Spring Break
Chaos creates order
Western Illinois University holds emergency exercise to prepare for worst-case scenario
Kenneth Woods
Issue date: 6/10/09 Section: News
Western Illinois University conducted a full-scale emergency plan that involved a simulated shooting in Waggoner Hall and a chemical spill in Currens Hall on May 27.
Western Illinois conducted the activity in collaboration with the McDonough County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency (ESDA) and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA).
With multiple threats occurring at Western Illinois in the past year, this exercise served as a vital procedure to evaluate how to properly handle such an incident.
"It's a great opportunity for us to practice with not only our local responders and our response protocols but also to look at our own university emergency operations plans and fill the gaps in our preparedness," said Assistant Vice President of Administrative Services Dana Biernbaum.
Authorities wanted to make the exercise as real as possible and there were 100 students from the Great Lakes Naval Academy who acted as students for the event. Zachary Gifford was one of the actors and said he was in Waggoner Hall when the shooters took aim.
"They started shooting and I wasn't shot and there were many people shot in the hallway," Gifford said. "The police came in and told us to lay down. We laid and sat there while the cops took custody of one shooter and I don't know what happened to the other one."
The police had several scenarios thrown at them to see how they would perform under pressure.
"It was chaos; the hallway was filled with people who were shot," Gifford said. "There were people screaming, we were told to scream and make it more real trying to get in the cops' way to confuse them. The cops didn't know what was going on so it was cool seeing them have to react to what were doing and the people running around, telling us to get down, go over there," Gifford added.
There was also a third shooter who was not on location at Waggoner Hall but had information about a chemical spill in Currens Hall across the street. Dan Kreps, the McDonough County ESDA Coordinator said they had to follow protocol with the third suspect.
"We had to keep that subject alive so they could interview him to find out the intelligence information to get responding agencies over to Currens Hall," Kreps said.
Biernbaum seemed pleased with the outcome of the exercise and said they had been planning it the entire year.
"It's giving us a great opportunity to play it out and make those decisions in a simulated environment," Biernbaum said. "Where we see gaps in our preparedness, we will adjust our plans going forward."
"It also gives state and local responding agencies a chance to practice their tactical response procedures," Biernbaum added. "We look forward to turning lessons learned into better emergency plans for the university."
Western Illinois conducted the activity in collaboration with the McDonough County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency (ESDA) and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA).
With multiple threats occurring at Western Illinois in the past year, this exercise served as a vital procedure to evaluate how to properly handle such an incident.
"It's a great opportunity for us to practice with not only our local responders and our response protocols but also to look at our own university emergency operations plans and fill the gaps in our preparedness," said Assistant Vice President of Administrative Services Dana Biernbaum.
Authorities wanted to make the exercise as real as possible and there were 100 students from the Great Lakes Naval Academy who acted as students for the event. Zachary Gifford was one of the actors and said he was in Waggoner Hall when the shooters took aim.
"They started shooting and I wasn't shot and there were many people shot in the hallway," Gifford said. "The police came in and told us to lay down. We laid and sat there while the cops took custody of one shooter and I don't know what happened to the other one."
The police had several scenarios thrown at them to see how they would perform under pressure.
"It was chaos; the hallway was filled with people who were shot," Gifford said. "There were people screaming, we were told to scream and make it more real trying to get in the cops' way to confuse them. The cops didn't know what was going on so it was cool seeing them have to react to what were doing and the people running around, telling us to get down, go over there," Gifford added.
There was also a third shooter who was not on location at Waggoner Hall but had information about a chemical spill in Currens Hall across the street. Dan Kreps, the McDonough County ESDA Coordinator said they had to follow protocol with the third suspect.
"We had to keep that subject alive so they could interview him to find out the intelligence information to get responding agencies over to Currens Hall," Kreps said.
Biernbaum seemed pleased with the outcome of the exercise and said they had been planning it the entire year.
"It's giving us a great opportunity to play it out and make those decisions in a simulated environment," Biernbaum said. "Where we see gaps in our preparedness, we will adjust our plans going forward."
"It also gives state and local responding agencies a chance to practice their tactical response procedures," Biernbaum added. "We look forward to turning lessons learned into better emergency plans for the university."
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