Community Evacuation Exercise Scheduled for May 14

May 5, 2022 - Emergency management officials in Corvallis and Benton County will host an evacuation exercise for 10 neighborhoods in the area on Saturday, May 14. Participating neighborhoods and households have already been identified and have received training from emergency planners to safely take part in this event.

The exercise will include three test messages sent via the Linn-Benton Alert mass notification system on the morning of May 14, using language corresponding to the three evacuation levels.

• 8:00 a.m. – Be Ready! Prepare to evacuate; have your plan and go kit ready.
• 8:30 a.m. – Be Set! Be set to evacuate at a moment’s notice.
• 9:00 a.m. – Go! Leave immediately without delay.

Everyone in Benton County should expect to receive these alerts if they are signed up for the Linn-Benton Alert. The messages will be clearly marked as test/exercise messages to avoid confusion. Please do not call 9-1-1 if you receive a message on the morning of May 14.

The exercise will be led by the Corvallis Fire Department, in partnership with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office and the Corvallis Police Department. Trained volunteers from the Corvallis Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) will also be involved.

A primary goal of the exercise is to conduct a mock evacuation for selected neighborhoods using identified routes so that public safety agencies can evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of these egress routes. Participants will evacuate using these routes and then share feedback with emergency planners about their experience.

Training videos on evacuation, wildfire preparedness, and individual and family preparedness planning is available online at www.vimeo.com/showcase/9499165.

This will be the first large-scale local deployment of the new Corvallis CERT team, which is organized through the Corvallis Fire Department. Classes are forming now for free CERT training sessions. For more information, visit www.corvallisoregon.gov/fire/page/community-emergency-response-team-cert.

Community members in Corvallis and Benton County are encouraged to sign up for both Linn-Benton Alert (primarily used to communicate about emergencies in Benton County) as well as Corvallis Alert (focused on incidents within city limits). Both of these tools will be used by first responders in the event of an emergency to share important information.