PHOENIX - National Guard civil support teams took part in training scenarios at Air Liquide as part of an interagency exercise named Vigilant Guard here, Nov. 4.
Members of the 85th Civil Support Team from the Utah National Guard worked with employees of Air Liquide in a patient extraction, gas survey, detection, and gas neutralization exercise.
“We are hosting this training here for units participating in Vigilant Guard to help them practice emergency response and give them the opportunity to deal with various types of gasses,” said Phil Hagel, the Air Liquide America Specialty Gases facility manager for the Phoenix location.
Hagel and the Air Liquide Phoenix location aren’t strangers to training for local agencies. The staff is often asked to work with metropolitan Phoenix hazardous materials teams.
“We’re actively involved in training with local agencies like HAZMAT teams and fire departments as well as an annual training with the Arizona National Guard,” said Hagel.
Hagel teaches HAZMAT trainee recruits on a quarterly basis about common compressed gasses. Vigilant Guard provides that platform to achieve expectations of improvement in hazardous materials operations.
“One of my goals is for the teams to understand the differences in gasses and the different things to react to in a safe manner to protect not only themselves, but the community as well,” Hagel said.
Vigilant Guard brought more than 250 agencies together to help improve interoperability. The training at Air Liquide was just one example of the success of this training.
“Air Liquide employees gain respect with different agencies as professionals and they can be proud to help improve local and federal agencies by making their communities safer,” Hagel said.