WKXL - New Hampshire Talk Radio

Cail & Company LIVE with John Bly & The NH Department of Safety

We talked some baseball Wednesday with longtime area coach and manager John Bly analyzing what the Red Sox and other teams did at Tuesday's trading deadline. Also on Wednesday, our monthly visit with New Hampshire's Department of Safety. The focus this month on the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Joining us in studio, Assistant Director Megan Hoskins, Chief of Mitigation and Recovery Austin Brown and Community Outreach Coordinator Vanessa Palange.

Duration:: 43m
Broadcast on:: 31 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

[MUSIC PLAYING] Cale and Company Live here on WKXL, NHTalkRadio.com. Greg Javi with us on this Wednesday morning. It is the final day of July. We are presented by Northeast Eldodental with individual and family plans designed to fit your lifestyle. Learn more and find your plan at deltadentalcomersme.com. And so happy to say joining us in studio today is our good friend John Bligh. John, good morning to you. Great to have you back. Good morning, Ken. Thanks for having me. And of course, yesterday was the major league baseball trading deadline, one of the most important days on the baseball calendar. And the deadline was 6 o'clock last night. There were some late moves. In fact, John, most of the big moves took place just a little bit before or a little bit after 6 o'clock last night. Yeah, it sure did. It was quite a lot of movement for a point there yesterday. I saw a lot of action. And Twitter was like this, but every team was involved. Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes sold off a lot of players, Tampa Bay, one of them and the Miami Marlins, another one that sold off a lot of players. But in return, they got some pretty good prospects. So that's what it's all about. Absolutely. So the Red Sox picked up yesterday. And prior to the deadline, they picked up James Paxton, who pitched last night and didn't get very much support from his defense last night in that game against Seattle. Paxton pitched last night. And they also got the catcher from Toronto, the former pitcher cap. And my mind is a blank, John. I'm trying to think of the guy's name, but-- Janton? Yes, Danny Jansen. Danny Jansen, that's right. Danny Jansen had a senior moment there. But at any rate, the Red Sox did pick up a couple of veteran relief pitchers, Lucas Sims, from Cincinnati and Luis Garcia from the Angels. Both of them have been around for quite some time. And hopefully, they'll help the bullpen. Because as we know, as Red Sox fans, John, that bullpen could use some help. It was struggling pretty hard. I mean, without Martin there, without-- you had issues with Slaton's on the deal right now. And Jansen's up and down at some points this year. I mean, they definitely had to go out and pick up a few more guys that could help. So they did. And they got a couple and it remains to be seen how effective they will be, of course. With guys in the bullpen, it's a crapshoot. I mean, some weeks they're good, some weeks they're not. And so you mix and match as best you can. But Lucas Sims, who was actually the senior member of the Cincinnati Reds, he had been around longer than anybody on their roster. The Reds traded him. And Luis Garcia, who is 37, was acquired from the Angels. So those were the moves that the Red Sox made yesterday. And then they also picked up a pitcher earlier in the week, Preechter, from Pittsburgh, who was traded for Nick York, who's an infielder that's been in their organization now for like parts of five or six seasons. He's been around for a while. He has, he has. And one time he was the number six prospect when they traded him this week. But I guess he'll have his career in Pittsburgh now. Yeah, I think the situation there is that they have so much youth in the infield, specifically a middle infield, that they're looking after the future that they have. And it was given me a little bit of a log jam for them. So they were trying to figure out what they could do for pitching and move a couple of guys that they had in the minors, which is what they did yesterday, which I think is going to work out for them pretty good. That being said, the Red Sox, as much as we may criticize them and second guess them, they really, I think, have exceeded most expectations thus far this season. This team this year is certainly a lot different than anybody could ever expect. They're winning percentages a lot better. They're right in the contention for the playoffs. And I think they're a team of now in the future that's going to be very good to watch, one to watch, and they're going to be very competitive. I think they are very fun to watch, as you pointed out, because they're very athletic. And they can run. I mean, that's not running. And the Red Sox don't generally go together. But they do now. I mean, Duran is just incredible the year that Jaren Duran has had. And Sidon Rafaela has been terrific. I mean, I think he's right up there in the rookie of the year, consideration has to be. He's had a terrific year. You take a guy that's kind of designed to be an infielder. You have him going the outfield. Then they say, oh, we're going to put you back a short stop for a while. We'll rotate you back and forth in and out. And for him to adjust like he does is very, very good. And as a rookie, and he's second on the team and RBIs behind Raffi Dever's, batting from the