CATCHING FIRE – Students learn how to extinguish a fire during a Southwestern College preparedness drill, part of a new comprehensive safety plan.
Photo by Serina Duarte

Disasters on college campuses from Santa Monica to Virginia Tech have forced security professionals to write a new playbook. Southwestern College is working on a new draft.

This spring SWC Police Chief Michael Cash conducted an emergency preparedness drill with about 40 student workers, volunteers and campus police.

“Everything turned out great and the students learned a lot,” said Cash. “This was a trial run to see if this type of drill would work and it did. I hope to do drills like this more often during the school year.”

SWC’s Readiness Operational Active Response (ROAR) focuses on teamwork to respond quickly in case of an emergency, said Cash. Participants met in the Student Union and went through live drills for fires, earthquakes and an active shooter.

Larry Lambert, online instructional support specialist, was one of the presenters and later played the shooter.
“Emergency preparedness is a necessity,” he said. “We should have had a drill like this sooner because we have had to deal with dangerous situations on campus.”

Tanya Lozano was one of the students that participated in the drill.

“It was crazy and unexpected to deal with these situations,” she said. “It was one thing to be told what to do and another thing to actually live through all of these situations.”

One exercise dealt with earthquakes. Students walked into a dark, smokey room and had to rescue victims underneath rubble.

Instructional Assistant Todd Williamson told students to remain calm, shelter in place, rescue and evacuate.

“Never try to venture off on your own,” he said. “Try to wait it out and tap on walls and stick clothes out of a window to be found. Always help the disabled and follow designated evacuation routes to avoid getting lost or hurt.”
Training Services Coordinator Andre Ortiz gave a lecture on proper procedures for fires, including use of extinguishers.

“Never fight a fire without the proper equipment,” he said. “Make sure when using an extinguisher you are aiming at the base of the flame and sweeping side-to-side.”

Students were later surprised when they walked into room 214 and found Lambert portraying the role of an active gunman firing a cap gun at them. Most students responded quickly and correctly.

Cash complemented students on how well they did and said he was pleased with the drill.