Al 2 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 24, 2001

Chief feeds thousands
down at Ground Zero

By SARAH A.
ZIMMERMAN
TERRACE fire chief Randy Smith

says it looks like a war zone,

Fires continue to burn and a
mountain of steel, cement and debris
is piled high on the streets. Hundreds
of security personnel stand watch
and bodies of the dead continue to
be removed regularly.

“You see it on T.V, and they talk
about it being 10 square blocks, but
you get down here and it’s all so
overwhelming,” Smith said from
Ground Zero in New York City last
week.

It's not how most people would
spend their vacation time, but that’s
exactly what Smith is doing,

He banks his holiday time here
for the express purpose of being able
to volunteer when his skills are nee-
ded most.

Smith is one of 29 Canadian Red
Cross disaster response team mem-
bers called in earlier this month to
help with relief efforts in the U.S.

He’s working in what used ta be a
community college, but now serves
as a centre where relief workers can
fo to eat, catch a few hours sleep, e-
mii] their loved ones and get medi-
cal attention if it’s needed.

“it’s a site set up to support po-
lice, fire and rescue recovery,” said
Smith, “Everyone from steel workers
to high tech companies working to
get things going.”

The centre is simply called Re-
spite North. It’s one of two such
centres on the sprawling site of the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the twin
towers of the World Trade Center.

Ta

THIS IS the scene at Ground Zero in New York where the twin towers
of the World Trade Center once stood. Terrace fire chief Randy Smith
is working there supervising a respite centre for the thousands of vo-
lunteers working to claan up the site. He's one of 29 Canadian Red
Cross disaster response team volunteers who were called in to help
deal with the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks in the U.S.

Smith coordinates all the volunteers in
the centre — a challenge given the incred-
ible amount of people who pass through
its doorways every day.

“Is tremendous managerial exper-
ience for me,” Smith said.

The centre operates 24-hours a day and
the biggest challenge is feeding the on-
site volunteers. In an average day the
centre provides anywhere from 10,000 to
17,000 meals.

A nearby restaurant. closed its doors ta
the public and dedicated itself to feeding
the thousands of volunteers,

Beyond helping in the relief effort,
Smith sees his time in New York as an
extension of his career as an emergency,
worker. . : . 2 woken . ia a . ”

“It’s an opportunity to be in the centre
of things and most emergency responders
want to be there — where the action is,
see what’s going on and try to fix things,”
Smith said.

But it’s also something of a higher
calling for Smith,

As a firefighter he helps people when
they need it most. But outside the uniform
Smith feels a certain calling to take care
of others.

A member of the Terrace Rotary Club
and the Evangelical Free Church, serving
his community is something he strongly
believes in.

And going to New York is an extension
of that mission to serve.

“I believe that we should all help each
ather. I've never been a missionary or that
type of person, so this is what I can do,”
Smith said. “I think we have to go where
our strengths are.”

But working at Ground Zero doesn't
come without its share of grisly setbacks.

With thousands of bodies still buried
beneath the smouldering steel and debris
the area has been declared a biohazard
site. Every day bodies are pulled from the
simmering rubble with little fanfare and
almost no talk of the recovery in the
media. ,

Another difficult task is dealing with
volunteers who lost loved ones in the at-
tacks,

“A lot of volunteers are local and
knew or were related to victims here,”
Smith said.

And with each passing day the threat
of anthrax is getting closer to the people
working in the area.

Just last week the Red Cross disaster
response headquarters in Brooklyn had an
anthrax scare.

“There was something found in the
basement, I don’t know if it was a hoax or
not,” Smith said.

But the threat caused the evacuation
of the headquarters for three hours and re-
sulted in a directive to supervisors like
Smith that everything coming into the re-
Spite centres must be screened.

Across the street from Respite Narth
stands the
remains of a
telephone
company
building.

look out the
window I see
a 30 storey
building with
a giant hole
in it,” Smith
said,

It’s covered
with a cargo
net designed
to catch the
remnants of

- the crum-
Randy Smith bling build-
ing.

So far, 22,000 truckloads of debris
have been removed from the site, but it
could be nearly a year before the job is
complete.

“They've made a dent in it but there’s
still lots of debris here,” Smith said,

The devastating effects of the Sept. 11
attacks have left not only an impact on
the face of New York City but on the
spirit of its peaple.

“[ think the intent was to break the
American spirit,” said Smith. “But [ think
it had the reverse effect.”

“I've heard fram a number of people
that they haven’t been this close for a
long, long time and it’s brought the coun-
try together and that’s visible.”

Smith will continue to work at the site
until Nov, 6 - that’s when his banked ho-
liday time is up. ;

He’s looking forward to returning
home.

“I’m glad I live where I live,” Smith
said in light of his experiences. “Terrace
is a pretty good place right now.”

Mayor forms forestry panel

“When 1

NINE LOCAL people have
been named by the city to
sit on a forestry panel
charged with responding to
the Skeena Cellulose cri-
sis. ,

The body was struck by
mayor Jack Talstra.

The concept, Talstra

Said, is to look at innova:
tive solutions to the SCI
Situation if the province

has difficulty selling the

company,

Panel members include
Ken Veldman of the Ter-
race Economic Develop.
ment Authority; Gerry

Martin of the B:C. Forest

Alliance, Northwest Log-

gers Association vice-pre- ~

sident Ken Houlden,
Totem Ford. co-owner

Brian Kennedy, local ac- °

countant Howard Pruner,

First Nations representa-.
tive Art Collins, city coun-.

eillor and land-use plan re-
piesentative Val George,
and IWA rep Surinder
Malhotra.

Chairing the panel is

Alm-Wood Contracting’s
Justin Rigsby, who played

a key role as creditors’ re-.
presentative in the Skeena

Cellulose crisis of 2997,

terracestandard.com

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I ——_-

STANDARD

Will be featured on CBC's Television Program

“On The Road Again”

fry

ig of the

‘Coast Mountains School
District 82 Parents Advisory
Council (DPAC)

would like to publicly announce that they
do not share the views expressed by
Mary-Ann Freeman
in the October 10th issue of the
Terrace Standard's Mailbag.

Members

The members of the District PAC have asked
Ms. Freeman to step down as acting DPAC
President. —

Until formal elections are held
(date to be announced),

Chuck Taylor of Kitimat
will be acting President and
~~ Jenelle Turpin of New Hazelton

will be acting Vice President.

The members of DPAC would like to offer their
sincerest apologies to the teachers, school
board members and parents of School District
82 for any distress Ms. Freeman's personal
opinions caused.

If you have any questions or comments about
DPAC, please email Chuck at
totalknee@lycos,co

or
Jenelle at jturpin@ bulkley net

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