From the editor - Community call for emergency response training

Fires are raging in California, again. Sunday, National Public Radio staff reported from Houston, examining the massive work still to be done after Hurricane Harvey. Reports here are for potential future earthquakes. This is the new normal: an active, unsettled planet prone to disruption and destruction of human and natural environments, indiscriminately.

But, of course, humans are a part of nature. There’s always the potential for thinking things through and planning and commitment to action, results. In La Conner the opportunity for a Comprehensive Emergency Response Team program awaits. Agencies and organizations, led by Skagit County Emergency Management and including Fire District 13, La Conner Fire Department, Shelter Bay Safety Committee and the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, are participating. They are hoping you will, too.

A one night a week, six week course will be offered starting January 9 at the Shelter Bay clubhouse. If you are willing to help rescue people and provide basic first aid until police, fire and EMS personnel arrive, the CERT team wants you.

It is true that Benjamin Franklin organized the first volunteer fire department, in 1736. Almost 300 years later our communities still depend on mutual aid provided by our neighbors, families, and friends. You, too, can rub elbows with Old Ben’s ghost and legacy.

Some still doubt the reality of climate change and others wonder what that topic is doing in their local newspaper. While those that doubt and ponder are doing so, they can also – along with their fellow citizens – take this training and help our community be a little more prepared for when the next big one hits.

We can hope it will never happen or will be 100 years from now, but preparation will get us ready, whatever our hopes are.