Everybody Immediately Evacuate The Building (long)

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.

Thank you for sharing your experiences. It is very informative to have first-hand knowledge like yours posted so everyone can learn from it.

In my opinion, you did a very good job at keeping your head throughout the panic. The only snafu you exhibited was grabbing your emergency gear before you evacuated, but you redeemed yourself by keeping your head straight from that point forward (i.e., taking the stairs instead of the elevator and considering different possibilities during and after evacuation).

As far as grabbing your emergency gear, I really cannot think of anything that will help you remember to grab it when you need to. Other than doing the regular checkup/resupply of your emergency kits so they can be "fresh in your mind" (as opposed to a bag that's sat in a drawer for years), I'm not sure there's anything else that will help you remember to grab it when you need it.

One thing I can suggest, if it's not the case already, use something like a fanny pack (or backpack if you have a lot of stuff) for your emergency kit. Briefcases are unwieldy as hell during an evacuation.

One thing that surprises me about the evacuation (other than hordes of people taking the stairs despite all the signs) is that no one pulled a fire alarm switch on the wall. I would think that who ever is in charge of the P.A. announcement would also do this. Fire alarms are linked to the elevator controllers (as per NFPA regulations, I believe), so that elevators automatically travel to the primary floor and stay there during alarm. Simply pulling the fire alarm would prevent people from using the elevator when they shouldn't and it might also make any response by emergency personnel much faster.

Otherwise, it sounds like you're pretty well covered.

-- Addition --

One other thing I can suggest is to scout the exits on buildings you frequent in the future, that way you know what location you'll be going to before you open the exit doors.

It sounds like you had a great live-fire exercise from which you will be better prepared mentally, the next time an incident occurs.

Give equal time and thought to what you did right (fire stairs, communications,getting a mask, direction of movement), as well as what didn't work well (forgetting PSK).

Congratulations! In the event of an actual terrorist attack, you'd probably have still been able to post your bulletin, because you're ALIVE!!!!!

If your son is in a daycare in the same building with you I would suggest that you find out what their emergency evac plans are. I know that if I could get my child I would. So that being said how about some supplies for your Son? small toy, dust mask, water and even a juice box or two? Not to mention sanitary supplies. (diapers and such).
As the Father of 3 girls I am a little protective (my wife says over protective no such thing) I would want them under MY care and protection.

Lets look at some kit that will suit your suit.To begin with, proper leather shoes and a suit of natural materials is going to provide greater protection than the business casual slob look. Do you wear pocket squares? A silk or irish linen handkerchief is an expedient face mask and trauma bandage. www.mulberrywood.com ( just don't tell David or Noina I suggested such use!)A pair of fine leather gloves will slip into a breast pocket, and if exhibiting a slight bulge, fit in with your ensemble to the curious.Get a good PHOTON for your keychain. There are some very good miniature radios, one sold by a vendor/poster here,that are unobtrusive. Even water can be had in a few mylar envelopes. Again, unobtrusive, but enough to wet a handkerchief or assist swallowing medications.

Jesselp,

Greetings and welcome to the fire...er, steam geyser. You mentioned you have a 1-yr old in the building's daycare. In the event of an evacuation how would you carry the child? One thing you might want to add to your stash of gear is some sort of baby sling like the Mayan Wrap. This will allow you to carry the kid as well as a backpack or briefcase. The sling can also be used for many other things as it is basically just a big peice of cloth which folds down small. Best of all, you don't look like a complete goober when you us it. I have a fleece one for "winter" (I'm in Houston) use and a cotton one for the other eleven months. Both were made by my wife from fabric I picked out. I love them.

-Blast

Bravo!

I'm rather new to the ETS forums myself, but allow me to extend the hand of welcome... or is that olive branch? No, that's peace... anyway, welcome to the forums.

