June 4, 2019
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…
May 20, 2019
May 2, 2019 – July 2019 (Accidental Radiological Spill Forces Extended Closure of Harborview Research & Training Building)
During a planned decommissioning of a piece of medical equipment, federal cleanup contractors accidentally spilled a small amount of highly-radioactive materials inside of the Harborview Research and Training Building. As a result and to ensure the safety of occupants and nearby personnel, the entire building was closed during the remediation and cleanup process. A Los…
April 12, 2019
Say HELLO to our newest employee: Barry Morgan
After an exhaustive nationwide search for the best-qualified candidate, we are happy to announce that we found “our guy” literally in our own backyard. Formerly, the Emergency Manager for Central Washington University, Mr. Barry W. Morgan recently accepted the position of Plans, Training and Exercise Manager. Barry started with UWEM on April 3rd and already…
Barry Morgan Bio
Barry has been selected to become UWEM’s Acting Director, effective May 2, 2023 taking over the administrative duties due to the retirement of long-time Director Steve Charvat. He previously served as the Plans, Training, and Exercise Manager for UWEM. Selected in 2019, Mr. Morgan was responsible for working with stakeholders to enhance emergency planning, as…
March 27, 2019
Snowpocalypse 2019: A podcast describing this freak event in Seattle
Want to really understand why our 10+ days of snow, ice and record cold weather in early February 2019 was so unusual? Click here to be taken to a 12-minute podcast detailing why this series of February storms were so unusual for Western Washington and how many records were broken. Courtesy of our local FOX-13…
March 18, 2019
UW Alert …or Advisory?!? How does that System Actually Work?
Ever wonder why and how the UW Alert campus notification system actually works? Who sends out those messages? How do they determine what the message is? Well, our friends at the UW Daily newspaper dispatched their finest investigative reporters out to unravel this mystery. The full feature article can be found HERE.
March 15, 2019
Off the Richter Scale … Can the Pacific Northwest prepare for the cataclysmic quake that’s coming?
Americans have long dreaded the “Big One,” a magnitude 8.0 earthquake along California’s San Andreas Fault that could one day kill thousands of people and cause billions of dollars in damage. The Big One, though, is a mere mini-me compared with the cataclysm forming beneath the Pacific Northwest. This fascinating, and yes, quite scary article…
February 20, 2019
How UW-Tacoma Tackles Winter Weather
Kudos to our partners on the Tacoma Campus in their recent battle with Ole’ Man Winter earlier this month! Like their colleagues at the Bothell and Seattle campuses (and dozens of other satellite locations throughout Western Washington), the work done behind-the-scenes by university staff is both complex and a bit magical. If you ever wanted…
February 5, 2019
February 4-13, 2019 (Record-Setting Lowland Snowstorm and Ice Trigger Closures)
Though forecasts for Seattle predicted a trace to 1″ of snow, UW students, faculty and staff woke February 4 to 2″- 4″ of snow in Seattle (and up to 10 inches in the cities to the North and East). All three UW campuses suspended operations after an assessment of transportation conditions. The snowfall, coupled with…
February 4, 2019
Looking for UW Snowstorm Information??
So, you just got the text that your UW campus has suspended operations and were wondering … “What exactly does that mean?!” Or maybe you were curious about the status of your bus route, if the street outside your office/classroom has been plowed, or how you should prepare for a cold night without heat? Well,…