Protecting campus and community during and after a crisis is a mission UC Davis has in common with our surrounding communities. This year, emergency response professionals  from throughout our region had a unique opportunity for state-of-the-art training provided by national experts. The training was funded by the federal government and spearheaded by Valerie Lucus, who took the lead in obtaining a FEMA grant and generating interest among other local communities.

In February 2009, a team of campus, city and county officials traveled to Emmitsburg, Maryland, for a four-day, Community Specific Integrated Emergency Management Course hosted by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency Management Institute (EMI). UC Davis sent 24 individuals representing every administrative unit and the Medical Center. Participants included Vice Chancellors John Meyer and Stan Nosek, members of the Chancellor’s staff as well as senior staff members from OOA, ORMP, Student Affairs, University Relations and Information and Educational Technology.

Personnel from Davis, Woodland, Yolo County, the California State Office of Emergency Services, as well as nearby non-profit agencies such as the Housing Authority and the Red Cross, also made the trip – a total of 68 key responders in all.

“To get the most benefit from this specialized learning, it’s important that we all train together,” says Emergency/Continuity Manager Valerie Lucus; “It’s vital that we form strong working relationships before an emergency, because once things start happening you don’t have time to get acquainted and learn each other’s processes and capabilities.”

Classroom sessions focused on emergency preparedness and response topics such as policy, mass care, media relations, , mental health, security, public works and the role of federal and state agencies such as FEMA and California Emergency Management Agency (CAL-EMA, formerly the state Office of Emergency Services.) Then theory was put into practice in a real-time emergency exercise.

For the exercise, participants were assigned roles similar to those they would assume during a real emergency. Assistant Fire Chief Nathan Trauernicht dealt with fire, EMT and other first-responder issues while Medical Center Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Glynis Foulk, Student Health Center Medical Director Dr. Tom Ferguson, and Attending Veterinarian Dr. Vic Lukas managed human and animal health crises. Campus Utilities Director David Phillips was on, yes, utilities detail. IT Project Manager Laine Keneller worked in IT and communications support. And so on through the roster of participants.

Some, like Police Captain Joyce Souza and Fire Captain Shawn Cullen

were assigned to the control room where a cadre of seasoned emergency trainers dished out one crisis after another to test the group’s ability to respond. Cullen, along with Valerie Lucus, helped to design the practice scenarios based on their knowledge of our area.

One crisis after another

The exercise started with a “fire” at 2nd and Pole Line that knocked out power for 12,000 Davis residents, requiring that some residents be moved to temporary shelter. Then a 7.0 “earthquake” hit Bay Area sending 6000 evacuees to Yolo County in search of temporary housing. A “water main break” on campus near East Quad, requiring campus to minimize water usage, seemed almost inconsequential compared to a “dorm fire” that killed four students and injured 66. There was a “hazardous spill” in Woodland which required a hazmat cleanup, and, finally, a “train derailment” at the Richards Boulevard overcrossing in which chlorine gas was released, requiring evacuation of residents.

“Unfortunately, all of these are real-life possibilities for us,” says UC Davis Emergency Planner Diana Cox. Recalling the exercise, she says, “It was rapid-fire information, all requiring fast but careful analysis and response. Every time we seemed to be getting a handle on something, there would be a new twist – conflicting reports, incomplete information, urgent requests from a neighboring department – just as it would be in real life.”

For OOA Communication Director Barbara Brady, “It was like elaborate performance art--very hard at times to tell the difference between fiction and reality. I was in the Joint Information Center, and when reporter ‘Jack Daniels’ called up asking for a photo opp in the temporary housing at Yolo County Fairgrounds. You just went with it and started figuring out how to deal with it.”

What set this training apart was the community aspect. Our campus personnel worked side by side with those who serve similar roles for other cities and the county.

In the debrief session that followed the exercise, Nathan Trauernicht pointed out the value of having all first responder agencies in the same place. In a real situation, he said, they would have been in EOCs  scattered throughout the region. the experience will likely lead to continued  communication and coordination among the agencies. The UC Davis group also noted in the debrief that the emergency planning and practice we have done on campus over the past couple of years really helped us to function well in this training.

Two rare accomplishments

The Yolo County group received kudos from FEMA staff for a rare accomplishment and a first. They were one of only a handful of FEMA/EMI training groups to prepare a formal Incident Action Plan during the exercise. And their Joint Information Center was the first ever to use a working Web site in its emergency communications. The site is still online and you can read the exercise news releases and other information at ooa.ucdavis.edu/emi.

In addition, the WarnMe Emergency Alert system was used, live, during the exercise. In advance of the trip, Glynis Foulk created a WarnMe distribution list for the UC Davis staff who would be at the training. When chlorine gas was released in the train derailment, a WarnMe alert was sent to communicate shelter in place and evacuation instructions and to remind people to keep pets indoors.

The FEMA-sponsored course exposed the Yolo County  team to the most advanced range of best practices and response technologies available on the world stage. “Making the trip was really worthwhile,” says Valerie; “The scope and quality of the training is not something we can replicate at a local level.”

Now let’s hope we never have to use it!