I think your overall performance in this crisis was excellent. You have already carefully analysed your performance and found a few mistakes; I can see none that you haven't already seen yourself. They were:

1) Forgot your bag
2) Had no familiarity with the stairs you used for egress
3) Jumped off the loading dock

Corrections to these problems that you can make:

1) Don;t forget the bag next time
2) You know the stairs now. Check out all the others soon, in case they are blocked in a future evac scenario
3) Don't jump off any more loading docks, especially not in a suit and suit-worthy shoes

I would place Matt26's suggestion as the #1 priority. My only other concern was that if your wife picked up your son only 20 minutes before, how did you know that? Did she, or the daycare center, confirm that she had picked him up? In a crisis, knowing where your son is and how to get to him will naturally be your primary concerns, so don't wait till the next crisis to research the daycare center's procedures and formulate a plan for yourself.

JCWohlschlag's suggestion about the fire alarm is also excellent. I would suggest communicating this suggestion to your building management, as well as requesting a thorough review of the building's emergency procedures; somebody was off the track with the PA announcement, and it also sounds to me like your building has no set rendezvous places for the tenants in the event of an evac.

My building not only has an evac plan, but we conduct evac drills once perr year, and we have rendezvous points for each group and floor. I work in a much smaller office than yours, in the suburbs of Baltimore. We're not crammed into a high-rise, and we have plenty of open area around the building; setting up rendezvous and check-in procedures might be difficult for you in such a dense urban environment, but it's something to suggest.

The purpose of the rendezvous and check-in is to make certain that everybody is out of the building; this reduces the possibility that firefighters might have to risk their lives searching for trapped people, and gives everybody a destination that they can program into their brains in advance. And if everyone knows where to go, it will be easier to find your son, and easier to share resources such as water or first-aid supplies, and much easier for the authorities to disseminate information and instructions.

Your story has inspired me - I am the fire warden for my section of the building, and normally just get everyone out and take a roll call. But I am going to put together a BOB for evacs with some of the stuff you have in yours (water, flashlight, radio, and FAK).

Here's a first hand report from a good friend who was right there.

I was on 42nd and Lex, about to walk into the subway when the steampipe popped.

First there was a huge >>kaboom<<, followed by what I now know to be
escaping steam, but to my neophyte ears sounded like a jet engine
roaring.

The crowd of pedestrians stampeded... many into the subways, dragging
me along with them (the entrance at Lex on the corner of 42nd).

The plume of steam jetted hundreds of feet in the air, and small
chunks of asphalt rained down intermittently.

My friend and I fell back to 43 and lex, smoked a few cigs (in light
of the asbestos being tossed around, was idiotic... at best) and
watched women take off their heeled shoes and run "bat outta
hell"-like down the street.

All the while many were going on about the terrorists. I kind of
sussed out that it was a HVAC type dealie when the torrent of smoke
contined to flood the street.

Lots of people went to bars immediately following the blast.. which is
a fairly common response to abject horror. ^_^

In the end, everyone seemed pretty calm immediately following the
event. I'm amazed that noone got cooked outright by the steamblast, or
walloped by the debris.

This guy is a pretty cool person, I'm glad he was OK.

I agree with finding unobtrusive items that you can carry in the office. One thing you might consider is a Mission Wallet -- use it for organizing and carrying small stuff. I carry a Peak Matterhorn Ultra 1xAAA LED, a small Swiss Army knife, ID and a couple $20's in mine.

I don't know which N-95 mask you have, but the medical masks we have here fold flat and would disappear in an inside suit pocket. Having minimal gear in your pockets is always a good thing.

Mindset: This event was a good dry-run, use it as a learning opportunity. Next time you should remember this event and think about your kit. Did you have a subconscious "what am I missing?" feeling before you consciously thought about your kit? You should have a conscious thought about that kit earlier next time.

Fortunately, I traded my briefcase in for a backpack and my oxfords in for cross-trainers years ago. My subconscious would put the backpack over my shoulder before my conscious mind caught up.

Thanks for the info -- Real life is always a good teacher. I might add a light jacket to your kit, paper printout of telephone numbers, map of the area and some food.

