Baton Rouge Fire Department - Hazardous Materials Division
Chief Richard Sullivan, Anthony Collins, Jodie Cashio, Justin Hill

BRFD HazMat Chief Dickie Sullivan and his crew responded to a pipeline release on 7 July 2015 off Choctaw Drive. The release of gasoline in an industrial area posed a threat to neighboring businesses, road and rail traffic and created a public disruption through road closure and evacuation. Chief Sullivan’s crew responded safely and effectively to bring the incident swiftly under control. Formation of a Unified Command Structure with other organizations and the responsible party greatly aided the response effectiveness. The prudent actions of the BRFD resulted in a reduced public impact and aided in shortening the time of the response, recovery and repair by the pipeline operator.

Kevin Davis

Kevin Davis's leadership at GOHSEP over the past 4 years has been exceptional and a great example of collaborative working efforts with parish offices of homeland security and emergency preparedness. Kevin was very much engaged in many of the efforts and didn’t shy away from meeting with agencies or parish governments to resolve issues. He allowed local OEP voices to be heard and stood with them on important issues. Under his leadership, communications with GOHSEP's staff on issues of the parishes were disseminated very quickly and the services provided to parishes from different divisions of GOHSEP from the regional coordinators, shelter operations planning, grant administration, ops conference calls during events, and training coordination gave the support that was needed to successfully meet the goals and objectives within the parishes.

Chief Jim Craft

Chief Craft served as Incident Commander and did an outstanding job directing and coordinating the response to and the investigation of the Active Shooter incident which occurred at the Grand Theatre in Lafayette, LA on July 23, 2015.

Bruce Cuber

Bruce Cuber with the Red Cross is a wealth of knowledge and his support to state and local partners in planning and response is invaluable to the State of Louisiana and its citizens. Bruce’s knowledge, experience and willingness to help are admirable. During the February 2016 tornados that ravaged Louisiana, Bruce quickly coordinated a response to support the shelter in St. John the Baptist and well as a mission to feed the first responders working in St. James Parish. It is because of his initial efforts; over 400 first responders were provided with water, snacks and a meal that night. This is one of many examples of Bruce always stepping up and providing assistance to those in most need. Bruce always takes the time to listen and is willing to help find a viable solution to the issue or challenge. His compassion for those affected by disasters transcends his job description. His rapport with emergency managers across the state is invaluable to the Red Cross and GOHSEP. He's the one Red Cross person in this state that everyone trusts. When he says he can do something, it happens, and if he cannot make it happen, we have proper follow up.

Lee E John III

Lee has served in multiple roles and job descriptions while employed at GOHSEP. He has been a dedicated and loyal team leader, who always finds time to mentor others and share his vast library of emergency management experience. Having led the response efforts as the Operations Section Chief for Hurricane Gustav and Isaac, he established a much improved Web EOC design that allowed resources to flow faster and more efficiently.

Lester Millet

Over a 9 year span, Lester has taken an FSO Workgroup that started with merely 25 members, to one of the largest (826 members) and best organized FSO working groups in the country. As chairman of this group that is considered a model for the rest of the country, Lester has been instrumental in many different programs to include: FBI New Orleans/ Port of South LA Explosives awareness training, FBI WMD Conference, CFATS Workshop, Maritime Situational/Domain Awareness, President of Infragard Louisiana.

Kade Rogers

Mr. Rogers plays a vital role in student safety and security as the Coordinator of Safety, Security and Emergency Preparedness in the St. Charles Parish Public Schools. During his tenure, Kade has held multiple positions within the school system that has given him the background to address all facets of school safety. He has been involved in many emergency situations including chemical release/SIP, rail car incidents, bomb threats, extreme weather events, lockdowns, bus accidents, fires and an active shooter situation.

