5/25/05
The thought came, unbidden, as I watched the orderly march of employees out of the Erie County Courthouse.
We really have come full circle.
I grew up in the chilly air of a cold war, and remember our elementary school staff conducting practice drills for nuclear fallout.
We were told that the area around Pittsburgh was a hub for the rail industry on the East Coast and would make a natural target should the Russians look to disrupt the movement of goods or weapons in this half of the country.
No kidding, we would all get up, walk out into the hallway and sit along the wall on the floor.
Later, I would hear about kids who were required to sit under their desks during practice air raids.
That’s because, as we all know, people are much safer under a desk or out in the hallway should a nuclear device go off somewhere nearby.
As we moved into the 1970’s, the need to practice nuclear war drills started to fade, but we always had our fire drills.
Twice a year, we would hear the bell and get up in an orderly fashion to walk out of the building, usually into good weather.
I mean really, who would plan for a fire drill in a rainstorm?
The real work for the teachers was when everyone was outside, given that children by nature seem to scatter like a basket of super balls dropped onto pavement.
The staff would go running around like border collies, herding in the students until the sounding of “All Clear.�
It always energized the troops to get outside for a few minutes and to get away from the rigors of math and science.
In later years it would energize some to sneak away to smoke under the high school stadium seats.
Not me, Mom. Honest.
All of which brings us back to this week, and a renewed interest in fire drills in public buildings in a post 9-11 world.
The threat of nuclear annihilation has been largely replaced by things like white powder, scribbled warnings on bathroom walls and someone’s left-behind gym bag.
None of that is meant as criticism for emergency managers, faced with the daunting task of trying to stop a host of real and perceived threats biological, chemical and explosive, while trying to ready a largely lethargic public in the process.
But we really have come full circle, haven’t we?