ninth position most of the time this year. So he has really exceeded expectations, in my opinion. You know, when he was signed, he was signed for $10,000. But Suck signed him for $10,000, that was the bonus. Now, by comparison, like a first round draft pick like Marcelo Meyer, who's the number one prospect in the organization, his bonus was a little bit more than that. That was like $7 million, $7 million. And here's a guy, Rafaela, who's paying dividends and playing very well in the major leagues that signed for $10,000. Oh, that's amazing. They made a good move right there. But then they did sign him to a long-term contract, which I think is for his production, very team-friendly contract over the years. And so he was just a great addition to the roster, and he can do so many things. Hit with power, defend well, he's got very good speed. So, I mean, they really have somebody, when he was first signed, I remember this clearly, when he was first signed for that lofty price of $10,000, people were saying, this guy is a mini-mookie. And I said, oh, yeah, right. Yeah, nobody's a mini-mookie, or anything close to mookie bets. And now, but you know what, the more you watch him, I'm not saying he's going to be mookie bets, but he's very versatile like mookie. He's got good speed, hits with power, drives and runs. I mean, so, I mean, you can compare. I mean, he's certainly, I don't think ever going to reach, you know, mookie bets caliber. But, you know, he's terrific. He really is. I like watching him just play in how he moves. In and out of the, how he moves around the empty level, and I was a place he makes, I mean, he makes some really good place deep in shortstop behind third. When he's in the outfield, I mean, he is just a dynamite defensive player out there. He's a best to watch out there. He's pretty exciting. And it's about 50-50 this year between him playing center field and shortstop for the Red Sox. But they are fun to watch, and Hamilton can fly. Just has to get on base first. But, you know, that's the only problem. But Hamilton can fly, Rafaela, and of course Duran. And I don't think I've ever seen a Red Sox team with this much speed and athleticism. Never, never that I could ever remember seeing or even hearing about a Red Sox team having this much talent and speed, effectively the speed. And then you got a catcher who's one of the fastest guys on a team at most bowling bases. I mean, we never see a catcher like that here. No, we have not. And Connor Wong, he was in the Mookie Bettees. The only piece left from that Mookie Bette's deal, which I think was probably the worst trade in Red Sox history. Very much. All ranks right up there anyway. I can't think of any that that was worse. I mean, there's a guy, John Mookie, that should have spent his entire career with a Red Sox. Absolutely. And they should have made that possible. They should have bolded him over with a better offer than they apparently did. And I don't know if he had his heart set on going to Los Angeles anyway, no matter what the Red Sox might have offered. But I hate to see him with the Dodgers, or any other team for that matter. Not just the Dodgers. I think they all do. Yeah, I mean, no, what a difference he would have made over the last few years. But that's all water under the bridge, as they say. John Bly is with us. And we'll talk a little Legion baseball of his big tournament in McQueen City recently. We'll talk about that. And more right here, Kale and Company Live, WKXL, nhchotradio.com. We are presented by Northeast Delta Dental, and we will be right back. Stand by. [MUSIC PLAYING] Come on in. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Kale and Company Live, got you the little baseball this morning on the final day of July with John Bly. Final day of July with John Bly. That's very poetic. There you go. Yeah, this is a very interesting-- this is a special day in my family today. Oh, really? My aunt, Linda, and her daughters, Stacy, my cousin's birthdays are both on the same day. Wow. And my cousin, Shirley, all back up in Claremont. It's her birthday, too. Well, terrific. A lot of birthdays in the Bly family on the last day of July. And I know you've been involved with the Legion Baseball for a long time, so I know the summers go by very quickly for you. And it was just a junior Legion tournament at Gill Stadium and Manchester. Yeah, I went on the state committee, baseball committee, to recoveries like a chairman. And we host the state tournament for the top four teams in each district, A and B. And the best team in all of it was Berlin, one yesterday, very convincingly. They're a very good team. Ware, who finished and runner up, is a very good team also. So both good teams, that's our lot of good teams this weekend, play some really good baseball. Well, that is good. So the future is good for baseball in the state of New Hampshire. And, of course, the Legion season, they have their tournament coming up, right? Yeah, next weekend is the senior tournament, Northeast tournament, which is gonna be held at Gill Stadium and Manchester. And that's every state champion in New England. And the winner of the Northeast tournament goes to the Legion World Series on a South Carolina. Wow. It's pretty good baseball, it's pretty intense. So, Sweeney Post is hosting? Sweeney Post is hosting there in it. And the state champ is Portsmouth from the senior tournament. And they are really good. They got the kid from Portsmouth. His