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Ice Storm Crises Require Emergency Response from Facilities Services
Oak Creek emergency evacuation plans enhanced by OSU collaboration
DPS develops classroom emergency response guide with Provost’s Office

 

Ice Storm Crises Require Emergency Response from Facilities Services

Vice President Mike Green greatly appreciates all who worked during January storm

OSU’s dedicated Facilities Services team worked around the clock through January’s winter storm to maintain critical building systems and manage multiple emergency issues on campus. Issues included significant flooding in Richardson and Gilbert Halls due to frozen pipes and equipment.

During five days of subfreezing temperatures, Facilities employees were onsite and responding to a huge number of calls – power outages, a failed generator, water leaks, flooding and multiple downed trees, just to name a few. Energy Center team members slept on site in order to ensure adequate on-site coverage and keep the university’s critical steam system online.

Cleanup continued after the storm with extra care taken to clear building entrances and ADA ramps in order to return the Corvallis campus to normal operations as quickly as possible. Please join in extending  heartfelt thanks to the Facilities Services team for their incredible commitment to OSU’s grounds and people.

Oak Creek emergency evacuation plans enhanced by OSU's collaboration

The university, with support from University Land Use Planning and the Office of Leasing and Strategic Real Property Management and the recently joined community partners including the Benton County Commissioners, Corvallis Rural Fire Protection District and the Oregon Department of Forestry in creating a wildfire evacuation route for residents of the Oak Creek Valley neighborhood, located northwest of the Benton County Fairgrounds.

The project began two years ago after residents of the Oak Creek Valley neighborhood brought their concerns regarding wildfire danger to Benton County officials. The neighborhood is set back in a densely treed area, with NW Oak Creek Dr. as the single exit route out to NW Harrison Blvd.

The university offered access to a limited-use service road through the OSU Sheep Center property to create an alternate evacuation route for the Oak Creek Valley neighborhood. The gravel road connects NW Oak Creek Dr. with NW Ponderosa Ave, creating a second exit point out of the area.

At a January event to celebrate the project’s completion, Senior Associate Vice President of Administration Paul Odenthal praised OSU’s team for successfully prioritizing community safety while balancing research needs at the Sheep Center.

DPS develops classroom emergency response guide with Provost’s Office

The Department of Public Safety has released a staff and faculty emergency incident response guide for use in classrooms. The project was a joint effort between DPS and the Office of the Provost. It provides direction for navigating emergency situations along with a script for faculty to use when explaining emergency procedures to students.

Emergency Preparedness Manager Mike Bamberger collaborated closely with Associate Director of Campus Safety Lanell Garbini at OSU-Cascades to develop the materials distributed to contacts across OSU.

“We wanted to support faculty, who have the greatest interaction with students, by giving them information that helps them lead students in an incident,” Bamberger said. “The guide, which is designed to be read at the beginning of every term to each class, will ensure everyone has key information to protect themselves if something happens on campus.”

Last Updated: 
02/19/2024