Neighborhood Evacuation Exercise Planned for June 19
June 16, 2021 - Emergency preparedness officials in Corvallis and Benton County are planning a large-scale evacuation drill on June 19 for selected neighborhoods in the city and county. The exercise was developed in partnership with neighborhood associations that expressed interest in gaining hands-on experience and helping emergency managers work through procedures that could be used in the event of a real evacuation. The exercise was developed by the Corvallis Fire Department and the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.
Participating neighborhoods prepared for the exercise by taking part in webinars with emergency management officials starting in January to lay the groundwork for this exercise.
The exercise will take place from 9 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 19.
A series of mass notification messages will be sent through Linn-Benton Alert and Corvallis Alert to work through the evacuation steps using the Ready - Set - Go messaging that has been used widely throughout Oregon to communicate during an emergency.
- The first alert – Level 1, Be Ready – will be sent at 6 p.m. June 18
- The second alert – Level 2, Get Set – will be sent at 8 a.m. June 19
- The third alert – Level 3, GO – will be sent between 9 a.m. and noon June 19 to signal the beginning of the evacuation drill.
While these alerts are targeted towards specific neighborhoods, some overlap may occur with community members who have registered for the alert systems but are outside of the exercise area.
After receiving the notifications, community members in the participating neighborhoods will walk through the process of evacuating their homes and traveling to one of two temporary evacuation sites, where they will check in with emergency management officials. Organizers will host a community-wide webinar after the event to provide a formal debrief to participants and interested community members.
This exercise follows a smaller drill in 2019 that provided helpful information for preparedness planners. Since then, the wildland fires in 2020 have only increased the interest among community members in helping to plan for these unexpected, high-impact events.
For more information on emergency preparedness in Corvallis, please visit www.corvallisoregon.gov/fire/page/resilience-planning-emergency-prepared....
