MySafe:LA Great ShakeOut at Dearborn Elementary

| Official Page

October 20, 2016, 4 am - 12 pm, Drill at Dearborn Elementary School

Event Location:
Dearborn Elementary School
9240 Wish Avenue
Northridge, CA 91325 (Map)

Event Contact:
Todd Leitz, MySafe:LA, todd.leitz@mysafela.org, 213-379-0021

No contact information available.

Summary:
MySafe:LA and the Los Angeles Fire Department, along with the Earthquake Country Alliance, will team up for a drill at an LAUSD elementary school that prepares first responders, students and teachers, and community-members for the "Big One." The drill will include students professionally made-up to look like they've been injured in the quake, and simulated post-quake scenarios managed by the teachers and the first-in LAFD fire company. This is the primary ShakeOut Day media event in Los Angeles and will include a press conference, The Big Shaker earthquake simulator, information tables and demonstrations on the 7 Steps to Earthquake Safety for the media.


Full Description:
MySafe:LA and the Los Angeles Fire Department, along with the Earthquake Country Alliance, will conduct a challenging, realistic and visually dynamic “Great California ShakeOut” Drill at the LAUSD’s Dearborn Elementary School in LA’s Northridge area on October 20th, 2016. The event — the PRIMARY ShakeOut Day media event in Southern California — will have several components. 

3:30 A.M. PST - MEDIA EVENT
To accommodate the early morning news shows in LA and beyond, there will be a media area that opens on campus, offering great visuals and live-shots of the Big Shaker Earthquake Simulator, CPR demonstrations, and fire extinguisher training along with subject matter experts prepared to do one-on-one interviews. Public education opportunities  include “7 Steps to Earthquake Safety”, securing your space, Drop, Cover and Hold On, and what to do about gas, power and water after the “Big One."

8:05 A.M. PST - CLASSROOM EXPERIMENT
4th grade students in classroom #7 will do a science experiment about earthquake resilient structures. This class will be available to the media.

8:30 A.M. PST -PRESS CONFERENCE
The Earthquake Country Alliance will host a Great California ShakeOut News Conference, including several earthquake readiness experts.

9:00 A.M. PST - EDUCATION PRESENTATION
MySafe:LA, the fire and life safety education partner of the Los Angeles Fire Department, will conduct an educational presentation in the school auditorium on earthquakes and a demonstration of “Drop, Cover, and Hold On”.

10:20 A.M. PST - SHAKEOUT DRILL WITH LAUSD AND LAFD
Several school classrooms will be available for the media to capture the moment the “Big One” hits, and students and staff execute the “Drop, Cover and Hold On” drill. When the “shaking” stops, the school will be evacuated under LAUSD protocol, and faculty and staff will set up a command post on campus to begin their search and rescue operation.  During that operation, they will discover dozens of students and staffers are missing and/or injured.  The LAFD will be called and will respond in “degraded mode” to set up their own Incident Command Post, and begin their scene size up and search and rescue operation.  They will find students and staff with various realistic “injuries", created by a team of Hollywood Moulage Artists. Firefighters will have to assess, triage, treat and transport the “injured”.

Also during the search and rescue, first responders will discover a classroom on fire, and will have to manage that, while also dealing with the discovery of some type of hazardous material issue in a Chemistry class.

Finally, an adult staff-member will collapse somewhere on campus with an apparent cardiac event, which will require emergency intervention.

Each of these “events” within the drill will be timed to challenge first responders and school officials, while giving reporters, photographers, and writers a chance to get to the area where the new “emergency” is happening.