Town of Charlton health staff told the Board of Health Dec. 9 they completed an all-hazards tabletop exercise and the town's public-health response framework, with paperwork submitted to meet a Dec. 31 requirement. The speaker said local emergency management, police and fire departments participated and that the town will operate warming stations and restock personal protective equipment as needed for cold-weather incidents.

The same speaker recounted three recent incidents requiring department response: a fire, a mercury release that prompted a DEP notification, and a collision early Sunday morning involving what was described as an Amazon truck and a food truck. The speaker said one person was taken to the hospital and that many boxes were damaged; because food was exposed to outside air and was frozen or compromised, it could not be used for human consumption. The speaker described the inventory and disposal process and noted the town can now use a new DEP- and Casella-approved disposal facility in Oxford, which should speed handling compared with earlier trips to Grafton.

On staffing and inspections, the department said it is continuing permit work for food trucks and inspections during a busy holiday season, a new fire inspector is expected by early January to replace Dennis Carlson (who is leaving), and the department is monitoring emerging projects such as battery storage plans. The board received these reports for information; no formal action was taken.

Representative remarks included a summary of training and submission: “We had an all hazards. We had a tabletop exercise ... Paperwork's completed.” On incident response the speaker said, "There was an accident with it. Is it an Amazon truck, and it hit a world variety products food truck. Unfortunately, all [the] food is now gone." The board emphasized that damaged or distributed food handled by municipal employees is not permitted to be kept or redistributed.

The board will continue to monitor permit work and incident follow-up and said staff will share the emergency-response paperwork with board members via email.