The biggest concern seems to be your child -- Perhaps a plan (that both of you know) that says who will do what in another such situation -- and that the person with the kid will contact friend "X" as soon as possible to let the other know the kid is safe.

All such large events have in commmon that communication breaks dowm and is not restored for some time. Keep that in mind when planning.

Teacher

( who once evacuated a building with shoes, but no socks... ouch)

Just one quick comment on your 2nd observation

"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."

Would it be possible for you to take a leadership role in improving your office's emergency procedures? You seem like a thoughtful guy and would do a fine job, I'm sure. Moreover, now seems like a good time to step up, while the event is fresh in everyone's mind. Also, it would give you a good excuse to have more of your "stuff" at hand, perhaps access to keys, etc. What should be in an office plan would make a good thread itself, as well.

Jeff

Thanks for all of the thoughtful responses so far.

To answer some questions, and how I followed up on some of my issues:

- I do not carry an actual briefcase, I just call it that out of habit. It's more of a messenger-type bag so it is not quite so unwieldy.

- I knew that my wife had picked up our son and was on her way home because I stop by the daycare center to see them off at the end of the day, before returning to my desk.

- I went to the daycare center today and received a briefing from the director on their emergency procedures. I now have a card in my wallet with the center's primary, secondary and tertiary(!) evacuation locations, as well as the cell phone numbers of both the director and assistant director. At least I'll know where to look, and the tertiary location happens to be in my wife's office building.

- To add to our communications options, I'm thinking of adding a small FRS radio to my wife and my office bags. We only work 1/2 mile from each other, and have line of site between our offices up Park Avenue. We could agree that if cell phones don't work, we turn the radios on to a pre-arranged channel and start calling on a regular basis. Thoughts?

- My work BOB is now secured by velcro to the side of my desk. It is bright orange and there is no way I can not see it if I'm heading to the exit. I'm going to permanently add a pair of comfortable walking shoes.

Keep the suggestions coming!

Thanks for sharing. I don't have much time right now, but I thought I'd throw out a few things, in no particular order:

- Don't count on the PIM/text communications working. Certainly as many alternatives as possible are good, but they may not work.

- Talk to the daycare about their willingness to give you your child in these cases. Perhaps you know all the staff, but consider if there is a disaster if they are going to hand over a kid to someone who says they are his parent and if they are going to want to take the time to verify that you are the parent, etc.

- Keep in mind you may not always be near your office so your bag may or may not be easily accessable, even if you remember it. I have a bag in my office, but I consider there to be a reasonable chance that I won't be able to get it. (I also have a kit in my car, but I figure there is a good chance I wouldn't be able to reach it either as in an earthquake, it's likely to be flattened. But the more kits the more likely you'll be able to use one of them.)

- Consider having the bag in your office being a backpack. Much easier to grab and go and you can re-shuffle your gear once you get out of the immediate danger area.

- It isn't clear to me that someone should have pulled the fire alarm. The building itself in this case was not unsafe. Forcing the issue w/o actual information about the situation might be doing more harm than good.

- I would actually consider the fact that your child is in the building a huge plus. Better to have him where you can get him and take charge of his safety than have him miles away from you and have to deal with how you would get him.

- While some might think it excessive, I think a hardhat, crowbar, masks, some gloves and a headlamp to be good office emergency items in case the building is damaged.

- Good call on your interaction with your friend regarding the stairs. Sometimes we condition ourselves in unhelpful ways and you acted very rationally.

- I agree we want better information, but I suspect the level of information given in the announcment is probably fairly typical (if not better) of what we can expect in an emergency. It was good that you kept trying to analyse the nature of the threat. A digital trunking scanner probably would probably be helpful.

- Good call on the comment about having a way to carry your son.

- I'd have a good FAK in your kit.

- While others have mentioned minor issues, I'd say the only real mistake you made was not grabbing your gear. I'd say if you only make one mistake you did really well. And next time you are probably much less likely to forget.

Good job and thanks again for sharing.