brother just got drafted, plays infield pitches. He's, they're very talented. This kid's talented as I've ever seen. He had three doubles in one game. He almost had a home run in another. I mean, this, and he's a younger brother. As a kid, they got drafted in one of my goals. His team, just family is loaded. So if you wanna see some good baseball coming up, when does it start? It starts next a week from, I believe, would be today on Wednesday. And it starts in the morning, like 9.30 in the morning, at Gil, and there's a small cover charge to get in. Yeah. But I mean, they're gonna have full concession going on there. They have all kinds of ceremonies they do. It's a real big deal in leading baseball in the country, and especially here in Illinois. And I know they first hosted a lot of tournaments over the years at Gil, and they know how to do it and do it right. So that'll be the Legion tournament, New England Legion tournament for the right to play for the National Championship in South Carolina, coming up in later in August. Yeah, absolutely. It's gonna be fun to watch. You're gonna see some of the best players in New England that eventually probably get drafted into the pro. Yeah. So, I mean, this is a good place to achieve some really good talent. So a good opportunity to get down and see some great amateur baseball in Manchester at a small cost. Very comfortable, very affordable. There you go. So bring the family and enjoy, and no doubt about that. So, as we sit here right now, on the last day of July, still with two full months of Major League Baseball to go in August and September, the Red Sox, two games out right now of a wildcard berth, trailing Kansas City. There are two games behind Kansas City for that third wildcard berth. The twins and the Yankees would be the other wildcard teams right now. How do you see the last couple of months playing out for the Red Sox? I think with the moves that they made yesterday, it's gonna improve things. They're gonna get better, even better than they have been. You're gonna certainly see the end of a game and better than what we've seen in the last couple of weeks. I think they're gonna be one of those wildcard teams. I don't think they're gonna have enough gusts to hit the Windy American League East. I think Baltimore's gonna lock that up all year long. And I think the Red Sox in New York will be the wildcard team with the third team coming out of the Central or the West. Yeah. So we shall see, but it's been entertaining so far. And let's hope the next couple of months are just as entertaining, if not more so. And one of the reasons for that was an off-season pickup from St. Louis that many people, it was kind of an under-the-radar sort of move that the Red Sox made by picking up Tyler O'Neill in the off-season, but he has been incredible for them. Where would they be without him? I don't know. I mean, he's just a such a powerful, strong guy. He is so strong. My goodness. And when he gets ahold of that ball, you know it's going places. He is talented. He is a muscular dude. There's no doubt about that. And his father, by the way, at one time was Mr. Canada. I heard that, I'm like, oh boy, look at him. In terms of bodybuilding, yeah? That's a good gene trade to have. And your dad was a Mr. Canada. And boy, can he hit those Titanic blasts? Oh, my goodness. Yeah. And so he has been a great addition. I really don't know where they would be without him in the lineup. And of course, Raffi Devers is just being Raffi. Yeah. Hitting knee, it is 23rd last night, went over the 300 mark and batting average, leading the team in RBIs. And over the years, his defense has come along. He still makes an occasional blunder. But everybody does. Yes. But he has really improved defensively as well since the time he came up. Big, big, big change from his defensive skills and abilities and plays he makes is a lot better than we saw when he first got here. Oh, yeah, no doubt about that. So let's hope these additional bullpen arms will come through. And I don't know how much we're going to rely on James Paxton. I think his velocity got up to maybe 94 last night at best. I think he threw a little bit harder when he pitched against the Red Sox. Yes, he did. About a week ago in Los Angeles. But hopefully, he'll be OK. And Tanner, how has to bounce back? Because he hasn't been that good the last few times. No, I think he's going to have to make some adjustments. Because I think the league is starting to figure out what he's throwing and when they can capitalize on what he's throwing. And I think with a few adjustments in Andrew Bailey, his worked phenomenal with these guys that he'll get back on the right track real quick. I think so. Seems like Cooper Criswell, who pitched in relief last night, is the odd man out now that Paxton is here. But I tell you what, he's pitched pretty well when called upon this year. He has done a great job. I mean, he's a guy that they really didn't have to pay anything for when they got him. And he's come in and done a great job. I like watching him pitch. He's fun to watch. Because he works quickly. Very quick. Yeah, it just gets the ball and throws it. He reminds me of Nathan of Aldi, where he just is out there. The next pitch is on the plate right off. But you know, as you well know, having coached as long as you have, that that keeps players on their toes. Very much does. And I encourage a game like that. I like pitchers that not stand around and