In the world of community journalism, some assignments are just more fun than others.
Such was the case last week when this reporter was invited to attend a meeting between members of the Canadian military and Greater Napanee town staff, Lennox and Addington OPP and Greater Napanee Emergency Services. Before even heading inside the meeting room, which was held at Napanee’s fire hall on Advance Avenue, word broke of a fire just a few blocks away at Richmond Veterinary Clinic. These calls are never enjoyable-this was not the aforementioned ‘fun’ assignment-but fortunately in this case there were no fatalities. While some photographers thrive on ‘chasing sirens’, it’s never been a favourite of this reporter. As unfortunate as the situation can be, there is something to be said for catching the brave men and women of our local emergency services in action to remind residents of the risks these people are willing to take to keep us and our property safe.
As the morning’s unexpected action winded down, it was back to the hall for the original point of the trip, to observe the meeting between Greater Napanee reps and members of CFB Kingston. The objective of the meeting was to discuss how each side would react in the event of a major disaster. For the purposes of this hypothetical exercise they supposed a train carrying hazardous materials had derailed somewhere between Napanee and Belleville. Given that a CN Rail line runs right through the heart of the town, it’s not an entirely far-fetched scenario and it has happened in communities across Canada. Hopefully it’ll never occur here, but its nice to know those in charge are thinking ahead and preparing for a worst-case scenario. This particular exercise was just one example of course, and much of their emergency planning could be applied to any number of situations.
Nothing said at the meeting was classified, but glancing around the room it gave the impression of high priority officials meeting in a bunker, planning the next steps in response to a dire situation. The members of the military certainly dressed the part, showing up in their camo green uniforms, ones they affectionately referred to as ‘relish.’
The meeting itself was an interesting look behind the scenes, one members of the public probably don’t get to see very often. With all the talk of setting up emergency helicopter landing zones, securing a blast area and establishing an emergency triage centre, it sounded more like a script straight of out a summer action blockbuster. Ideally all that training will be relegated to just that-training.
All told it was a nice reminder of the work our military does to keep us safe right here at home. Often times we tend to think of them as serving on the other side of the globe and may forget the important work they do right here.
-On another note, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention next Tuesday’s National Indigenous Peoples Day. An important one not just for the Indigenous community, but also for all Canadians to recognize. Fortunately the day does seem to slowly be gaining more prominence and we can only hope it continues to do so.
-Adam Prudhomme