Tap. Tap. Tap. "Help me! Get me out of here!" Tap. Tap. Tap. A desperate voice and overhead knocking echo along the halls of a vacant, dark building as Dorothy Buchanan, assistant director of donor relations, and search and rescue partner Paul Hunter of administrative services wield their flashlights in the direction of the noise. They are conducting a mock search of an empty facility owned by the College. Buchanan whips out a roll of masking tape and marks an "x" on the door of each room she and Hunter check. They are looking for the "wounded," other search and rescue volunteers who—as part of a training exercise—have squeezed and climbed into various spots within the building to pose as victims of a major catastrophe.

Maintenance supervisor and training coordinator Tim Williams has given Buchanan and Hunter five minutes to locate the injured before sending in a second team. Walkie-talkies are used to communicate with the teams outside, and tape is used to mark where searchers have already looked so following teams won't waste time checking the same area. Twenty minutes into the drill, teams have located three "victims": a woman trapped by falling debris; a man whose location is blocked by large logs of rolled carpet; and another with debilitating injuries. The three victims are escorted back into daylight by the rescue teams and everyone congregates around Williams, who offers efficiency pointers.

There is an unspoken sense that world events and threats of additional attacks have given this mock drill a heightened sense of reality. "I think it's true that the events of Sept. 11 have helped galvanize the program, and brought additional people into service," says Tim McPheron, associate director of annual giving and team volunteer. "This has been quietly done for several years, but now it's sort of taken on a life of its own."

CMC's search and rescue team now numbers 11 volunteers, almost double last year's participation, according to Pat Smith, CMC's emergency, safety and disaster preparedness coordinator. This team is one of three on campus to help in the event of a campus or campus-wide emergency. The College also has a medical team comprised of students, faculty and staff, and an emergency operations center team, made up of senior staff who have monthly training sessions.

Each CMC assistance team follows standard emergency operative systems used by fire and police to assure a smooth transition in the event that outside emergency personnel are required to pick up where the CMC teams left off. The teams have been in place for three years, as part of state and federal mandates that outline the proper handling of crises that may require reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Smith's part-time position as emergency, safety and disaster preparedness coordinator was created in July 2000, and involves organizing and helping to implement required training for the teams. Another aspect of her job includes staging evening emergency drills for students and peer supervisors in their residence halls. "Our last drill, held on September 24, focused on a bomb threat scenario," says Smith. "The students' cooperation and attentiveness makes it clear that they're concerned about knowing safety procedures. That's something that hasn't happened before."

Search and rescue volunteers prepare to enter a vacant building as part of a training exercise.