October 1, 2019

UW/USC Football Game-Not all Teams were at Husky Stadium

UW Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma campus emergency officials, along with local weather service staff during half-time at the UW/USC football game.

In the early morning hours of Saturday, September 28, 2019, team members gathered, reviewed their game plans, and began a 3+hour preparation for kickoff.  But this team was on the other side of campus from Husky Stadium.  Our field of play is the university’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), located in bowels of the UW Tower complex.  Since 2013, for every home football games, the University’s EOC has activated to monitor and support safety and logistical needs between larger University and the Stadium Command Post. Each game day activation provides an excellent opportunity to tests systems, communication and procedures and provides for regular training of UWEM staff and our regional partners from the Seattle office of the National Weather Service.  The USC game was unique in that we were joined by our emergency management colleagues from the Bothell and Tacoma campuses.  By providing cross-training  for all 3 campuses in the EOC, we continue to improve our incident response capabilities to ensure that the EOC is better prepared for when the “Big One” finally hits!