Long-time lurker, first post. I work in an office building attached to Grand Central Station in Manhattan, and I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions you may have.

Thanks!


Everybody Immediately Evacuate The Building

"Everybody immediately evacuate the building" is not what you want to hear on your office PA system while sitting at your desk in the early evening. Yet this is precisely what I heard yesterday at about 6pm, right after I commented to my neighbor about the loud rumbling, thunder-like sound that had lasted entirely too long.

Having survived a harrowing evacuation from the World Trade Center almost six years ago, I like to think that the simple precautions I take in my life make it more likely that I will survive the next disaster than would otherwise be the case. Yesterday's experience provides an opportunity to look at my preparations and actions, and I would appreciate your comments.

EDC / Available Equipment

I work in a suit-and-tie office environment, so an extensive collection of EDC tools carried on my person is not practical. However, I do keep emergency kits at my desk and in my briefcase. These kits include water, a flashlight, battery-powered radio, and an N-95 face mask. Additionally, I usually keep a pair of old sneakers as well as shorts and a t-shirt in my desk, in the event I know I am going to have to walk home to Brooklyn from my midtown office. I also carry a Blackberry device as does my wife. It is pre-loaded with my wife's PIN number. My experience on 9/11/01 was that Blackberry PIN to PIN communications were the only reliable wireless communications, and I'm hoping that this will be the case in any future disaster as well.

The Evacuation

There had been scattered thunderstorms around Manhattan all day, so I did not initially notice the rumbling sound I heard while sitting at my desk. However, as it grew louder and continued for about 30 seconds I began to get concerned. I commented to my neighbor who noted that the sound must be pretty loud outside (our window faces north onto 45th street at Park Avenue. The explosion was at 41s street and Lexington) and I scanned the news websites to see if there was any information available. Relatively quickly the announcement came over the building PA system to evacuate the building immediately.

Upon hearing the announcement, I immediately left my desk and began moving towards the fire stairs in the center of the building. Potential mistake #1: In my haste I did not grab either my briefcase or my emergency bag, both of which were within arms reach while sitting at my desk. My Blackberry was clipped to my belt, so that's all I left with.

People were beginning to move into the central corridor and make their way to the elevators. I passed a friend in the hallway and as I did simply said "stairs." He asked if we would set off an alarm if we opened the fire door to the stairs and I commented that I didn't think it mattered at this point, and he followed me to the staircase.

We headed down the stairs at as fast as I thought I could go without risking injury, and I made a point to count floors for the first three floors until I noted that each landing was well marked as to what floor we were on. Our offices are on the 11th floor and when we were about halfway down it dawned on me that I should have taken a second more the grab my emergency bag, as I had no idea what to expect when we hit the street. To be honest, my worst case fear was a dirty bomb at Grand Central Station (to which my office building is attached) and I was kicking myself for leaving the N-95 mask behind. My friend commented that I could go back for supplies if I wanted to, but he was getting out of the building, and I agreed. Incredibly, we did not see a single other person evacuating by way of the fire stairs.

The path to the exit was very clearly marked, and as I got ready to open the door I steeled myself for whatever scene I'd be confronted with. Much to my surprise, we found ourselves not in the building lobby or on the street but in a loading dock covered by the Park Avenue overpass where it goes around Grand Central. People were running north while looking over their shoulders, and looking very scared. I jumped down from the loading dock (not high, but potentially stupid if I had turned my ankle and lost my mobility) and looked south to see a large amount of what appeared to be white smoke rising from near the south end of Grand Central.

At this point my thoughts were that if this was a terrorist attack, I had survived the initial blast and was unlikely to be in immediate danger, but I needed to avoid contamination if it was radiological in nature. As I walked north a few blocks I noted that the wind was in my face and that the smoke appeared to be drifting south and west, so I felt relatively secure in the short term. I used my Blackberry to send an e-mail to my wife letting her know that I had evacuated my office, was heading north, and would contact her again when possible. I also stopped into a drugstore and purchased a package of dust masks as some insurance against the wind shifting. While not as good as the N-95 masks I had left behind, I figured it was better than nothing.

I continued to head north as all manner of emergency services (including FDNY Hazmat Trucks, who responded remarkably quickly through rush-hour traffic) headed south. Eventually I was able to get an open connection and called my mother who turned on the TV and reported that it was likely a Con Ed equipment failure. I finally began to relax, though I continued to head north to a friend's apartment from where I could plot my return to Brooklyn.

Debrief

1) My instincts were good. When I heard an unusual noise I upped my personal threat condition and was ready to take action immediately when I got the information to leave the building. Of course, I should have prepared my gear, not gone online.
2) My office's emergency procedures failed miserably. In all the drills we have been told that in the event of an emergency information would be communicated telling us the nature of the emergency and the suggested actions we should take. All we got was "evacuate the building immediately" over the PA. For all we knew the building was about to come down on our heads, when in reality we were relatively secure. This led to confusion.
3) It is amazing to me how many otherwise intelligent and well educated people went right to the elevators when told to evacuate the building due to an emergency.
4) Most of my equipment preparations were useless to me, as I left both bags of supplies at my desk. This was potentially very stupid, and I need to find a way to carry more gear on my person or place it in such a way that it will not be left behind.
5) My concerns about radiological contamination were unfounded, but there was an unknown amount of asbestos released in the explosion. Moving upwind and getting on a facemask was a wise idea, and should be SOP.
6) Communications worked about as well as could be expected. My e-mails got through to my wife, while phone service was sketchy. I never had to resort to text or PIN messaging. Being able to check the web from my phone was useless – news websites were not updated fast enough to provide actionable information. I wished I had a battery powered radio for immediate news (of course, there were two at my desk, useless to me).
7) I have a one-year old son who attends a daycare center in my office building. His mom had picked him up about 20 minutes before the explosion. If he had still been there when the evacuation was ordered I would have had my hands full and a lot to think about in tracking him down and trying to keep him safe. Similarly, I knew that my wife was already on the way home, so I did not need to try and coordinate meeting up with her (she works ½ mile north of me). If this had happened earlier in the day (or been more serious) our communications plans would have been more severely taxed. Any suggestions on how to deal with kids in an urban emergency?
8) NYC emergency services are amazing. The amount of equipment and personnel flooded into the area quickly was remarkable.
9) While this was indeed a frightening event that brought back many bad memories and was tragic for the (remarkably) few people injured or killed, in the end I hope to make it a useful exercise to help me improve my preparations.
10) I welcome your comments. Please, no comments on how I should leave NYC if I want to be safe. It is a discussion I've already had with my wife and is not in the cards right now. I simply need to figure out how to best keep my family safe, given our current situation.