Training
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (F.E.M.A) through its partner, the Emergency Management Institute, provides a variety of online independent study courses that can better prepare an individual and/or organization to respond to an emergency. In addition to the Emergency Management Institute, individuals may participate in local or state emergency management training or exercises. The calendar of events can be found on the North Carolina Emegency Management web site.
The Office of Emergency Management suggests the following courses to be taken by any member of the university community:
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IS 100.HE: Introduction to the Incident Command System for Higher Education
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IS 200.b: Incident Command Systems for Single Resources and Initial Incidents
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IS 700.a: An Introduction to the National Incident Management System
- IS 800.b: An Introduction to the National Response Framework
If you have any questions about additional training or courses, please do not hesitate to contact the staff with the Office of Emergency Management.
Exercises
As Western Carolina University is committed to creating and maintaing a culture of safety, the institution participates in several different forms of exercises to practice responding to actual incidents. Most recently the institution participated in a full-scale active shooter exercise in conjunction with a grant received at the county level to test a variety of responder functions including but not limited to: mass notification, actual response, and the university's emergency operations center.
This section will provide you with some information about our most recent exercises held at the university.
Date Name of Exercise Description of Exercise News 2009 Active Shooter Exercise The active shooter exercise was done in conjunction with
Jackson County, made possible by a grant received by the
County. Almost a year's worth of planning and consulting was
done prior to the execution of this exercise. This exercise was
held in the full-scale format to test the complexity of our response
systems including but not limited to mass-notification.Article 2007 Pandemic Flu Exercise The pandemic flu exercise was done to test the university's
response to a pandemic strain of influenza such as the Avian
flu. The exercise was held in a table-top format to have a lower
stress environment than that of a full-scale exercise.None 2004 Chemical Spill The chemical spill exercise was done to simulate mixture of chemicals
in the natural sciences building, while testing the university's and
its partners in emergency services response.None