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Show BEAVER COUNTY SCHOOLS TEST EVACUATION TIME IN SIMULATED CIVIL DEFENSE EMERGENCY DRILL The Beaver County schools are "ready for anything Ni-kita Ni-kita Krushchev can pass out, except a direct bomb hit on one of the buildings." That was proved Wednesday when all schools of the county conducted an 'evacuation alert' under direction of Bryce Draper, Dra-per, county superintendent, and after results of the evacuation were tabulated Mr. Draper said "Okeh . . . the schools are ready." Two simulated problems were met at the Milford Elementary Ele-mentary school. First, protection protec-tion of the children from shattering shat-tering glass and immediate blast effect from a near-hit of a nuclear or other bomb concussion. con-cussion. In this exercise, the children went underground, crawling into excavations beneath be-neath the rooms normally serving serv-ing plumbing and heating maintenance, in which they "survived" the first shock waves in safety if not actual comfort. Each cavity or "cave" under the rooms ranges from four feet to six feet in depth and each is large enough to house all students in that particular room. If necessary, the students could remain in their dugouts for hours, or even a day or more, until the all-clear sounds and they could travel to their homes. The second simulated problem prob-lem was evacuation of all students stu-dents to their homes where, presumably, the parents have provided shelters or other survival sur-vival means where they could wait out nuclear fallout. At any rate, according to Mr. Draper, the first concern of the Board of Education is the immediate safety of the children of the district, and based on evaluation of the Wednesday alert, the Beaver County schools are well prepared. pre-pared. "After the schools have protected pro-tected the chidlren in the initial ini-tial emergency, and transported transport-ed them to their homes, the rest is up to the parents," Mr. Draper said. R. H. Ruth, Beaver County Civil Defense Director, expressed ex-pressed great satisfaction with the preparations of the Beaver Beav-er County Board of Education, and was on hand at the Milford Mil-ford Elementary School to observe ob-serve the exercise and helped load the children on the buses. "It took only two minutes to get the bus-riding students out of the building and the buses moving," Elliot Arnoldson, Milford Mil-ford Elementary principal, said. "And the other students, who live in town, were on their way home in less than half a minute after the buses left. The students living closest to the school arrived at their homes (Continued on Page Two! ITere's More About School Evacuation Continued from Page One) 2'2 minutes after the first alarm was sounded, and students stu-dents who had to be transported transport-ed on buses reached their homes in from eight minutes for the shorter rides to 40 minutes for students living far from town, and the 40-minute riders were hampered by muddy mud-dy roads and the bus had to dcublo back after delivering . other students. "We're very pleased with results re-sults of the evacuation test, and feel that our school has a very satisfactory and very efficient ef-ficient program of early care if needed, and evacuation of our students in event of an emergency." Through cooperation of Union Un-ion Pacific officials, buses reaching the grade crossing at the east edge of town were given right of way over the switch crews and a Las Vegas to Salt Lake freight train, ready to pull out. was held at the crossing until the buses had passed. Mr. Arnodlson was particularly particu-larly pleased with the manner in which his teachers and the students conducted themselves during the simulated emergency. emergen-cy. "All the teachers of our school are efficient," the principal prin-cipal added, "and they helped ease the tension of the students." stu-dents." Mayor Ray Kizer and City ' marshals Wally Fotheringham and Melvin Tait, after observing observ-ing the students during the simulated alert, ' said, "If we could 1 get the adults of our community as emergency-conscious and as prepared as the schools are, we'd be a darned sight more certain that there'll be a Beaver County left to survive if Krushchev gets top arrogant and pushes the button but-ton that starts an all-out atomic war." |