District 93's Emergency Response Plan

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Story Published: Oct 13, 2008 at 5:56 PM MST

Story Updated: Dec 18, 2008 at 3:01 PM MST

By Araksya Karapetyan

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BONNEVILLE COUNTY - District 93, has drafted a 40 pages "Emergency Operations Plan". The goal is to finalize it by next week, then all 21 schools within the district will take it from there.

"Typically the biggest issue we have is never think about an Emergency Plan until it's too late," says Brian Armes, Bridgewater Principal.

That's what District 93 is hoping to change. The old plan isn't good enough anymore.

"In the older days, we would get under a desk, duck, and cover, those days are gone," says Armes.

Another thing that'll be gone, is the current "sheltering in place" option.

"All of the supplies to take care of the kids are stored in an off sight facility, if emergency involves roads being closed, you shelter kids in a place and don't have any way to get the supplies there," says Jon Walker, Division Chief.

Now the supplies will be kept on sight.
The goal is to make this plan more uniform from school to school.

"It becomes personalized to the school to surrounding logistical area," says Armes.

These days the list of emergencies are getting longer, but how you respond shouldn't.

"A plan like this, is meant to do it to give you a handful of selected options rather than making it up as you go along," says Armes.

And in order to get everyone board, Bonneville County also hopes to change a few things.

"Currently the law enforcement, fire department, and EMS are on different radio frequencies, which keeps us from communicating directly, we have to go through the dispatch center," says Walker.

Getting on the same frequency will speed up response time, and that can make all the difference in an emergency.

"Often times it's not hours, but minutes that determine a life is saved," says Walker.

Whether it's something rare, or something common, District 93 is ready.

The last time an emergency plan was updated was back when the Columbine shooting happened.
In fact, a plan didn't even exist before then.
District 93 plans on annually updating theirs and going through training regularly.

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