Terrebonne’s readiness put to test in mock terrorist blast

Ten Fletcher Technical Community College nursing students were killed and 75 more people injured Thursday when a mock incendiary blast ripped through the morning air outside the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center. Officials attributed the blast to a terrorist attack.

“There was an event going on here and an explosion occurred outside the civic center,” Terrebonne Parish Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Director Earl Eues said. “Law enforcement has been getting intelligence that a terrorist event may occur in Terrebonne Parish since Monday. They had an explosion here and we have people injured that are going to be transporting to Terrebonne General [Medical Center]. Our parish rapid assessment team, which is a HAZMAT team, is going to respond and make a determination of what the explosive contained any biologicals or radiation involved with the explosion.

“This is our Bayou Region full-scale exercise,” Eues said during the mock disaster drill.

The exercise incorporated nearly 200 law enforcement and medical first responders from Terrebonne, Lafourche and Assumption parishes, as well as volunteer victims from the Fletcher Technical Community College nursing program.

St. Charles, St. James and St. John parishes are also part of the emergency preparedness region but did not participate in this exercise.

“We encompassed as many agencies as we could to get involved,” Eues said. “They include fire service, law enforcement, health and human services and local hospitals.”

The exercise began at the point following an explosion with police and firefighters arriving as first responders, ambulance crews joining them and victims being transported to hospitals. A tactical police unit was also present to train in dealing with assailant or terrorist activities.

“It is pretty fun,” Fletcher student Megan Aucoin said of participating as a seriously injured victim.

“I hope this prepares them for a real life emergency,” LPN student and mock victim Gretchen Pellegrin said. “It is interesting being on the other side. I think it is good to see what happens when it is not a real emergency.”

“This is one of our mandates from the Department of Homeland Security,” Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management spokesperson Pam Roussel said. “We are preparing and planning and doing these exercises for any improvised explosive devises in preparation of something like this happening. It also helps us [train] for masse casualty events.”

Roussel said that making use of the Fletcher nursing students was intentional to provide them a lesson in seeing an emergency from the victim’s perspective.

“A training like this you have to do occasionally,” Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman Brennan Matherne said. “It is planning for an event you hope never happens, but you always have to be ready. When you bring all these different agencies together there is opportunity to find different things that could happen or cause problems. This gives an opportunity to iron out problems and get them fixed before an actual emergency occurs.”

“[The exercise] shows cooperation of all the different agencies involved,” Houma Police Chief Todd Duplantis said. “We had officers with our critical response team in the drill and it shows the cooperation of all agencies.”

“We participate in these kinds of things because it is extremely important to the community and helps students realize how serious things can be,” Fletcher Chancellor Travis Lavigne said.

“What this does is assist us in planning and preparation,” Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet said. “Every exercise such as this helps us get better for emergency preparedness. The protection of our citizens is of utmost importance.”

“This is the largest full scale exercise that has ever been conducted in Terrebonne Parish,” Eues said. “We were testing everybody’s skills in terms of response to a terrorist event. Some people think all we do is hurricanes. We can do this and hurricanes.”

Officials said that no one claimed responsibility for the explosion, but area emergency personnel confirmed they could claim accountability as first responders.

Houma Fire Department Capt. Chris Lecompte, left, and firefighter Bradley Galliano assist Fletcher Technical Community College nursing student Heather Thibodeaux during a disaster drill at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center. MIKE NIXON