Orderly evacuation
A suspicious condiment container brought upon a reality check that swept over the sporting world last Thursday.
Days after the FBI warned of planned threats, a possible bomb was spotted by trained dogs outside Cox Arena in San Diego, the host of the men’s first round NCAA basketball tournament.
The building, partially filled with eager spectators, had to be evacuated immediately.
Athletic Director Gene Taylor, one of those who could call for an evacuation at an NDSU venue, is familiar with the evacuation process.
Twice under his authority people were ordered to leave a building immediately.
Neither was at NDSU, and only one was related to terrorist acts similar to the events in San Diego — the second was weather-related.
In fact, while at Navy, his situation was strikingly similar, minus the national attention of a marquee tournament.
Prior to kickoff during a Navy home football game, a package was found outside the building that sent the sniffer dogs in a frizzy.
The state police acted immediately, alerting the arena’s ushers and other officials to commence the planned procedure to ensure the public’s safety.
“ W-T Door,” Taylor said. “That was the code word we used over the radios.”
Even the walkie-talkie language used among security officials needed to be discrete to avoid a sense of panic.
The code word, confirmed by a current Naval Academy student as meaning “water tight door,” was known by everyone who worked the venues as a catalyst into the safety protocol.
First step was to calmly tell everyone inside the building to exit without creating mass havoc.
The message, “Ladies and gentlemen, you need to clear the stadium for security and safety reasons,” was announced over the public-address system, Taylor said.
There was never any talk of a bomb.
The public, under the care of properly trained individuals, handled the situation with ease, and the end result was safety.
In Fargo, there are similar procedures in place, and they are practiced often, so the execution of the plan, should the time come, would also be preformed precisely.
The fact that there is a plan in place is comforting and disturbing at the same time.
It’s comforting in knowing that should anything go awry before a Bison home game, the Herd will not stampede out the exit door.
It’s disturbing in that there have been enough events in the past to require almost every school in the nation to create such a plan.
At least at NDSU one of the leaders is familiar with the process.