VIDEO: The Louisiana State Fire & Emergency Training Academy in Baton Rouge has set up a new program for firefighters and first responders to address problems with pipelines carrying carbon dioxide. It’s called the Louisiana Pipeline Emergency Training Program, which features a CO2 pipeline training prop for Louisiana. The training course will be two days, with day one being a pipeline awareness and operations custom class. It will last four hours at River Parishes Community College in Gonzales. Day two will be hands-on at the academy, focusing on responding to and controlling CO2 releases as well as gas and liquid-fueled fires.
This is the result of a $50,000 donation from ExxonMobil, owner and operator of the largest CO2 pipeline network in the United States. “This prop will actually have a burn feature on it, where it will actually catch on fire, and we’ll show the firefighters how to put the fire out. If it catches on fire, how do you get the valve to turn off to extinguish the fire as well? It will simulate what would happen in the field if something like that happens,” Louisiana State Fire Marshal Bryan Adams said. According to officials from the State Fire Marshal and the academy, this training is the first-of-its-kind in Louisiana.
