Guard Soldiers Complete Kingston Demolition

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National Guard demoliton of the former King's Inn in Kingston Oct. 21. Soldiers will complete the demolition Dec. 6.

KINGSTON, N.Y. (12/06/2011)(readMedia)-- Soldiers of the New York Army National Guard's 204th Engineer Battalion finish their demolition work on former Kings Inn on Tuesday, December 6.

The Army National Guard 's demolition of the deserted motel, located on Broadway, eliminates an eyesore and paves the way for development of the site.

The demolition also allowed the New York National Guard and Ulster County emergency responders to use the site for a joint civil-military emergency response drill held on Nov. 5.

Work on the site was conducted by about 25 Soldiers of the Kingston-based 1156th Vertical Engineering Company and the 827th Horizontal Construction Company, which has elements in Walton and Horseheads.

The Soldiers partially demolished the buildings on the site back in October, allowing New York National Guard emergency units and local civilian first responders to exercise a scenario in which a building has been hit by a suspected bomb.

The demolition work was also valuable training for the engineering Soldiers.

The Nov. 5 exercise involved a New York National Guard unit specially trained to respond to terrorist attacks involving chemical, biological, or radiological weapons, rescue victims, decontaminate them, and provide immediate medical care.

The Ulster County Sheriff's Office and Ulster County Health Department, as well as Kingston Police and Fire, Kingston Hospital, the New York State Police and New York City Department of Environmental Protection also participated in the Nov. 5 drill.

For more imagery related to the initial demolition visit the New York National Guard Flickr set at www.flickr.com/photos/nyng/sets/72157628057288882/ and for imagery related to the Nov. 5 exercise, visit www.flickr.com/photos/nyng/sets/72157627812574965/.