Editors: Reporters or photographers who want to attend the training exercise should contact Tom Carney at (303) 492-5162 to get identification.
An emergency training exercise at the University of Colorado at Boulder the morning of Saturday, Oct. 21, may limit access to parking lot 436 and the Regent Autopark, located north and east of the Public Safety building, but will not disrupt campus operations, according to Tom Carney, emergency management coordinator for the university.
The mock emergency is part of an ongoing training program for CU-Boulder staff members who are likely to respond in cases of actual emergencies on campus.
The simulated event will involve the spill of a flammable solvent in a delivery truck making a routine pickup at CU-Boulder聮s Environmental Health and Safety building, which is south of the Regent Autopark and the Public Safety building on the east side of campus.
In the simulated incident, the spill will be contained in the truck and the driver, who is overcome by fumes, will be found by an Environmental Health and Safety employee shortly afterward. The employee will call 911 and trigger a full emergency response as if a spill actually had occurred and was considered a potential threat.
Responding will be the Boulder Fire Department, PrideMark Ambulance, CU Police, the Boulder County Hazardous Material Team and CU聮s Environmental Health and Safety department.
The chemical that spills in the training scenario is one that, if actually released, would quickly vaporize and would not threaten people who did not come in direct contact with it. No actual chemical will be used in the exercise.
According to Carney, mock exercises are one of the best ways to teach staff members how to respond quickly and effectively in emergency situations.
"Exercises provide the best test of emergency plans, and the lessons we learn in exercises prevent us from making similar mistakes in actual incidents," he said. "If we don聮t practice our plans and incident command in training exercises, we won聮t be able to use those plans and the incident command system in an emergency."
The exercise, which begins at 8 a.m. and runs until noon, is being conducted in coordination with the Boulder Local Emergency Planning Committee and the Boulder Multiple Agency Coordinating Systems group. It is the annual exercise for the Local Emergency Planning Committee.