Issue date: 9/29/08 Section: News

At 1:15 p.m. Friday, the Division of Public Safety learned that a boxcar had caught fire on the railway above 31st and Walnut streets, and a tanker containing chlorine had fallen off the tracks - causing potential chlorine release and forcing the area's residents to shelter in-place.

Luckily, it was just a simulation.

As part of an emergency-readiness campaign, the Division of Public Safety launched a shelter-in-place drill for all University Housing occupants.

This is the third year that shelter-in-place drills have been done, but this is the first time the drill has involved all College Houses at one time.

Eugene Janda, chief of Fire and Emergency Services for DPS, said the drill was implemented to test and evaluate the UPenn Alert system.

"Our primary objective is to communicate the concepts," Janda said.

The drill was short - 10 minutes - so that students would be more willing to participate and less inconvenienced, he said.

Deputy Chief of Tactical and Emergency Readiness Michael Fink said shelter-in-place drills are used in a situation with toxic materials in the air, or in the event of a mass evacuation in the Philadelphia area.

"There's a small probability of something like this happening, but it's always good to know what to do," Janda added.

Continued...

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