Rink

A live evacuation drill of this magnitude required a lot of planning and cooperation between staff, tenants and local agencies. The first task was to pick a date when all areas of the events center would be full and then get permission from the tenants who would occupy the building on that date. Once the date was agreed upon, the marketing department of the Comcast Arena started to promote the evening as "Safety Night" to fans through the local media and box office. The Snohomish County chapter of the Red Cross and the City of Everett Emergency Management Department were invited to the game to distribute emergency and safety information to attendees. Officials from the Everett Police and Fire departments were also invited to participate and observe the evacuation. To prepare the arena staff for the drill, special training sessions were held to review the arena emergency procedures and evacuation plan. Full-time staff representatives on the facility safety committee were also briefed ahead of time in their monthly meeting. On the evening of the drill, staff were brought into a brief pre-event meeting to review the timeline and evacuation routes. Laminated copies of evacuation routes were distributed to all guest services ushers and security personnel for their reference. Staff was instructed to make notes on difficulties they observed or experienced during the drill. The drill was planned to start at the end of the Silvertips hockey game, following the announcement of the three stars of the game. The Silvertips mascot Lincoln went onto the ice and pulled a 30 R INK MAGAZ INE may/June 2008 ZONE Clearing the Special training sessions were held to review procedures.

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