do circles around the pitcher's mouth. I want you to throw the ball. Let's go. But of course, you know, the games have, you know, sped up quite quite a bit since the pitch clock came in. I like it. And I think it's been great for the game. I mean, you know, there was a time when the games are averaging, you know, a little over three hours. And now they're down closer to two and a half. It's made quite a difference. It makes a big, I think it's made a big difference and for the better. Yeah. And you're not up till midnight watching a ball game, what's it's an extra in? Now you get to bed, 9 and 30, 10 o'clock. I know. And that's true. Very true. So the next time you're in here, John, the next time you're in here, we're going to talk about Huskies. I'm not talking about the Yukon Huskies. I'm talking about Husky dogs. Yes. And there are some, I guess, available for adoption in this state, correct? Yeah, I'm a volunteer with the Patriots bearing Husky rescue league here in New England. And we're based out of here in New Hampshire and I'm asked to do this. We have branches all over New England. Right now, we've got 16 to 17 Huskies that are looking for a home. And we try to find them homes. I'm on the adoption team, which I have my rotation in September to take and help really push to get these these Huskies adopted. And they're great, they're great, great companions, great pets, friendly family members. You couldn't ask for anything better. I mean, if you have a situation where you can adopt one, it's probably one of the best things you'll ever experience with any animal to have one. So the next time John Bly is in studio, we'll be talking about adopting a Husky. Yes. Very good. John, always great to catch up with you and look forward to seeing you again in the not too distant future. Thanks for having me, Ken, and have yourself a good day. Thank you. You as well. We will have our monthly segment with the New Hampshire Department of Safety. We'll be focusing on the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management right here in the state of New Hampshire. Cale and Company Live right here, WKXL and HtokRadio.com. We are presented as always by Northeast Delta Dental and we'll be right back. Cale and Company Live right here on WKXL and HtokRadio.com. Great to have you with us and time now for our monthly segment with the New Hampshire Department of Safety and today our focus will be on the New Hampshire Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and our guest today in studio, the Assistant Director Megan Hoskins, Chief of Mitigation and Recovery Austin Brown, and the New Hampshire Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management's Community Outreach, a Coordinator, Vanessa Palange, and great to have all of you with us here today. Thanks for having us, Ken. Thanks for having us. It is our pleasure. So who wants to give us a rather broad view or overlook of what this agency does? I'll take that one. Okay. That's Megan, by the way. It is. Sorry. Thanks for having us. So HSCM oversees state level planning preparation and response to and recovery from all types of emergencies and disasters that occur in the state of New Hampshire. This could be anything from natural disasters, such as hurricanes, flooding, which we saw the other week, to severe winter weather, human-caused disasters. We also oversee response planning and preparation for seabric station and the communities that would be impacted by that. So we work with the entire state to get them ready to go in the event of a disaster. And Austin, as a Chief of Mitigation and Recovery, what are your duties and responsibilities? So one of our main focuses is to work with communities immediately after incidents happen. So as Megan said, the flooding that happened earlier this month, we send out a survey asking communities if they have any damages. So that's called the initial damage assessments. And then we move right into preliminary damage assessments if we find that we have enough damages really that are reported through that initial phase. So really work with communities early on and then obviously well throughout the recovery process. And Vanessa, when do you come into play? I come into play frequently. I handle all of our internal and external communications as well as community outreach coordinators. So that means about in the community speaking at events, we just went to the Friends of the Palooza here and conquered on Saturday, we will be at the Pittsfield Balloon Festival, this upcoming Saturday out in the community, really letting people know what we do, teaching people how to be prepared themselves as individuals to have themselves and families prepared in case there is some sort of emergency. Now are people somewhat surprised when they know all of the activity that you cover in the state, all that do folks are in charge of so to say? I would say yes. A lot of times people don't quite understand what our agency does and just having boots on the ground and really getting that community outreach explained to people that we need them to be prepared if there is some sort of emergency really helping people to help themselves is a really large focus. But then also the fact that we work with all 234 communities throughout the state. We're in constant contact with them. We were making phone calls to some of them this morning because of weather that was happening yesterday, evening into the nighttime in regards to