Training exercise prompts call for more emergency awareness Published Oct. 22, 2015 By John Parker Staff Writer TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- When an emergency strikes, knowing what emergency managers' instructions mean can literally and suddenly become words to live by. That's why Col. Michael Green, commander of the 72nd Mission Support Group, wants Tinker Air Force Base personnel and families to brush up and clearly understand what the official emergency terminology means before any possible crisis unfolds. During emergency training exercises last August, Colonel Green discovered there was still some confusion out there, even among Tinker personnel who knew an active shooter scenario was going to happen. "I heard people using terminology that was confusing to the audience and confusing to them," the 21-year Security Forces veteran said. "Some folks were saying 'lockdown' and some folks were saying 'shelter-in-place' and those mean two different things." With an active shooter incident, sheltering in place - which is one of several official emergency procedures - could be disastrous. "You don't want to be sheltering in place or having folks think they're sheltering in place because there's a toxic chemical outside the window when in fact there's a guy with a gun around the corner," Colonel Green said. "That's a very different scenario." The instruction to shelter-in-place applies only to a possible airborne hazardous chemical or biological agent release. Every Tinker building has a designated and posted area for the facility's occupants to shelter-in-place together and seal off windows and other air sources with plastic. Colonel Green said doing this in an active shooter incident would be "collecting all targets in one location" and highly dangerous. Lockdown, meanwhile, is an instruction to lock all external doors and stay away from windows and exterior walls due to an active shooter threat somewhere on base. "It's important to not only know how to recognize the threat and the signals you're going to get from the wing or the command post, but to know what you're going to do," Colonel Green said. "We can't get to the point where we're just ignoring those things. We've got to pay attention and have some idea where you're going to go if something happens." Emergency terms to know The Tinker Air Force Base Emergency Management Office provides safety advice for emergency situations. For more detailed information about what to do in emergencies, contact the office at 734-3515 or email 72abw.cext@us.af.mil. The following brief explanations are condensed from the office's most recent quarterly newsletter. Colonel Green also advises all personnel to explore their buildings to locate their designated shelter-in-place area, tornado refuge area and, if there is one, a hardened storm shelter. Definitions are below. Run, Hide, or Fight: This is not an instruction, but emergency managers' advice for people with an active shooter nearby. If you choose to run, leave everything behind and call 911 when safe. If hiding, lock and barricade doors if possible, turn off cell phones and remain silent. If you fight, commit to attacking aggressively and improvising weapons. "Lockdown": An instruction in active shooter situations. Lock exterior and office doors and stay away from windows and outside walls. "Shelter-In-Place": An instruction used in hazardous materials incidents. Relocate to the building's designated SIP location to implement procedures to create a barrier between building occupants and possibly contaminated outside air. Storm Shelter: A storm shelter is any hardened building, structure or portions thereof, constructed with established survivability standards. They are for use during a severe windstorm or tornado. Tornado Refuge Area: Not a shelter, but an area in a building that has been designated to offer the best protection in a given area. People in a refuge area are more likely to survive than people in other areas of the building.