This page simply outlines our planning process.
For immediate response ACTIONS or for Crisis INFORMATION - click here.

Emergency Planning

Much progress has been made on numerous aspects of preparedness since the college established the Situation Readiness & Response Team in 2001. The eight-member SRT meets over twenty times a year to continue enhancing our ability to respond nimbly and compassionately to any crucial event. Click these titles for a summary of some things we already have in place.

In 2008, Westmont undertook development of a state-of-the-art Critical Incident Management Plan (CIMP). When the three-year initiative is completed, the CIMP will provide for a comprehensive, coordinated response to business interruptions of any nature.

Because of the unpredictable nature of developing crises, and the wide range of human responses, even the best planning cannot prevent an element of chaos as a dynamic situation unfolds. Without overlooking that no circumstance escapes the sovereignty of God, we aim to have in place the fundamental systems, supplies and training that will be a flexible framework for the creative solutions that must be crafted "on the fly."

Communication

Internal methods include:

  • Advance Education
    • Website
    • Residence Hall sessions
    • Chapel ads
    • Horizon ads
    • Dorm flyers
    • Drills
  • Response Channels
    • Notification system (IRIS; includes email, text messages, phone calls; pre-planned messages)
    • Walkie-talkies; multi-frequency professional radios; satellite phones; bullhorns; fire alarms
    • Emergency agency radios and scanners
    • Building wardens; word of mouth; phone tree
    • Website; Crisis Hotline (888/565-7911); remote web and voicemail servers

Target audiences include:

  • Students
  • Faculty
  • Staff
  • Response Teams
  • Executive Team
  • Emergency agencies
  • Parents
  • Media
  • Trustees
  • Alumni
  • Neighbors
  • Construction workers
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Readiness

Advance preparedness elements include: [see footnote re Urban Program*]

  • Training: primary responders, plus four additional levels of backup for each; organized by Incident Command System roles
  • Equipment: go-kits; earthquake and wildfire supply caches
  • Information systems and resources: rosters; satellite dishes
  • Facilities: three sites prepared to serve as Emergency Operations Centers; access keys and codes
  • Active agency cooperation: Montecito Fire; County Sheriff; City and County Offices of Emergency Services; California Highway Patrol; Red Cross
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Wildfire

Our mantra is "Go to the Gym". Here's why:

  • The Gym won’t burn. There's plenty of open space around.
  • The Gym is a designated safe zone. Police will be sending neighbors here.
  • The Fire Department says to stay. The experts are convinced the planned shelter is the safest place for us to be. The concept has been well proven elsewhere.
  • Our fields will be used by firefighters, as in the Sycamore Canyon Fire when they used the campus as their main base of operations. They'll protect their fire camp.
  • Safer here than in your car. Lives were lost fleeing the Oakland Hills and Riverside fires.
For more specifics about our wildfire plan, click here.
Earthquake

Because the disaster planning experts often say, "The first 72 are up to you", our target is to provide the basics (life-sustaining shelter, nutrition, hydration, and medical care) for up to 1,200 people for up to three days. Most of the required supplies are already in place, yet we constantly increase our inventory and expand our training.

  • Supplies include shelter, hydration & nutrition, sanitation & hygiene, basic medical, communications, lighting and office material.
  • Plans are based upon the national standard Incident Command System, and include key elements of shelter mobilization and management as practiced by the American Red Cross.
For more specifics about our earthquake plan, click here.
Active Shooter

While we have an idyllic setting and a terrific cadre of high quality students, we don't believe that
"It can't happen here." We maintain a very good finger on the pulse of our student body, but we still want to be poised to guard our students' safety as much as possible. To that end, our preparations include the following:

  • Set up a coordinated review plan so that our Student Life, Residence Life, Campus Life, Health Center and Counseling Center (along with our College Counsel) collaborate to identify and support students who may need extra encouragement and guidance
  • Established a net work of Building Wardens to promptly take advantage of available security
  • Invested in the IRIS Notification System for rapid distribution of alert messages
  • Offer students ready access to the training video titled "Shots Fired on Campus", an excellent primer on how to respond if the unthinkable occurs
 
Travel Abroad

One of our five key mission aims is that our students become global citizens. To encounter and process one's experience of other cultures is a vital part of achieving that aim. Hundreds of students are outside the US every year. Among the ways we guard their safety are these:

  • Pre-travel orientation programs for students and faculty, dealing with safety, cross-cultural sensitivity, and so on
  • Special insurance policies designed for foreign travel exposure
  • Advance arrangements for assistance with medical or political evacuations
  • Expectation management through use of participation agreements, travel manuals, health care forms
  • An eight-party network of advisors to assist with whatever situation may arise (international assistance provider; security consultant; crisis management team; and others)
 
Other Elements

Our Critical Incident Management Plan will include the essentials of business continuity planning (to enable swift post-incident recovery). We will also enhance our readiness for a wide range of eventualities, including:

  • Pandemic
  • Building fire
  • Construction accident
  • Flood
  • Other threats
  • Hazmat / Utility incident
  • Death or major injury on campus
  • Medical / psychological situations
  • Bomb threat
For additional information about Westmont's Emergency Procedures, click here.

 

* - The San Francisco Urban Program campus participates in regular earthquake training and education, and is equipped with shelter and nutrition supplies for use in the event of earthquake. [Return to Readiness section above]