-john

Since you live in NYC and "things" seem to happen there, and since your child is a priority, maybe you and your wife could start a new habit: as soon as she's picked up the child, text you that fact, every day, every time. If something happens and you haven't received that message, you'll know what you need to do next. This time, the time factor allowed you to assume (correctly) that the child was picked up. What if the incident had happened very close to pickup time?

As was pointed out, briefcases are a nuisance. You might bring in an empty backpack and leave it in a desk drawer. In case of evacuation, just dump the contents of your briefcase into the backpack and go.

Blast's baby sling is a superb idea. You might even be able to wear it under your backpack. Pack in back, baby in front.

Re: the fire alarm. Most buildings have fire alarm triggers on all floors. If everyone else has forgotten, couldn't you trigger the alarm on the way out?

If you have weekly/monthly meetings, you might ask why the company's emergency procedures failed so badly. Make suggestions. One could be to label where the various stairs go.

Did you suggest to anyone besides your friend to take the stairs? If not, why not?

Overall, I think you did a reasonably good job. You would have gotten more points if you hadn't forgotten your kit, but I suspect that won't happen again. Like they say, we learn more from our mistakes.

Sue

One of the common questions on forums such as this is "What's a good survival knife?". The answer that always shows up sooner or later is "the knife you have on you when an emergency happens". (That's one of the reasons D.R. developed the RSK Mk 1.) Anyway, the best survival kit is what you have on your person.

If it was me, while keeping some evac specific things in a small kit in or attached to your desk is a great idea, I'd be looking at that messenger bag to carry kit items with me all the time. Who's to say you'll be in your office when you need the kit? You may need it during the commute. Get some comfortable walking shoes and wear them to/from work. Leave the good shoes at your desk.

Whatever -- good thread.

Jess, greetings from a fellow NY Metro urbanite. Guys some of us like city life and are determined not to let the Zombies or the fear they engender, drive us out. Good thought to improve your pocketable EDC. In my experience the following is OK even in high security buidings: 1 or 2 hot ironed orange bandannas,carried in a gerber breastmilk bag, you can also attach some flat rolled duct or Gorilla tape; key chain with 2 photons (or flashlight of your choice), Swiss
-Tech Util-Key;compass, Bison or other whistle, P-38, aluminum capsule with meds; in your wallet, cash, various denominations,$100-$500, 4 quarters, flat magnifier,emergency ID info card, credit card, license, etc.; 3M N-95 9211 respirator (very flat); cellphone and if you don't have to go thru a metal detector; a Leathererman Juice Tool or SAK of your choice. By the way, good catch on deciding to head up-wind. I'm not sure I would have thought of it as soon as you did. Lastly, my briefcase carried emergency kit is packed in a North Face fanny pack which has its own bottle pockets and compression straps.

In this particular case, somone who did not know the situation taking the initiative to trigger the fire alarm would probably have caused EMS to be dispatched to the building where they were not needed at all.

If the building manager can trigger the internal fire alarm without causing EMS to be automatically notified, that would certainly help communicate that the building should be evacuated. I know that where I work, they use the actual alarm to conduct fire drills, but the FD isn't called, or course.

I'm wondering why they decided to evac the building - no matter what the cause of the explosion, it would probably have been better to shelter in place at least until more info was available.

Thanx for sharing your experience with us all. Great first post. I have one suggestion, How about a multi-tool for your breifcase? I understand that a knife in your work environment, would just raise eyebrows.A good multi-tool with a good locking blade wouldn't, just something to consider.

In a way the messed up evacuation was to your advantage. We learned that on 9/11 when my wifes work evacuated the lawyers before the staff and a couple other people have mentioned similar stories to me, that those in charge of the evacuations are not always looking out for you, sometimes they have to look out for 'more important people' first. So you were able get out ahead of the crowd puts you at an advantage.
I'd try to add a little to your EDC so if your away from your desk and can't get to your gear your still prepared. A handkerchief in your pocket won't look out of place but could cover your nose and mouth to prevent breathing in too much dust for example.

