OGDEN — Emergency Day in Ogden didn't come off without a hitch. But that's what you want when you're planning for a disaster.
Because, were it all for real, there would be plenty to worry about. Thursday's planned event just proved that to be true.
The alarm sounded at 2:30 p.m. with a recorded voice telling people to leave City Hall and not to get on the elevators, which are not supposed to work during an emergency. One person managed to ride an elevator, though. And that elevator continued to work.
But city employees mostly got out of City Hall in a timely manner and hurried to their safe zone.
Meanwhile, "suspicious packages" were delivered to several area businesses so they could practice evacuating as well.
The packages were nothing more than wooden boxes spray-painted silver with a picture of a clock attached to some dynamite. A note on the back said "Tag. You're it.">
And while all of that was happening, the city's Information Technology department was operating from a tent on the lawn next to City Hall.
Servers, a copy machine, various laptops and a plotter, all powered by generators, were set up Thursday morning as the department tested itself to see how it would operate in an emergency.
Actually, said Jay Brummett, the city's chief technology officer, the city's computer systems would operate from an emergency operation center in the city's public safety building.
"But we are prepared to set up anywhere and today we're doing it on the lawn," Brummett said.
The practice should help Ogden maintain its top ranking, for its size, as a digital city, a ranking bestowed by the National League of Cities and the Center for Digital Government.
Since 2003, Ogden has placed in the top three digital cities, with two years in first place.
Brummett said his staff had to deal with a late generator, some data recovery that took too long and other data recovery that happened faster than expected.
From 7 a.m., when Brummett began calling employees, it took four hours to be operational.
"If we didn't have the glitches, we wouldn't have challenged ourselves enough to get value out of (the practice,)" he said.
Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey expressed confidence in his employees, some of whom had to improvise to solve certain problems without a normal office.
"It's easy to sit around a room and theorize about what will happen," Godfrey said, adding that experience comes in handy.
Two IT employees, Lew Grant and Eric Weston. volunteered for some extra experience this week by each living off a small 72-hour kit.
Thursday, as the city gave away 72-hour kit starters, hundreds of stove-in-a-can units and other emergency supplies, Grant and Weston talked about what it's like to survive from a 72-hour kit.
Grant has posted homemade videos at www.youtube.com. Just search for Ogden disaster.
The nutrition bar, they said, was like a large lemon-flavored sugar cookie, and after two days of eating that bar for every meal, it was hard to make another meal of it.
The bar was filling enough. It would just be nice if each square were a different flavor, they said.
The kits come with about 500 milliliters of water a day for three days, which is the equivalent of a small water bottle or just over two cups.
Grant said he would like a 72-hour kit to contain an actual first-aid kit and not just a pack of bandages. And a knife, radio, flashlight and some cash would be nice, too, he added.
From the time of the drill, Ogden's risk manager, Ron Ball, kept track of what happened right or wrong Thursday. And after reviewing the day, he will grade the city staff on handling emergencies.
And there's a real reason to train, Ball said.
Since Monday, there have been 16 bomb threats and two chemical incidents in the United States, according to www.globalincidentmap.com, which shows locations of terrorist events and other suspicious activity around the world, Ball said.
Thursday's practice was followed by an emergency preparedness fair that showcased emergency vehicles and offered classes on medical response in emergencies, high voltage dangers, earthquakes, 72-hour kits, sheltering, pandemics, forest fires, gas leaks and sewer backups.
"If people enjoy preparing for the bad things that may happen then maybe they'll do it," Ball said.
E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com