COMOX, B.C- Residents of the Comox Valley may hear some bangs this week.
That’s because of explosives being set up at the CFB Comox demolition range this month, as part of Operation Taz Runner.
The operation is part of yearly training for Canadian Forces Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams, with ten teams from across the three branches of the armed forces coming to the Valley.
According to Royal Canadian Airforce Aerospace Engineer Captain Edward Jensen, an operations officer with the Joint Explosive Threat Task Force in Ottawa, the exercise is the culmination of training for the teams, who arrive to practice and hone their existing skills.
The technicians practicing could be deployed within Canada to assist civilian police, or overseas to help allied forces. Comox is used as a training ground because it’s beneficial for domestic training, with all the facets EOD teams might encounter within the country.
Training on Wednesday shown to the press was a small-scale disposal, using an explosive ordnance disposal robot to place a shaped charge. The charge was aimed at a blue cooler serving as a suspicious device, in the back seat of an old Jeep Liberty, half covered in snow at the back end of the demolition range.
According to Jensen, the area’s recent snow didn’t pose any challenges for the training, and actually augmented it.
“Most of our technicians come from across Canada, so this is standard fare, for most of them,” said Jensen.
“It doesn’t really make a difference, just an interesting twist to the exercise, it doesn’t make it more challenging.”
The disposal was meant to minimize the damage to the “suspicious device” as materials from improvised explosive devices are meant to be collected for laboratory testing. As for the use of the robot, Jensen explained that it was used to keep the EOD technician safe.
The majority of the sounds that Valley residents might hear will be comparable to shotguns.
“They shouldn’t hear any overly large bangs,” said Jensen.
“The majority of the bangs, it’s comparable to a shotgun shot, or a gunshot, and they might hear those at intervals during the workday, and there might be a smattering of large ones, as the scenarios are diverse.”
The exercise will run until February 23rd, and got underway on February 12th.
