While Citrus College follows shut down guidelines, security measures increased for students and faculty with the addition of two new emergency light beacons. The towers and wall mounts serve to increase safety to anyone on campus at any time.
Blue light emergency phones provide one-button access to campus safety 24/7 in case of an emergency and will also broadcast emergency notifications during a major incident, such as a natural disaster or anything that would cause grave danger to the Citrus community’s safety.
Similar to the previously installed beacons, these phone connections are wired with a hardline so that in case of an emergency where phone signals are affected the devices will still be functional. At the top of the pole, there is a beacon of blue light that goes off as an alert to help illuminate the area during an emergency.
This portion of the college’s comprehensive emergency response plan is the second phase of development. Ben Macias, director of Citrus College Department of Campus Safety, said one tower will be adjacent to student services while the other is next to the mathematics building.
Locations of the first four blue light emergency phones, originally implemented in the existing 2018 emergency plan, are located at the south exterior wall of the Field house, the north exterior of the gatehouse, the campus center and the east exterior wall of adaptive physical education.
Director of Finance and Administration Services Claudette Dain said, “these towers and mounts are strategically placed in high traffic areas so that regardless of what building one may be in they can still get to them in a relatively short amount of time.
Dain also said, “if the campus ever decides to expand, there is a possibility of adding more beacons to the project.”
Though there was no record available of how often these emergency beacons are being used, Dain said there has never been a life-threatening student or faculty emergency usage of the emergency beacons, thankfully.
The project funds were allocated from the capital outlay fund for all emergency type projects. There is no tuition or tax hike of any kind. Dain said the average cost for each system is anywhere from $15,000 to 20,000.
The second phase of implementation will continue with the addition of two additional blue light emergency phones by June 2021.