flooding, just keeping our eye to make sure that they have any sort of help that they may need. Now when we think about Homeland Security, I think most people think of the people you see at the airport, but that's a federal Homeland Security issue, correct? Correct. So that's nothing to do with the state of New Hampshire, or is it to some extent? So the governor does have oversight of any type of Homeland Security issues, HSCM acts kind of as a liaison between those federal entities that you are referring to and state police in the governor's office. So our director, Rob Buxton, is actually the state Homeland Security advisor to the governor's office. So we do play a role in that. It's much more of an oversight and monitoring role, but we definitely work to keep everybody informed as to what the biggest threats are in the state. But the TSA employees at the airport, they are federal employees, correct? Yes, they do not employ to us. No. Okay. So just to get that out of the way, so let's talk about natural disasters, which happen in this state, quite frequently here in New Hampshire. What takes place at your headquarters? What is the chain of command? How does everything get into motion when there is a natural disaster in the state of New Hampshire? So really one of the main focuses that we play is really from a situational awareness standpoint. So that starts as early as the incident actually occurring. So we obviously as our agency who have the operational standpoint of the state emergency operations center. So we can be interfacing with the communities right during the actual natural disaster that is happening. And then obviously we're responsible for helping them transition from response and what our role would be in the emergency operations center into the recovery standpoint, which is where like our section, the mitigation recovery section comes into play. So how is it determined who is activated and when in fact a disaster is declared? So we monitor situations, obviously we were monitoring the weather going on last night. We monitored last week. We have a duty officer that's available 24 hours a day to a community. So anytime a community calls us with a need or we see whether a major weather event either going to happen or in progress, we will often reach out to those communities directly to understand what their needs are. And once we can assess what their needs are, out of my office, we decide whether we're going to activate, call in other state agencies to help connect the dots for communities that need assistance either. They may need road closure signs. They may need assistance with search and rescue. We're often helping the state of Vermont with that as well. So there's a multitude of things that we can do to support communities helping them open up shelters, and that happens right away. Sometimes we get very lucky in the winter and we know when a big storm is coming. But like last night, that was not forecasted. So we definitely move as fast as we can to support the communities in their time and need. Yeah, the Monday night storms just seem to come out of nowhere. They definitely did. We have a very good working relationship with the National Weather Service. Our areas serviced out of Gray Main, and I can tell you that they were probably just as shocked as we were last night. Yeah, I'm sure because I really didn't hear anything in the forecast about that. But nonetheless, some areas of the state had upwards of five inches of rain on Monday night. Yep. It's pretty spectacular, the amount of water that has been inundating the state. Yeah, it really and truly is. So no droughts in our future anyway. Well, not up north anyway, maybe down south, but definitely not in northern New York. I'm sure. And the lesson, Vanessa, then you let everybody know what's going on, right? I try to. Yes. As best as we can. As Megan mentioned, we do have a great relationship with the National Weather Service. We can be on the phone with them very quickly. Pretty much at all hours of the day, if we need to be, we will monitor those forecasts. We are putting out messaging on our social media, if necessary, and an event rises to the level. We will contact the media outlets, put out a news release and contact those media outlets to let them know so that they can also make people aware that there's inclement weather coming in. So you're in close contact with other people at Homeland Security and Emergency Management while the event is taking place. Correct. And if we are activated in the Emergency Operations Center, my office has a very specific role that has to do with messaging. We have messaging map is what we call it up on the wall and we will kind of map out the messages that we think people in the public need to hear to stay safe. Very good. It's quite an intricate organization and so many events and so many circumstances come under your chain of command. I think people would be amazed to know how much you deal with including school safety and another part of the equation. And what can you tell us about that, Austin? So the Department of Safety's Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is obviously in constant contact with schools around the state. Our agency has what is called the School Readiness Program that's dedicated to working with schools to review their emergency operations plans as well as their response actions. So that program started back in 2014 and with kind of migrated and changed over