Plans for Specific Contingencies

Misfortune comes in many colors. Westmont is investing its efforts in addressing those with the most significant potential impact.

Wildfire

Westmont is situated on an urban/wilderness interface. We have lost buildings in the Coyote Fire of 1964 and the Sycamore Canyon Fire of 1977. At the urging of fire and emergency response professionals, including the Montecito Fire Protection District and the County of Santa Barbara Planning Department, we have created a shelter-in-place plan to hunker down in the gym--rather than flee the campus. This is highly regarded as the safer alternative. In the Oakland Hills fires of 1988, over twenty people perished while stuck in traffic trying to evacuate. See the Executive Summary of our plan for a more complete overview of this plan.

Earthquake

California is in one of the world's most active earthquake zones. Because a major shaker here could significantly imperil our students, we are actively enhancing our quake preparedness. We already have food and other emergency supplies stored on campus, and by the time students return in the fall of 2008 we will have trained numerous employees on how to respond quickly and intelligently.

Pandemic

Although the bird flu scare of 2005-06 has moved off the front pages of the newspapers, we remain committed to readiness in the event this threat were to flare up again. Stage 0 of our plan has to do with things to be done prior to recognition of a resurgence of the flu virus, and we are continuing in those efforts. Stages 1 to 3 refer to the actions we will take as the threat moves closer to us.

Imminent Threat

We recognize that it would be foolish to say that a shooter incident "can't happen here." So even though we are--by design--uncommonly well-acquainted with the members of our community, we still intend to be poised in case a sudden violent threat erupts. Our Situation Readiness & Response Team and their backups, and our Public Safety officers, plus our Resident Life staff, have been introduced to appropriate response strategies, and we will continue to refine and strengthen our ability to quickly take decisive protective action.