Deputy Managing Director for Emergency Management MaryAnn E. Tierney, along with Maureen S. Rush, M.S., CPP, Vice President for Public Safety for the University of Pennsylvania and Domenic Ceccanecchio, M.S., CPP, Senior Associate Vice President for Public Safety for Drexel University, unveiled the plan for the University City High-Rise Office Building Evacuation Rallying Points prior to an exercise held this morning that was designed to test the University City evacuation plans. Deputy Commissioner for Homeland Security Stephen Johnson of the Philadelphia Police Department and Battalion Chief Derrick Sawyer of the Fire Prevention Division of the Philadelphia Fire Department were on hand also for the announcements.
“Making the University City high-rise office building evacuation rallying points available to the public is part of the City of Philadelphia’s effort to engage, educate, and train our citizens on the importance of personal preparedness,” said Deputy Managing Director Tierney. “Providing them with critical information before an emergency happens will allow the public to make the best decisions when an emergency occurs.”
Working in cooperation with numerous City and private organizations, evacuation rallying points were designated for high-rise office buildings in University City. The maps in the University High-Rise Office Building Evacuation Plan identify these evacuation rallying points and the buildings assigned to each.
Separate plans exist for University-owned buildings on the campuses of the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, and the university plans were considered in the development of these rallying points.
“The University of Pennsylvania, through our PennReady Program, enjoys a strong partnership with the City of Philadelphia's Managing Director's Office of Emergency Management. Additionally, in 2003 Penn's Division of Public Safety formed the University City Emergency Preparedness Steering Team, to ensure that all of the Universities and Hospitals in University City were prepared to work as a team in preventing and responding to any wide scale emergency in the University City area. Penn is pleased to participate in the City's High-Rise Office Building Rallying Points Plan and Table-Top Exercise,” said Maureen Rush, Vice President of the Department of Public Safety, for the University of Pennsylvania. “We believe this exercise will further strengthen Penn’s ability to coordinate an effective and coordinated response with the City of Philadelphia to a wide-scale evacuation event in University City.”
“Drexel University is committed to continuing its excellent relationships with the City of Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management and the various institutions that comprise the University City District. An example of our commitment is the recent expansion of Drexel’s public safety program with the introduction of the Drexel University Police Department. Drexel has also participated with the Office of Emergency Management and universities throughout the region in the development of a coordinated communications process to ensure the accurate and timely dissemination of critical information in the event of an emergency,” said Domenic Ceccanecchio, Senior Associate Vice President for Public Safety at Drexel University. “We are pleased to be part of the University City High-Rise Office Building Evacuation Rallying Points and Table-Top Exercise to improve our emergency response capabilities.”
Deputy Managing Director Tierney also announced temporary changes to the evacuation route for the South Street Bridge, which has been designated as an official evacuation route for pedestrians and mass transit vehicles only. Now that the bridge is closed to pedestrian and vehicle traffic due to reconstruction, the South Street evacuation route will begin eastbound at South 27th Street. The South Street evacuation route no longer exists west of the Schuylkill River due to the closure of the bridge. This change is anticipated to be in effect throughout 2010 while the bridge is being reconstructed.
In 2007 the Managing Director’s Office of Emergency Management (MDO-OEM) began planning for evacuations in Philadelphia. This began with the designation of neighborhood evacuation routes. Special evacuation plans were also developed for communities with particular needs, including University City, where there are a number of high-rise buildings, universities, medical facilities, and a major transportation hub.
The University City High Rise Evacuation Rallying Points is just one of several Tactical Evacuation Plans that have been or are in the process of being developed around critical infrastructure or in high impact areas, such as for the Sports Complex, Sunoco Refinery, and for high-rise office buildings in Center City.
In addition, Tierney announced the launch of a new Beta interactive map application that is now available on the Office of Emergency Management’s website: www.phila.gov/ready. The interactive map allows people to locate evacuation routes near any address within the City. By simply entering an address or zooming into a specific location on the map, the public can easily learn what evacuation routes have been designated for pedestrians only, pedestrians and mass transit vehicles only, pedestrians and all vehicles, and private vehicles only. Office workers in high-rise office buildings in Center City and University City can also use the map to identify their high-rise office building's evacuation rallying point.
“In addition to knowing your evacuation route and rallying points, it’s important that people stay informed during an emergency. They can do this by signing up to get critical information from ReadyNotifyPA, an emergency text alert system and by following updates on our website and social media networking sites, which include Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and Blogger,” urged Tierney.
For more information about Philadelphia’s Emergency Evacuation Route Plan and High-Rise Office Building Rallying Points for University City and Center City, visit www.phila.gov/ready. To sign up for ReadyNotifyPA, visit our website or text P-H-I-L-A to 4-1-1-9-1-1.