Just a thought, but could you hide a few things in the stairwell somewhere? Certainly nothing expensive OR suspicious-looking. Maybe just a few dust masks, first aid kit and a cheap LED light.

Sidenote about baby sling: you CAN wear a backpack with them.

-Blast

Not much I can add, I think that everything has been pretty well covered. I have no doubt that next time you have to bug out you will take the bag you made up for that very purpose. I would really suggest that you get a light of some kind, little bitty, mid sized, something, and carry it on your person ALL the time. Next time you might have to abandon the BOB and hit the stairs, lose power, emergency lights in the stairwells (if they are installed at all) can fail, and it can be DARK inside of those things. I recall reading of one guy (who died in the process) with a light who kept going up and down the stairwells in one of the towers on 9/11, guiding people out because there were no lights...

OBG makes a good point. If the lights go off while you're away from your desk you may need a small light in your pocket to get to the kit at your desk. I refer back to that Mission Wallet. . .

Thats what I was getting at too, carry some gear on you in case you can't get to that bob. I've found that office wear can actually carry a lot of gear without looking bulky, usually there are deeper pockets than jeans and casual clothing.

Thanks for taking the time to type that all out, Jesselp. As an ex-Manhattanite, I can appreciate what you went through. Except for not grabbing your gear, which was right there, on your way out, sounds like you acted rationally and appropriately to keep yourself safe.

JohnN already beat me to the point, but there's one aspect of office life that really keeps you away from gear at your desk--meetings. Many people spend the majority of their time running from meeting room to meeting room. Many of these meeting rooms could be on a different floor from their desk. So I think it pays to keep some things on you, unless you work in a very small office and you're generally very close to your supplies throughout the day.

I'm rather surprised that you basically had the stairwell all to yourself. You'd think that more people who prefer the stairs, but I guess I'm wrong. Either that, or else you guys reacted faster than most people and just beat the rush.

I'm also one who would disagree with the suggestion that the elevators should've been locked down. High-rise office buildings are not designed to quickly evacuate the entire building population through stairs alone, even in case of fire. If there is no fire or other immediate danger to the building itself or imminent risk of losing power, using elevators can greatly speed up the evacuation of a building. Of course, every situation is unique. But like thseng seemed to allude to, I wonder if the building staff might've jumped the gun on the evacuation order, though. In general, you're generally safer indoors unless your own building is on fire or contaminated somehow. If all I had to act on was hearing some boom or rumble outside, I think I would personally prefer to stay indoors until I had more information. Of course, in your case, you were instructed to leave, so that's a different situation.

In your case, you were probably in greatest danger from getting run over by a distracted driver who was looking at the steam plume or gawking at all the people trying to get away! Half joking, but half serious, too.

NY Times Slide Show

i think what we should all pick up here is not the little
details like jumping from the loading dock or the day-care
but rather that line from Robert Burns " the best layed
plans of mice and men"..Jesselp had his gear in line and
ready to go..enought i would say to get out and away from
trouble..but when the moment came he ran for his life
and left it behind..something thats quite natural..which
is why anyone who has been in the armed services will tell
you that training over and over--and over..untill unnatural
things--like not running away..or shooting back..or whatever
become 50%--60%?? 90%??? of the survival issue..

I understand your point that your odds are more than likely better sheltering in place, however if I worked in a high rise in NYC (and after watching 9/11 play out on TV) I would haul tail out of their regardless of an order to evacuate. Getting away from any explosion as fast as I could would be my decision. Great thread. You guys are awesome a breaking it all down & planning out the next event.

I guess I should ask, what style of dress is the norm for your office? You can get decently dressy shoes that aren't pointy toed ankle breakers- some even have caps and vibram soles! And a good cobbler (there must be some in NYC) can make you whatever you want if you want to pay the money.

If you are going to carry a mask in your pocket, get some small ziplocks. Bag it and seal it with packing tape to strengthen the bag and keep the zip closed, with a dessicant pack inside. They don't like moisture. And remember to check it.

