October 16, 2018
Great UW ShakeOut 2018 is coming!
WHY? With all the recent catastrophic hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires impacting the US, let’s talk about the next Great UW ShakeOut. Our biggest natural hazard threat here in the Pacific Northwest is an earthquake. While Washington does not experience earthquakes as frequently as, say, California, when we are hit with the next 7, 8, or…
December 22, 2015
Holiday Hours for UWEM Office
To allow UWEM staff to enjoy the Christmas and New Years holidays with their families, UWEM will observe limited on-campus staff coverage on the following dates this year: December 24 and December 31. In case of a campus-wide emergency or incident, please call our 24/7 UWEM Duty Officer phone at 206-765-7192. HAPPY HOLIDAYS !
October 16, 2019
TODAY (10/17) @ 10:17 am: The Great Shake Out earthquake drill
Where will you be (or were you) TODAY, Thursday, October 17th at 10:17 am? Hopefully, safety tucked away under a desk or sturdy table, practicing your “DROP, COVER & HOLD ON” skills. For the 4rd year in a row, on a building-by-building voluntary basis, thousands of UW students, faculty and staff will once again be…
October 1, 2019
UW/USC Football Game-Not all Teams were at Husky Stadium
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…
September 9, 2019
September 7, 2019: Lightning storm sends Cal-Washington football game into lengthy delay
The unprecedented game delay of 2-hours and 38-minutes meant that the game did not end until after1am the next morning. Local news coverage reported that fewer than 10,000 fans remained to watch the game’s conclusion. A record number of lightning strikes in Western Washington, along with brief heavy rainfall, thunder and winds, caused localized flooding,…
August 27, 2019
Annual UW Indoor Alert Test COMING
The UW’s Crisis Communication Team, in coordination with UWEM, will be conducting a brief test of the UW’s Indoor Alert System (IAS) on Thursday, September 5th at approximately 7:00 am. This annual mandated activity will test the alarm systems in nearly 140 buildings and structures on the main Seattle campus. Expect to hear brief loud…
August 26, 2019
The Lone Star State gets another Star! Megan Levy headed east…
Texas Mutual Insurance recently hit the jackpot by hiring Megan Levy as it newest business continuity consulting partner. Sadly, Megan’s last day as the UW’s Business, Academic and Research Continuity (BARC) Manager was August 23, 2019. In her two short years with UWEM, Megan propelled the BARC program from it’s ground-level beginnings into the stratosphere!…
July 24, 2019
Annual Nationwide Alert Test on August 7, 2019
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the FCC scheduled the next nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) for August 7, 2019 at 11:20 a.m. PST. FEMA states that this year’s test will differ from the nationwide tests that have been conducted over the past several years in that it will be issued…
June 24, 2019
From the archives: UW stadium civil defense drill during WWII
While the UW prides itself in our regular schedule of emergency and disaster trainings, drills and exercises, we also recently discovered some old news footage of a massive community-wide emergency drill conducted on June 13, 1943. This daylong civil defense drill at University of Washington stadium (now called Husky Stadium) sets a faux village ablaze. …
June 5, 2019
Ready for another HOT and smoke-filled summer?! The UW “leans-forward” in its planning efforts
On June 4, 2019, a group of nearly 3O UW staff and external experts convened for the first time to begin an intensive process to plan for the likelihood of yet another hot and dry summer season in Washington State. Joined by experts from the WA State Climatologist’s Office, the WA State Department of Health,…
June 4, 2019
UW Leadership Convenes to Plan for the Unthinkable
Early in the early morning hours of May 28, 2019, most of us were slowly transitioning back our normal routines after a long Memorial Day holiday. However, members of the UW’s senior leadership team took this opportunity to meet in the campus emergency operations center (EOC) to learn, discuss and share information on the importance…
Clayton Brainerd elected ERC Vice Chair
The Emergency Readiness Committee unanimously elected Mr. Clayton Brainerd, Analyst in the UW Facilities Partner Resources Department, as its first Vice Chairperson during its May 2, 2019 meeting. Immediately prior to his election, the ERC updated its governance Charter, which included a new provision requiring that the Committee elect a Vice Chair as part of…