CRYSTAL LUONG
Editor in Chief
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Anela Holck/Asst. Photo Editor
The fire season’s first go at the southland that began Wednesday, Sept. 28, torched more than 24,000 acres. On campus, the Topanga Fire tested the preparedness of the university’s emergency response plans.
“The ball started rolling slowly,” said Dawn Emrich, assistant director of the Department of Public Safety. “But once it started rolling, it was rolling the rest of the day.”
As conditions signified the flames could be a possible threat to Pepperdine late Wednesday afternoon, DPS Director Earl Carpenter monitored progress from the disaster’s command post first-based in Calabasas, according to DPS Deputy Director Robert McKelvy.
From the post, Carpenter relayed information to senior administration members in the Emergency Operations Center throughout the night, said McKelvy, who also serves as Pepperdine’s fire chief. This information, along with the consideration of factors such as weather conditions and road closures, prompted the EOC’s courses of action in response to the disaster.
University response included setting up an evacuation center in Tyler Campus Center at about 6 a.m. Thursday, extending the shifts of several DPS officers to 12 hours and calling to duty at one point up to 14 firefighters on campus. Pepperdine’s emergency hot line and Web site were also updated every one to two hours with the latest reports on the Topanga Fire.
Leslie Haggard, director of Pepperdine’s Westlake Village graduate campus, which closed Thursday as a safety precaution, said she was pleased overall with the university’s response to its satellite locale.
“Public Safety and Risk Management did an excellent job,” Haggard said. “I always felt they were working on our behalf.”
McKelvy also said the emergency response plan in place worked effectively.
However, it was not without glitches.
Senior Courtney Murphy was among roughly 300 Pepperdine students who had to evacuate as the Topanga Fire threatened their residences. Murphy, forced to leave the Malibu Canyon Apartments in Calabasas, said she called DPS dispatch at about 4 a.m. Thursday to check for an on-campus evacuation location.
“Having lived on campus the past few years, I just assumed there would be some kind of gathering,” said Murphy, who recalls having positive experiences with Public Safety prior to that night. “The lady that answered was basically useless.”
Murphy said she was told to go rent a hotel room in the area or the school’s executive suites.
“We admittedly made some errors,” McKelvy said about the incident, but he said such situations were corrected in the first few hours, though.
The university e-mailed its first public message to the Pepperdine community at 8 a.m. Thursday.
The update from the Public Relations office informed community members of the fires’ status and requested sensitivity to the needs of evacuees. Dean of Student Affairs Mark Davis then sent out an announcement later in the day about hosting evacuated students.
According to Director of Housing Jim Brock, about 15 students were served by the emergency response at the TCC, and six graduate students were relocated to the George Page Residential Complex.
The Housing and Community Living office also sent out an e-mail asking on-campus apartment residents if they would volunteer to temporarily house other students in case the situation worsened. There were more than 50 responses, Brock said.
McKelvy, who has been with Pepperdine for 23 years, said the university is well prepared to handle emergency situations. Pepperdine, in coordination with Los Angeles County Fire, is a “sheltering-in-place,” meaning the university does not evacuate those on campus when a fire encroaches the surrounding area.
The most recent burns to threaten the Malibu campus were in 1993 and 1996, according to McKelvy.
It was not uncommon then to see hundreds of fire engines on campus, multiple aircraft swoop over Alumni Park’s water reserves as well as have Pepperdine act as the command center for the fire, he said, all of which emphasizes the safety of this campus.
With each disaster situation, Pepperdine also fine-tunes its response plans.
“The EOC is reviewing all of the possible scenarios and confirming we’re at a comfort level with all of our policies and procedures,” McKelvy said.
Community members still have the responsibility to be ready for emergencies, however.
“Make sure you have good personal preparedness,” he said. McKelvy recommends having enough supplies to survive at least three days and developing backup communication plans in the event of future emergencies. More information on personal preparedness and university emergency response plans can be found in the DPS Disaster Awareness handbook.
10-06-2005