On Monday, NC State Emergency Management and Mission Continuity (EMMC) held a preparedness drill at Carmichael Gym in order to simulate what the university would do in a real emergency and prepare for the future.
The drill simulated an emergency response to a chlorine chemical leak. The goal of the drill was to practice emergency responses in case of a future emergency with the NC State University Police Department, along with other community partners.
Justine Hollingshead, chief of staff for the Division of Academic and Student Affairs, emphasized the drill exists to prepare multiple groups for an emergency.
“[It was as] much of a drill for public safety, police, fire and EMS, as much as it was for campus,” Hollingshead said.
The other community partners involved in the drill included the Raleigh Fire Department and hazmat unit, Wake County EMS and the Duke Raleigh hospital. The drill was not only to practice campus procedures, but also to work with the Raleigh community on public safety response procedures.
The drill was held in the parking lot behind Carmichael Gymnasium so that it would be out of the way from the public. The location was picked strategically.
“The location is sometimes selected based on the least amount of impact on daily operations for campus,” Hollingshead said. “When you are doing a drill you don’t want to tie up a main focus point like Talley.”
The location was also chosen for logical reasons. The pool made sense because the drill focused on reacting to a chlorine leak.
“We were mindful in picking a location that would not be too impactful for operations,” Hollingshead said. “The other piece was based on the scenario of a chlorine gas leak so you have to have a location that would be utilizing that particular chemical, which would be the pool.”
Since the event was a simulation and not a real emergency, WolfAlerts were not issued and no evacuations took place. Other than no access to the parking lot behind the gym, no road closures took place either.
Students on campus would not be the only group impacted in an emergency. Many people in the Raleigh community work at the university and attend events on campus. Public safety for all is a number one safety concern for NC State officials and the Raleigh emergency response teams.
Mick Kulikowski, the assistant director for news and national media coordinator, spoke to the importance of having these drills in case of an actual emergency taking place.
“It is important to have these drills because they are a way to prepare in case of an emergency situation arising,” Kulikowski said. “It is important to know how to react and know how to work together to be prepared.”
Since many NC State operations work with operations in Raleigh, local responders were also involved. The involvement of both groups helped to establish clear communication of what to do in the event of an emergency.
Other emergency drills in the past have focused on different situations that could arise. A detailed description of evacuation policies, how to prepare at home and other information can be found on the EMMC webpage.
