by Peter Currier, intern WSU ’17
WESTFIELD – Westfield State University’s Public Safety Department performed a campus-wide lockdown drill on Tuesday to prepare students and campus police for any potential emergency situations.
At 2:17 PM an alarm sounded across campus and students were told via the emergency notification system to shelter in place, lock the door, and turn off their lights. Staff went through every building and checked each door to see if it was locked while Public Safety Officers practiced emergency protocols. The drill lasted 48 minutes.
Chris Hirtle, head of the Emergency Response Team for WSU (photo by Peter Currier).
“We have been talking about doing this for four or five months,” said Chris Hirtle, head of the Emergency Response Team for WSU. “It’s something that we haven’t done before and needed to do to see how the campus would react to a campus-wide exercise.”
Representatives from the Massachusetts State Police and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) oversaw the drill and gave input to campus police at the conclusion of the exercise.
“For the last couple of years we have been pushing for a tabletop exercise for the emergency response team every semester,” says Lieutenant Jay Hastings of the WSU Public Safety Department, “Then this came about from the Federal Requirements and Emergency Preparedness recommendations set forth from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.”
Several years ago Public Safety had performed lockdown drills for two academic buildings, but this is the first time such an exercise had included the entire campus.
Laura Phelon, WSU Public Affairs Specialist (Photo by Peter Currier).
“The idea had been thrown around a little bit, but the water incident made us realize this was something we needed to do,” says Hastings, referring to an incident in November where WSU lost all water pressure and were forced to leave two days early for Thanksgiving break.
“The Emergency Response Team meets every month and one portion of the team meets weekly to plan emergency procedures,” says Hirtle, “We give out information as much as we can and we try to be as prepared as we can.”
“Students should make sure they’re signed up for the RAVE alert system so they’re actually aware when such a situation is happening,” says Laura Phelon, WSU’sPublic Affairs Specialist.
Lieutenant Hastings says educating the public will be important to prepare for an emergency situation such as an active shooter. “Hopefully we never have to put that preparedness to a test,” he says.
“Unfortunately when people hear the word ‘drill’ they don’t take it a seriously as they should,” says Hirtle, “We would like everyone to take these drills as if it were a real emergency, follow the directions, and fully participate.”
