poop TERRACE — The Terrace- Kitimat airport is one of two locations being considered for a proposed regional training school for firefighters, says the superintendent of the Transport Canada provincial safety school. .: me '’This is an excellent facility,’’. Doug Hopkins com- mented after a week spent at the airport conducting a’ training course. ‘‘It’s one of the main ones we're looking at.”' Although Prince George was also: being considered, he said Terrace offered the advantages of being away from population concentrations and in-an ‘‘en- vironmentally. safe area.” A. final decision rests with officials in Ottawa. Hopkins said 13 crew chiefs from airport firefighting units across the province, including two from Terrace, had taken part fast week’s course. Exer- cises included basic extinguisher training, dealing: with a simulated interior cabin fire, gaining access to hard-to-reach areas of planes and dealing with dangerous cargo. ~ “We try to cover any type of emergency they might come across,’ Hopkins explained as the firefighters prepared for the most spectacular exercise, ex- tinguishing the blaze at a simulated air crash. After a dummy plane soaked with 800 gallons of fuel had been ignited using a flare gun, the airport's two trucks raced in to.deal with the blaze smother- ing the flames with a blanket of foam from their roof-mounted turrets, _ He said the amount of burn- ing fuel firefighters would have to deal with in the case of ‘‘the real thing” could vary from just 50 gallons to as much as 5,000 gallons depending on the size of aircraft ‘and whether it was tak- ing’ off or Yanding. i(Tertace’s 5 two vehiclés”can deliver’ nearly 7,000 galions of foam, suffi- cient for any craft using the facility.) Noting it-had taken only 40 seconds to douse this fire, Hopkins emphasized speed was vital ‘considering in a ‘actual FIREFIGHTER 1S dwarfed by immense cloud from a training fire sat the airport last week Practica SeS- sions gave firefighters the opportunity to brush up and. reti ine their skills. disaster fire: crews would have to get it out in two to three minutes, if if lives were to be say- 4 Although those disasters have said most airports try to hold ed. a been few in past years; Hopkins, one such exercise a month to en- sure crews are well _ prepared should they ever face one. Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 6, 1990 — Page A AS _ LETTERS _ TO THE TERRACE ST. ANDARD Day, Dar be “AIRPORT FIREFIGHTERS also “received. experience in rescuing people from trapped vehicles. On, top, a group é Jaws of Life. device: to rip through'metal § so. they . ~ “are Abie to get at a person In need. At the ight; firetruck: ‘ poulr foam ona practice fire. . We. celebrate Mother’ 's Day, Valen- Day, Secretary’s Day, Caneda Day, Labour Day and many other days. Each has a purpose, but most of us forget a day for our loveable Why don’t we celebrate Pet Day on one of the weekend. days. We could have pet shows, visit zoos and even bave stamps. Animals are sacrificed with without choice for research in biology and medicine. They have souls “A day needed. for our pets | On thet dey no animal will be Killed or sacrificed. TV shows will cover the celebra- tions and there will be stories’ of animals that went. to me space, to the deep sea or in — war. Potice dogs, helper - dogs, hunting’ dogs. Dolphins perform tasks in - the US Navy and there are hundreds of other examples. Let’s open the idea to sug- gestions by animal societies and iet everyone know. Steve Ramzi, Terrace, B.C, Abortion law a big mistake Dear Sir: Bill C-43, Canada’s new abortion law has now passed the House 6f Common. We are hearing @ great deal from certain’ members of the medical profession who fear prosecution under the medical code. : Under Canada’s new abor- tion law a child may be killed in the womb any time from conception to birth. At birth, the Canadian child is entitled to all legal protection under the Charter of Rights. One minute before birth he can be destroyed with impunity. Make no mistake about it. Bill C-43 is much worse than the former law. Under Bill C-43, the only approval needed is that of the doctor performing the ‘abortion. The abortionist "makes a substantial incomie by perfor- ming this relatively low risk surgery. To leave the abortion deci- sion solely up to this in- dividual is an absurd conflict of interest. Rather like leav- ing the fox keeping the chicken coop. Brenda Ferguson President, Terrace Pro-Life Education Association Terrace, B.C. bogging figures » don't add up....| ’ Dear Sir: : The public believe their forests are not properly managed. They have every right to be concerned. During National Forest Week, May 6-12, the local papers ran ads sponsored by the Ministry of Forests and eight forest companies operating in the Kalum Timber Supply Area, The ads gave the 1989 figures for the Kalum TSA on log pro- duction, lumber production, log exports, the annual allowable cut and silviculture efforts, as well as other in- formation, We logged 10,000ha in the Kalum TSA. I checked to see if we replanted an equal area. It seems we didn’t. We ap- parently replanted 6,500ha and left 1,700ha for natural regeneration. That leaves us about 1,800ha (4,447 acres) to add to the backlog of unreforested land left from previous years. The ads also gave informa- tion about where the logged timber went, how many cubic metres went to lumber and how much went for log export. Again I tried to find a relationship between the numbers but they wouldn't add up. We need to know answers to questions like how much marketable timber do we have left in the Kalum TSA? Are we managing our forests ona sustainable yield basis? Why are we not replanting every tree destroyed in the harvest? Why do we export logs and jobs at a rate of $25,000 cubic metres of wood a year? I called the Ministry of Forests a few times to ask about the advertisement. We discussed a lot of forestry matters, but when I question- ed how some of the figures in logging and replanting didn’t add up, it was admitted that “the licensees identify how much they log and how much they replant.”’ I was also told that ac- curate statistics on the timber in the Kalum TSA were not available, that a review of the timber supply analysis for the Kalum TSA was being conducted. The last one was done as far back as 1981. We need to know answers to questions like how = much marketable timber do we have left in the Kalum TSA? The ministry doesn’t know what is left to log, and what is more, they rely on the forest. companies to tell us how much they are logging and how much they are replanting. Don’t blame the people who work in the Ministry of Forests, Since 1983 they have had their staff cut by 24 per cent yet the Socred govern- ment increased the annual allowable cut in privately- managed tree farm licences by 38 per cent with basic management and cont'd A6 Le Ae i About letters The Terrace Standard welcomes letters to the editor on all topics, All letters must be signed and carry an ad- dress and local telephone number, Addresses or phone numbers won't be printed - with the. letter, but they are necessary for confirmation of the letter’s, authenticity The writer’s name will be published. Requests for names to be withheld may be granted in extraordinary cir- cumstances, , Thank you letters should be submitted tothe “Card of Thanks’ section of the classifieds, - Letters’ containing libelous Or Objectionable matter will be edited or returned to the _ writer, All letters are run on -.a. space available basis, with ‘shorter. letters likely to be ‘Published soonest. .