It?s been several days since the chemical explosion at Detco Manufacturing Company, and the campus and most of the surrounding community has settled back into its regular routine. But the frightening cloud of black smoke that hung over industrial park for much of an afternoon will not soon be forgotten.
It caused many on the University of Central Arkansas campus to stop in their tracks and others to huddle around televisions and radios in search of information. Everyone on campus remained safe as the winds diverted the black plume in a different direction, but if the winds had shifted, the UCA Police Department was prepared for an evacuation.
?A lot of people were concerned and that?s understandable,? James said, ?but we have a state-of-the-art communications center and we are constantly monitoring what?s coming in.?
Six UCAPD officers assisted with the disaster as part of the mutual aid agreement signed in 2001 by all of the police chiefs in the county and the Faulkner County Sheriff. According to UCAPD chief Larry James, university police has always provided assistance and back up for local law enforcement. ?In 2001, we entered into an official agreement so that we could establish some protocols,? he said.
While UCA police turned out to help with the emergency situation a few miles away, James assures that his officers could have been called back to campus in a moments notice if they were needed. James maintained communication with President Hardin during the emergency and UCAPD brought in additional dispatchers to handle the increased call load in the event of an evacuation. Both James and deputy chief Glenn Stacks monitored the emergency from the Conway incident command post that was established at Bruce and Harkrider streets.
?If anything had changed, we would have been ready to evacuate the campus. We appreciate President Hardin because he has made it clear that community safety is a No. 1 priority. He wants us to do everything possible to ensure the safety of the campus and has provided us with the resources to make that possible.?
In the event of an evacuation, James said it would be difficult for someone on campus to not know about it, as the university police would employ several different tactics to notify the campus community.
One of the first methods of notification would be through telephone and email communications. In the event of an emergency evacuation, UCAPD would use a telephone-tree system to contact each building administrator about the emergency, and a campus-wide email would be distributed. Each UCAPD patrol unit is equipped with a PA system that would transmit emergency information as well.
James said he is confident in UCAPD?s ability to conduct a successful, organized evacuation. ?It?s a major undertaking to evacuate a large community such as UCA, but I?m not at all concerned that we couldn?t evacuate if we needed to,? he said.
In the event of such an emergency, the university would evacuate the campus community to shelters that would likely be set up at places such as the high school gymnasium, city recreation centers and other local colleges.
-Jennifer Boyett