Do you normally have your keys in your bag, or on you? Then a Swiss Army Knife, flashlight and whistle are probably going to be easy for you to incorporate into your on-person EDC. As has been pointed out, a second wallet of goodies is pretty easy to set up, and you might find you are more comfortable- a lot of men screw up their posture with the list created by a wallet in the back pocket, so a second will balance.

As far as remembering to grab your gear, I saw that you had velcroed your work BOB to your desk- what kind of bag is it? I hang my EDC bag of tricks off the back of my chair at work, along with my coat or sweater if I brought one. And the go with me to every meeting- people sometimes look at it funny, but no one every says anything after I start pulling out my meeting notes, thumb drive, whatever as needed.

You've got the plan from the childcare people- do you have a map? Since you and your wife are very close, have you a plan to head to the other's work place, or to meet at a location if it is larger incident?

Seems worth a try. I'd try GRMS instead (it's just $80 for the family license for 5 yrs I think). Keep in mind many FRS/GRMS radios tend to use rechargeable batteries which self-discharge pretty quickly.

However, the fact your wife works so closely is another aspect that should be planned. If something threatens you, it probably will be a threat to her. The upside is you are close. You should probably talk about pre-arranged meeting points based on different events.

For example, if something is localized and near your building, you take your son to her building. If something happens near her building, she meets you at your building. If something more widespread happens, you both go in <mumble> direction and meet at <mumble>. Coordinating those meeting points with your son's daycare evacuation plans might make sense.

+1 on at least a small light on your person. Interiors of buildings can be very dark as can subways, etc. I walked down 30 stories of a high rise a number of years back during an evacuation, and not sure what was up with the emergency lighting, but it was totally pitch black.

+1 on the consideration of shelter in place. If something bad has happened but your location is not in immediate danger, consider the potential you might be better off where you are.

The big thing I'd want improved is the PA announcement to evacuate. I would really try to get them to give a better description of their understanding of their threat. Something like "there is a report of an explosion up the street, we have no more details" is infinitely better than "evacuate the building now".

-john

Great post. Thanks to everyone on your willingness to share information.

About remembering your BOB, you could train yourself in the following way:

Everytime you find yourself in a "situation", go through a short mental checklist or action-list, whatever it might be for you, and include in that, to ask yourself where your bag is and if it is worth burning the time to go get.

At first, you will forget all or part, but after enough "situations", it will become a very natural habit.

You could say I'm a long way from you because I'm in Phx, AZ, but 9/11 still hurts.

Many of us are here seeking advice, but, please, let us all be messengers and educators, as well.

Working in Northern Virginia, we have had a couple of building evacs in the past year. These are normally fire alarm related. The way I go about keeping my kit with me is to keep it in my laptop case (actually a really large backpack for a serving tray sized laptop). Anytime I leave the building I grab my bag like I do every day when I go home. It is the most natural thing to do versus training yourself to grab a BOB that is not your everyday commuter bag.

Bill

Yes , at least GMRS, FRS is a joke, we tried them before and couldn't hear each other on the radios even though we could see each other through the woods. You can find them AA powered, though a little larger, so you can drop in some low self discharge batteries.


The PA announcement having more detail may not be doable. In my building its a simple recording that kicks off from any number of inputs like the manuall pull fire alarm. Could be the same there, someone could pull the handle and the alarm and evacuate recording would go off with no way for anyone to give more details. Also giving more detail could induce panic, if the message is the same every time then no one knows if its something real or a drill. We get e-mail reminders that our company does require drills and then we usually will have one soon after, so they are not scheduled at a certain time.
Does your son have friends in the day care (I forgot what his age is now)? Many day care places like to have volunteers, since your close by can you volunteer as an emergancy planner for the day care and talk to them about go kits and have a bag stocked in the day care that you can grab and take your son and others to safety?

I'm stunned that you and your friends were the only ones who took the stairs.

As others have suggested, you might consider keeping a few more items on your person, on a keychain or in a wallet. A bandana, whistle and flashlight would be a good place to start. You might not be near your desk if it happens again.

