From bomb threats to bad weather, WSU has a plan in place.

The Emergency Management Structure (EMS) is responsible for responding to emergency situations on campus. Mike Gaffney, emergency management coordinator, said the team responds to a range of situations.

“We are always concerned about hazardous materials, crime and disorder and individual acts that threaten safety on campus,” Gaffney said. “But also big events elsewhere like an earthquake on the West side or a volcano event around Vancouver. In the event of this we probably will have limited access to supplies and we will still have a campus population to maintain safety and security for.”

He said the goal of the EMS is to be able to respond to events of all scales and locations.

EMS includes three different teams: core emergency team, critical incident management team and full emergency operations team. Each team responds differently.

“We got in place a nice structure that is flexible and scalable so that we can deal with something as relatively mundane as a snowstorm and the impacts it might have on campus,” Gaffney said.

With the colder months approaching, snowstorms are a concern. In the past, however, weather has not presented a significant problem for the EMS.

There is a subset of the critical incident management team that is specifically designed to handle weather. This subset includes six to eight members who work together to present recommendations to WSU President Elson S. Floyd, who decides the next step, Gaffney said.

“The only times we have actually had those conversations, or had a weather closure, are for severe winter weather, but the same process would apply for any severe weather,” he said.

They consider campus safety and the safety of faculty, students and staff who live off campus and have transportation issues.

When it comes to winter weather, the team addresses highway conditions, the National Weather Service perspective, school closures, traffic problems, and emergency vehicle access to campus.

“That conversation happens at about 4:30 a.m.,” Gaffney said. “Any member of the team can initiate a call. If we know that there is potential severe weather, we will schedule in advance.”

He said some members get up even earlier to check for information on the storm in order to understand the severity and its potential impact on campus.

After the discussion, the Pullman Police Chief typically has a conversation with Floyd, Gaffney said, who then communicates with the police department and finally to the Whitman County Sheriff’s Office.

Cmdr. Chris Tennant, Pullman Police Department, said “We work with Public Works to divert traffic, close roads, maintain barricades, and come up with alternate routes for traffic.”

He said certain streets like Monroe and Hall Drive are extremely hazardous in the snow, so the police department usually closes down these roads until they are made safe.

The Pullman Fire Department also plays a role in helping with bad weather. Fire Chief Mike Heston said Pullman is well taken care of during inclement weather, but weather becomes a problem out in the county. 

The fire department works with the Department of Transportation to send snow plows to Pullman and throughout the county to help clear the roads. 

“Even if the roads are closed it doesn’t change our operations,” Heston said. “We are still out rolling and doing our thing, we just use more chains.”

The EMS not only handles emergency situations on campus, but also tries to get information out to the WSU community.

A text notification system is set up for students, faculty and staff to get emergency updates to their phones when an emergency is underway.

To enable emergency text updates, go to alert.wsu.edu.