time and there was the creation in 2018 of the School Safety Preparedness Task Force. And that was under the direction of Governor Sanunu. A lot of great work has come about from that task force. One of the really notable items is the school security assessment program, which is currently underway. And really the goal of that is to look at surveillance, access control, emergency alerting in schools. Definitely one of the highlights of that program. And I'm sure unfortunately the need for that over the years has increased. Absolutely. The program both staffing-wise and just the need of the service into the communities has grown exponentially since the creation of the program back in 2014. Yeah. And I'm sure it will be continued to be tweaked and even more secure in the future. Absolutely. We are talking today about safety, talking about the Homeland Security and Emergency Management, our monthly segment with the New Hampshire Department of Safety and joining us in studio Megan Hoskins, the Assistant Director, Chief of Mitigation and Recovery Austin Brown, and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management's Community Outreach Coordinator, Vanessa Palange. And the Kaling Company will continue right after these words. We are presented by Northeast Delta Dental and we will be right back. Welcome back Kaling Company Live here on WKXL, NH talkradio.com, our monthly segment with the New Hampshire Department of Safety and today focusing on the New Hampshire Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management with Megan Hoskins, the Assistant Director, Austin Brown, Chief of Mitigation and Recovery. Vanessa Palange was the Homeland Security and Emergency Management's Community Outreach Coordinator and Vanessa, we were talking during the break and the agency always looking for some volunteers. We are always trying to ask people to get involved in their communities as part of our individual preparedness campaign and part of that getting involved could be volunteering for a group like a community emergency response team or the Red Cross. There's a lot of great organizations in the state and having those connections can really help during some sort of emergency. What about training? Any training that the agency provides? Yep, our training exercise and development team provides exercise opportunities to all 134 communities across the state. That could be something as relatively simple as how their town responds to a flooding event all the way up to multi-community, multi-agency, law enforcement and fire active shooter response. So those can get pretty complex. They do a great job of working with communities to make that happen and we also have training that we bring into the state for state and local first responders, officials and emergency management staff. So, those are all located on our website, which is NH.gov/HSEM. Training that we offer is always free so we would encourage folks if you see something that you're interested in, definitely sign up for it because we bring a lot of nationwide courses here to the state. Are there any areas of the state that are in need of more volunteers than others? I think it's a statewide thing. New Hampshire citizens and residents tend to be very independent, which is great. But we also know that after a disaster happens, there is definitely a need in their community, be it helping clear out basements to maybe construction companies that are willing to fix somebody's washed out driveway. There's always small needs like that, that the community can really help address in an efficient and effective way. So definitely volunteer NH is a great place to start. It's got opportunities to sign up in general and then you can sign up for different organizations off of that. But it's truly a need that we have here in the state. All skill sets are welcome. Correct. Okay, very good. What is the involvement of your agency with Seabrook Station? So we are responsible for all the response planning for Seabrook Station and we are the connection to FEMA itself for a graded exercise cycle that has to be done by the state, the communities and the plant itself on a two-year cycle. So we are very involved in that ensuring the communities are prepared, everything from local hospitals, long-term care facilities, daycares and schools, all the way up to state agencies, understanding how those responses work. It's definitely a very complex process. We take that very seriously. We just finished up an exercise cycle this year and I'm proud to report that we got glowing remarks from FEMA. Right. So very proud of the team. A lot of time and energy goes into that on the state side and on the local side too. So it's definitely a big area for us. And just from an outsider's perspective, it seems to me that the safety over the years at Seabrook Station has been very good. We have not, to my knowledge, had a major incident. Seabrook itself works hand in hand with the state. Communication is always open between the two entities and I am very proud of that fact. We do know that if something were to happen at Seabrook Station, we are very confident that we would work with next-term energy, with the locals to ensure that our citizens and residents were as safe as possible. Yeah. And it seems that they have been kept safe over the years. Obviously, I remember when it was being talked about and being built and there was a great deal of concern and naturally so. But obviously it's been kept