WWU to test earthquake preparedness Wednesday, April 21

Test to Include Steam Whistle, Western Alert Notification System

Western Washington University plans to test its capability to quickly and effectively respond to an earthquake during a drill on Wednesday, April 21, that also will involve a test of its emergency steam whistle and notification system known as Western Alert.

The city of Bellingham is holding a community wide damage assessment exercise intended to engage willing community partners in the process of developing and testing damage assessment capabilities during disaster events.

Western employees will participate in the on-campus damage assessment exercise. Participants will simulate evaluation of damage to the WWU campus, and communication of WWU’s situation to the community’s emergency operations center.

The exercise will begin at 9:45 a.m. on April 21. At that time, the “Big Ole” steam whistle will sound for several minutes and a test message will be sent out to students, faculty, and staff via campus e-mail and cell phone text messaging. Test messages will also be posted on the university’s homepage at http://www.wwu.edu and the Emergency Information Web site at http://emergency.wwu.edu.

A text message is one of the most reliable ways to quickly provide emergency information. Even if users do not regularly text on their cell phones, most phones are capable of receiving text information. Western students, faculty and staff who have not yet registered to receive Western Alerts via text message are asked to update their personal information via Web4U. Employees may also call the Human Resources Department at 650-3774 for assistance in signing up.

To date, 83 percent of WWU students, 55 percent of staff and 40 percent of faculty members have provided their cell phone numbers to Web4U to receive emergency text messages.

In the April 21 exercise, Western students, faculty and staff also are being asked to consider the steam whistle a reminder of the opportunity to practice their drop, cover and hold earthquake preparations. For more information, see the Washington state Preparedness Web site.

The steam whistle, affectionately known in Whatcom County as “Big Ole,” was cast from aluminum-bronze by the Bellingham Bay Iron Works in 1899. The 2,000-pound, five-foot whistle operated at the local lumber mill on the waterfront at the foot of Cornwall Avenue until 1942 when that mill closed. In May 2002 the whistle was recovered from the Bloedel, Stewart-Welch’s Division at Port Alberni, B.C. which operated it until 1997. The steam whistle was installed at the Encogen NW Cogeneration Plant at Cornwall Avenue, where it was operational and blown on several special occasions, such as the Fourth of July. Several years ago, Western worked in cooperation with the Whatcom Museum to relocate the steam whistle to the University’s Steam Plant.