Lafayette Parish Communication District 911 Operators
Stacey Prejean, Quinshata Provost, Krista Sonnier, Brittany Theriot

The Lafayette Parish Communication District 911 Operators' quick response to the Active Shooter incident. The 911 operators on shift remained calm and professional while obtaining information from callers. The information received from callers was immediately relayed to the Lafayette Police Department, Lafayette Fire Department and Acadian Ambulance. The information provided allowed the Lafayette Police Department to identify the shooter within minutes and stopped the shooter from harming others.

Nicholas Guillory

Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Agent that braved the rolling sea and driving rain to rescue 8 boaters in the waters near Pecan Island. Guillory received a distress call shortly after noon on 9/6/15 about a boat that was taking on water after launching from Rollover Landing. Sgt Gullory was able to get to the location and spotted one person in the mud up to his waist. He pulled him from the mud and into the boat. Sgt Guillory then noticed two other individuals in a vessel that was taking in water and managed to get those two into his boat. He towed their boat safely back into the inside part of the canal. It was then that Guillory realized the three he'd just rescued were not the boaters who made the distress call. He returned to the Gulf where he found two more boats. In total, SGT Guillory rescued 8 people and brought 3 boats back to the launch.

Louisiana State Police Emergency Services Unit
Barry Domangue, Jimmy Hicks, Leonard Lewis, Shone Jackson, Steven Paulus

Terrebonne Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness
Tammy Duplantis, Earl Eues, Thomas Long, Sheyla Sicily, Benjamin Walker

The Terrebonne OEP and LASP responded to an explosion and fire at the Williams Gas plant on October 8 in Gibson, LA. The organization responded quickly to bring a very unfortunate situation under control by establishing a Unified Command Structure to rescue victims, recover bodies and extinguish the fire. More than 100 responders were mobilized to this incident, along with the activation of State Mutual Aid.

Sgt. Jace Quebedeaux, Cpl. Mike Milazzo, Cpl. Colin Richard, P.O. Derrick Miles

On the evening of July 20th, the before mentioned officers would respond to an active shooter situation at the Grande Theatre on Johnston Street. The first officer, Sgt. Quebodeaux would arrive on scene after being dispatched within 12 seconds. At 1 minute and 48 seconds from the time of the dispatched call it was determined that an active shooter was taking place within the theater. Sgt. Quebodeaux, Corporal Milazzo, Corporal Colin Richard and Officer Derrick Miles entered the theater, employing their Active Shooter Training. At 3 minutes and 27 seconds officers confirmed that the shooter was dead and began administering first aid and comforting those remaining victims within the auditorium. Undoubtedly the actions taken by these four officers that evening were nothing beyond heroic.

Charles Bollingham, C.J. Pardue, Hunter Perry

The Amite community in Tangipahoa Parish will always remember the valor of three local emergency responders who saved a toddler’s life the day after Christmas 2014. On the evening of December 26, 2014, responders were dispatched to a home on Ellis Road where a child had been discovered floating lifeless in his family’s swimming pool. When firefighters from Tangipahoa Parish Fire District 1 arrived on the scene, they discovered that a family member had rescued little Koltyn Gafford from the pool, Ofc. Charles Bollingham, an Amite Police officer who was patrolling in the area, initiated CPR on the little boy. Fire Captains C.J. Purdue and Hunter Perry, both certified EMT Basic, assessed the situation and discovered the child was neither breathing, nor did he have a pulse. Responders feverishly attempted a series of attempts, ranging from rescue breathing, compression, and AED, until they were able to establish a faint pulse. Fire department personnel stayed with the child, assisting Acadian Ambulance paramedics during the transport from the family home to Hood Memorial Hospital. From there, the child was taken to Children’s Hospital, where he received treatment for several weeks before being able to return home to Amite.

There is little doubt that the fast-acting and persistent lifesaving efforts of Officer Bollingham and Captains Pardue and Perry contributed to little Koltyn Gafford being with us today. These responders utilized their professional training to save the life of this boy.

Sandy Davis