very, very safe over the years that it's been in operation. Indeed. Yeah. And close to many big population areas. So there naturally is a lot of concern and obviously the agency and the station itself has done a terrific job in keeping the citizens safe over the years. I know you check the alarms from time to time, right? They do. At the plant. At the nuclear power plant. I believe it's just those monthly Vanessa. Yeah. And it's well reported I think, but some people are sometimes taken off guard if they're not aware that you're going to be checking out those alarms, right? Yeah, there are signs when you are down on the sea coast and you're in what we call the emergency planning zones. There are signs that tell you what to do if the sirens go off, you know, tune to the radio and listen to local officials, but absolutely it can be something that you don't expect to hear on an New Hampshire beach. All right. Exactly. Vanessa, give us some insight into the public information aspect of the agency, other than just in an emergency situation, but what other information do you provide? We typically are trying to get people familiar with what we do. As you mentioned earlier in this segment, a lot of people confuse some of the actions that we take with the federal Department of Homeland Security. So there's a lot of outreach in regards to that to really explain to people what we do within preparing for emergencies, what we do on a day to day basis, which can vary greatly. But a lot of times we talk about how we're coming into our work day, we're expecting one thing to happen. For example, today we were coming here to the radio show and we were talking about the possible need to activate the state's emergency operation center. So it can be varied, but we really just trying to get that information out, as I mentioned, the individual preparedness portion of preparing people ahead of time, making sure that people understand that for the first 72 hours of any sort of emergency, they might be their own first responders, and so they need to be prepared for that. We tell them to stay informed, have things like weather apps on their cell phones, paying attention to local weather, having a family emergency plan, and having an emergency kit that has the items that you need for 72 hours. Very good. Now the question is, any job openings at your agency, Homeland Security and Emergency Management? Sure, absolutely. We're always looking to build our team. I tell people all the time, some of the smartest and most creative people that work for the state get to work for us, so that is a huge, huge thing that does not go unnoticed. We hire folks with a variety of backgrounds, from people with a background, like Vanessa with a background in media, to Austin with a background in dispatch, law enforcement, prior military, all get our folks that come work for us, and we have everything under the sun from people who are out in the communities every day doing general outreach to positions that deal with finance, to grants management. We really do a lot, and there's lots of opportunities, so definitely check out what our offerings are. Are those posted online? They are. You can go on to the state's website, and if you use safety as your search term, you'll find job openings at HSCM. All right, very good. One of the fun things too about it is no two days are the same, so it's extremely interesting. It's not a job that you're going to get bored at, definitely. I can sort of sense that, Austin, what was your background before entering the agency? So before I came to the agency, so I came to HSCM four years ago, prior to that, I worked as a communication specialist for a local police agency. We provided police, fire, and emergency medical dispatch services to communities in the Lake Sonopee area, so lots of, again, my job there was never two days the same, and certainly walked right in. Right as the midst of COVID was kind of happening, so definitely no two days the same started after that. Yeah, and that seems to be the theme among all of you that no two days are alike, which is great. I mean, so it's certainly not boring. Definitely not. We are never bored, especially in the state where there seems to be lots of things going on in terms of our weather and other issues as well. Absolutely. We're always on the lookout for what's going on in the state. It's our job to help respond when things don't go well, so we're always looking for a way to help. All right, so what would be the best way for folks to, if they're interested perhaps in changing careers and working for your agency, the best way to go about it would be what? You can go to the state's website. They do have careers listed at the state website, and as well as the Department of Safety, so the Department of Safety website, all of the Department of Safety job listings are on that site. And there are openings. Definitely. So you can work with all these great people, folks. We are a bunch. A fun bunch. We have a fun bunch here at WKXL, too, but Meghan Hoskins and Austin Brown and Vanessa Palange, we certainly appreciate you taking time to be with us here today, taking time out of your busy schedules. We appreciate it. Thanks for having us. And thank you, folks, for listening here on WKXL, nhchalkradio.com. We are presented by our good friends at Northeast Delta Dental, and remember to always look on the bright side of life. Thank you. the day. Thank you. Bye. the day. (upbeat music)