Students in the Santa Paula Unified School District (SPUSD) took part in Thursday’s Great California ShakeOut. Students at Isbell Middle School and Santa Paula High School had the largest participation with simulated major damage and fire. Other schools in the district held drop and cover drills.
Jeff Argend is the Public Safety Director for the school district. He said the focus was on preparedness. “We need to be ready for whatever might be coming at us,” he said. “You’re only as good as your practice.” He said the focus this year was on possible emergency situations at Isbell and the high school.
Argend said the principals at all the schools have been incredible. “They’re really prepared and really into it,” he added. He noted that they were looking for any surprises that might arise. And he said, “We learn every time something happens.”
The major focus at Santa Paula High School was the reenactment of a collapsed building and the search for students and staff. At Isbell a smoke machine was used to simulate a fire near the north staircase. The Santa Paula Fire Department responded to the school to simulate putting out the fire and checking upstairs for any injured people. The drill was designed to learn how to evacuate rooms on the second floor with smoke cutting off access to the area.
Student Ashley Aguayo thought the drill was worthwhile. “When something actually happens we’ll be ready,” she said. Trinity Tryk said, “It’s kind of fun that we get out of class but still learn something at the same time.” Macalia Jimenez said it was interesting and echoed what other students had said about learning something. Juan Uribe said the drill was a good learning experience. “We learn how to react to an earthquake,” he said.
SPUSD Superintendent Alfonso Gamino said he believes drills like this need to be conducted. “You always hope you don’t have an actual situation, but it’s important that we do conduct drills,” he said. He added that it’s important for them to reflect on how things went.
The first ShakeOut was held in 2008 as the Great Southern California ShakeOut, an effort by scientists and emergency managers to inform the public about earthquake preparedness.
