School Safety Update

The largest hands-on school safety exercise ever staged anywhere is taking place on May 2, 2012, in Pueblo County, Colorado—and with a 3D twist.

This crisis exercise will simulate a high-wind school building collapse resulting in a complex evacuation of 450 children, and the coordinated response efforts of 400 adults. If you’ve ever visited Colorado, you know the meaning of high winds.

This large-scale activity is custom tailored for major video production. The school district is providing three primary shooting locations, the school buses (for the evacuation), the school and district staff as actors, the children (with parental releases), and a new mobile communications unit designed by SchoolSAFE Communications. The county is providing first responders as actors from fire, law enforcement, and emergency management, as well as 5 ambulances, a rescue helicopter, fire equipment, and other public safety vehicles. All local media organizations will also participate, many providing reporters and news crews as actors in the simulation. VIP observers from across the state, coordinated by State Senator Steven King’s office, will observe the exercise and draft a final report. Funding for this activity was provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of the Army.  For further information, you can feel free to contact: johnsimmons@schoolsafetypartners.org

Now comes the 3D part. School Safety Partners and Panasonic will capture the entire event in stereo 3D, with the intent of producing classroom-based simulations and training segments for the school safety market. There remains a strong and burgeoning role for stereo 3D in school safety and emergency preparedness training.