Four Types of Evacuations

Stay in Place

The first type of evacuation is known as stay in place and is used during a chemical or biological attack. You should stay inside your building. Do not go outside. If a chemical agent is used, you will be advised to go to the highest floor in your building because the chemical is probably “heavy” and will not tend to go up. Other “stay in place” situations may call for going to the lowest floor possible in the building. These upper and lower floors will be designated “safe areas” within each building.

The Facilities Department is responsible for turning off the HVAC systems in each building, if warranted.
Once inside the safe areas, your options for communication with the outside world may be limited depending on circumstances. In the event that we are incommunicado, DPS officers will know where to find us when it is safe to come out. We will not attempt to seal windows with duct tape and plastic.

Most of the time, we should expect to be in a safe area not more than 6 to 8 hours. The maximum amount of time we should expect to be there is 48 hours. Please refer to page 75-77 for information concerning the safe areas for each building on campus. Know the safe areas in the buildings you use. Go to the designated safe areas when requested to do so.

Building Evacuation

The second type of evacuation is a building evacuation. We use this when we do regular fire drills. Everyone must leave a building and move to an outside assembly area. Go outside to the assembly area and wait for DPS to advise when it is safe to re-enter the building. Know the fastest routes for evacuating your building. Plan your routes now.

Campus Evacuation

The third type of evacuation is a campus evacuation. In this event, we will move to the Field House as our primary site and the GUKCC as the secondary site. In the event of a campus evacuation, it will be important for us to account for everyone. Please communicate with your colleagues and friends about your whereabouts. If a disaster strikes, and we know where you are, we can spare your family and relatives a lot of needless anxiety.

City Evacuation

The fourth type of evacuation is a city evacuation. In this event, the Crisis Leadership Team will report to the Field House. Maps of city evacuation routes will be available but we advise you to have them handy in advance. Depending on how much time we have, various procedures will be implemented. DPS officers are responsible for opening the gates, as needed. Priority use of University buses will be given to students at KDES and MSSD and to people with disabilities.