Campus emergency plans improving
If an earthquake, fire or extended power outage were to hit Utah State University, the campus would be fairly well-prepared.
Preparations are continuously being made to ensure that there will be safe buildings and available services in case of an emergency.
“I think we’re pretty prepared,” said University Police Sgt. Lynn Wright, campus emergency management coordinator. “Without a doubt, if we have a disaster I don’t think we will be as much prepared as we would like to be.”
Wright said the university could always make preparation for a disaster but would never be able to prepare for all of the effects of an earthquake or fire.
Work and repairs to update the school’s infrastructure and facilities are always being made to keep the campus as well-prepared as possible, said Vice President for Facilities Darrell Hart.
“We’ve done an awful lot of stuff, a lot of work,” Hart said. “This is a work in progress.”
Hart cited the improvements to the underground steam lines as change that would help the campus in an emergency.
“If we had a seismic event today, our underground utility systems are in so much better shape, we’d probably be less vulnerable,” Hart said. “Five, six, seven years ago, our underground systems were leaking and in pretty poor condition, in a seismic event you’d have probably had much more disruption to those lines.”
Hart said the need for updated steam lines became apparent after doing an aerial infrared scan of campus. The map that was created showed the differences in temperature around campus. The areas above the steam lines were much warmer than other areas, showing leaks in the
system.
Aside from campus infrastructure, Hart said there are some buildings that are outdated, like the Agricultural Science and Animal Science buildings. Future renovations to those buildings will bring them up to code much like when Old Main was renovated.
“The buildings on campus are up to code based on the time they were built,” Hart said. “There’s a difference between what was required in the 1960s and 1970s and what is required today.
“We’ve got an awful lot of buildings that were built prior to that time that wouldn’t meet today’s seismic requirements, as we renovate those buildings, we fix it,” he said.
Wright said there is the option of retrofitting buildings so they are up to code, or there is the option of having the occupants of each building prepared for whatever disasters they might face.
“It’s either going to take millions of dollars to retrofit and bring [the building] to code or you can just plan, say if something happens, this is what we’re going to do in this building,” Wright said. “We’ve got to have a plan of where we can take care of ourselves.”
In preparations, Wright said individuals should avoid areas of potential hazard.
“We make sure our bookshelves don’t tip over on us,” he said. “Are our computers strapped down so they don’t become a missile that could hurt?
“Try and minimize, mitigate things as much as you possibly can,” he said.
Wright said it has been 40 years since the last major earthquake in Cache Valley, and said that temblor wasn’t really a major quake. There comes a point that people need to ask themselves if all the money spent on preparations is worth it.
“I just think that everybody could be a little more prepared,” he said.
Wright suggested individuals take a first-aid class and learn CPR and other basic lifesaving techniques.
“Nothing is more frustrating than to have a child that is seriously injured and you’re sitting there waiting for the ambulance because you don’t know exactly what to do,” Wright said. “Just a little first-aid training might go a long way in extending the life of that individual.”
Along with having first-aid training, Wright said individuals should have 72 hours worth of supplies available to sustain themselves in an emergency.
“Just some basic, common-sense things will go a long way to help in a major disaster,” he said. “Just a little preparation, store under the bed, store some things that don’t take a lot of room so that you can get by for 72 hours.”
Wright said the campus is currently preparing personnel for an emergency by going through each department and having them develop a response plan for their buildings. In the event of a disaster, staff will account for everybody as much as possible. Wright said staff and faculty would be easy to account for, but there is no way to account for students because after a building is evacuated, many students will scatter.
Most buildings on campus also have staff members who are certified members of the Campus Emergency Response Team (CERT).
“We have over 300 people that we’ve trained on campus and they’re scattered throughout the buildings,” Wright said. “These individuals have gone through 21 hours of disaster medical, fire, psychology and search and rescue [training], so that in the event that we do have a disaster we’ve got a core of people in the buildings that are trained.”
Wright said many smaller injuries could be treated by members of CERT instead of calling paramedics who would be overwhelmed in an emergency situation.
“There are some buildings without them [CERT], our goal is to have a team that has been through the training in each building,” Wright said.
A team would ideally consist of four or five individuals.
USU has faced emergencies in the past and will be able to handle them again in the future.
“We’ve had cold weather, we’ve had high winds and we’ve done real well in those situations,” Wright said. “If everybody is on campus and all of a sudden something comes on and we get caught in the cold and the dark then we’d probably have to see if we could get everybody together in a building and provide resources for that.
“I think we’re in real good shape.”
-str@cc.usu.edu