.

“If the event involved Energy Transfer, they have a response plan that would involve our department and other affected law enforcement agencies,” Parker said. “We would join with fire departments from Minden and nearby communities, Homeland Security and state agencies to  incorporate a coordinated response.”

Duties of each responding department were reviewed during Tuesday’s session, and Parker said the drill will help responders understand their roles in case of emergency situations.

“We are constantly training and planning, and I believe that helps us improve in the ways important to the safety of the people of Webster Parish,” Parker said.