Making proper announcements is actually not as easy as it sounds. The guy making the announcent probably don't have much information either, little practise and a raised bloodpressure. So don;t be to hard on the guy.

It's good to read about things like this (not the evacuation or bomb, but the experience of going through it). I know there's a lot of scenarios that are talked about and discussed, and they're really good mental excercises for us armchair quarterbacks (or cubicle commandos, in my case), but listening to first hand experience from someone that's actually gone through it is much more useful.

Also, giving out too much information over a PA system might not be the best idea. Most of the ones I've heard sound like the speakers at a drive through window. I'd be lucky to hear maybe 50% of the words, and my desk is directly under a speaker. It's probably better to give simple one or two word announcements than detailed explanations that could be misunderstood. If I heard anything that sounded like "bomb" or "explosion", I'm sure those are the only words people will hear, and might cause a major panic.

I think this reiterates the importance of every-day carry. If it's not on your person, it may not be available. Having less stuff but in pockets can be more important than more stuff but in a bag. I think "EDC bag" is an oxymoron.

It sounds like the item you most wanted was a face-mask. It's always interesting to see how theory and reality match up.

Did you at any point use the "STOP" process? I'm guessing not, and that if you had used it while at your desk you might have remembered to collect your stuff. Is it something your are unfamiliar with, or is it one of those things that is easier to read about than to actually do?

I, too, will second the idea of a light, maybe even more than one. A Photon is negligible in weight, but mighty in output (for it's size). There are a plethora of small AA or AAA or even 123 sized lights on the market.

IIRC, in the 1st attack on the WTC (1994?), the emergency lights in the stairwells were out. One guy led a group down about 30 floors lighting the way with his Timex Indiglo watch. Timex ran an ad about it sometime after that, with the text stair-stepping down the page.

I know from experience that an Indiglo or other bright electroluminescent light on a watch will light up a room enough to navigate when your eyes are dark-adapted. You might consider getting such a watch as an easy addition to your EDC. Hard to forget it if it's strapped to your wrist!

Good luck, & be safe.

David

I would get a Mission Wallet ( google it) for my pocket. I can keep a SAK, Attwood Prybaby, photon, couple band aids and more in mine with little bulk or weight.

Mission Wallet

The 'small of the back' is a wonderful place for holding/hiding things. Most fanny packs are too large to fit there without a bulge that would show under a suit coat...but you can make your own fanny pack that is much smaller and that will fit and it can hold many items that you would find nice to have in a city building evacuation. Build it now and get used to wearing it...put it on after you put on your watch (or whatever) so it becomes routine...

And it is are also a great place to break something. If you fall, unless you tripped over something, odds are you are going back. At the small of your back, all the pressure will be on your spine, unlike a pack where you will have pressure on your shoulders and hips.

Also, I hate to say this, but SOB carry isn't very subtle. It looks subtle to most people. Most people also have to ask "does my butt look big in this?" It shows horribly in my experience.

Bandeleros!

Oh... subtle... you wanted subtle?

Sue

"...It shows horribly in my experience..."

Yup. Shirt (or jacket) tail hangs up on whatever you have in the sob, bend over and it "prints" horribly. Not comfortable at all to sit with. Looks good on paper, not worth much in the real world...

hmm.... if I take off my shirt, and wear it a geek convention, I might pass for a wookie. Other than that, not subtle. :P

Hi Blast,

Not taking issue here, just making an observation...with regards to placing things in stairwells, this will likely vary by your building and intensity of your buildings evacuation and emergency preparedness.

As a member of our buildings safety & evacuation group, I can assure you that if one of our 400-500 buildings occupants noted a new box or bag in the stairwell, that Faclilities would get an immediate call...

Additonally, our building, like most others is subject to Fire Marshall inspections. Virtually without fail, they check the stairwells for any stored materials etc. If there is anything in the stairwells, we get an immediate violation notice.

Regards,
Comanche7