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Brooklake Christian School’s “Lights on Signs
Technology” team members Sara Yazdi, Alyssa Wolf, Hannah
Zeitler and Jordyn Wintersole pose with a prototype
“flashing lights” sign in front of the Town of Orting,
WA, Public Safety Building. The students presented their
proposal to the Town Council. |
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The final sign
design. Signs are solar powered and controlled remotely
by wireless. This photo illustrates why beacons are
needed. Evacuation signs tend to blend into the local
environment − especially for residents and regular
commuters. They get noticed when the beacons begin to
flash. |
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Student
Alyssa Wolf points to a standard volcano evacuation sign
while being interviewed for Seattle’s KING 5 News
program. |
Related Links
Puyallup Washington
Case Study
Advisory Sign
Products.
|
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Brooklake
Christian School, Washington |
January
2012 |
L.O.S.T. 8th Graders Find Way to Notify Public in
Emergencies |
“It has always been our hope to help save lives in our
community. It is now our hope that this idea will soon
be used around the Nation.” |
The
word “lahar” evokes a special respect among the locals
in the Pacific Northwest. A lahar is a deadly tsunami of
mud, melted snow and boulders that will smother towns
near a volcano such as Mount Rainier when it next
erupts. Residents of places such as Orting, WA, which is
located at the mountain’s base, are only too well aware.
When students in Mrs. Gentry’s 8th grade class in nearby
Federal Way, WA, learned that neighboring Orting was in
the bulls eye of a lahar event, it was not long before
action was proposed. Recalls Gentry, “Four of our young
ladies became concerned about the lack of visibility of
our local volcano evacuation signs and came up with the
idea of adding flashing lights to them.” With Gentry’s
coaching, the four girls began researching and testing
the idea, and formed the school’s “Lights On Signs
Technology” (L.O.S.T.) team.
As a class project, they created a prototype sign, and
the results were profound,” states Gentry. “Flashing
lights – that could be triggered to activate when the
emergency was detected - greatly increased the
visibility and response to the signs.” Sheri Badger of
the County’s Department of Emergency Management says,
“You see these signs all the time, so you don’t notice
them after a while. The lights call attention to the
signs.”
The L.O.S.T. group selected Information Station
Specialists in Michigan to assist with the final design.
With the help of Jody Woodcock and Tom Sharp of Pierce
County Emergency Management, three of the flashing
beacon upgrades were procured and installed on
evacuation signs near Orting, because its 6,700
residents would feel the impact first should the
mountain erupt. “It’s an awesome idea,” adds Sharp. “I
wish we could have done it sooner.”
The County can trigger the sign beacons to flash
remotely via VHF radio in concert with their outdoor
(siren) warning system. But unlike sirens, the signs
both indicate the specific hazard and tell motorists
what action to take (the direction to travel) to avoid
danger.
Sharon Gentry states, “As they worked on this project,
the girls came to recognize that tsunamis, hurricanes,
flash floods and industrial accidents also pose a risk
to millions of people in our country, and if flashing
lights were added to those evacuation signs, they would
greatly enhance their visibility while also delivering
an instantaneous warning of the impending danger.”
The students’ idea garnered the support of local
leaders, as well as Washington Governor Chris Gregoire,
and was selected as one of eight national finalists in
the federally sponsored Christopher Columbus Fellowship
Foundation Science Contest.
"What Sharon and her students did was outstanding,”
comments Bill Baker of Information Station Specialists.
“They pioneered the idea of adding this technology to
any existing evacuation sign, allowing emergency
managers to retrofit signs already in their
jurisdictions. This becomes a simple means to quickly
get motorists’ attention and instruct them how to avoid
danger.” Baker says flashing beacons on informational
road signs could be triggered automatically by an onsite
NOAA/SAME (Specific Area Message Encoder) receiver in
areas prone to sudden, deadly hazards such as tsunami,
avalanche, fog, flash flood, industrial hazard, etc.
In the words of the L.O.S.T. team, “It has always been
our hope to help save lives in our community. It is now
our hope that this idea will soon be used around the
nation.”
Information Station Specialists’
Flashing ALERT Sign
product was the basis for the students’ final design and
has gained acceptance with emergency managers in recent
years in military applications (Travis and McGuire AFBs,
Forts Bragg and Rucker), port authorities (Port of
Stockton) and dozens of communities across the US. The
signs and beacons are commonly used to direct attention
to local area information radio stations and/or to take
a specific emergency action when beacons flash.
|
SIDEBAR |
Lost
Senior Citizen Located near Fort Rucker with Help of
Flashing Sign Technology |
Below is a timeline reported
by Fort Rucker’s MP Desk Sergeant following a report of
a missing person at the post. |

Signs
similar to Fort Rucker's |
9:30 am |
Domestic dispute results in
elderly male with history of confusion, departing from
home on foot – reported by his wife as missing |
10:40 am |
Incident reported to Fort Rucker Military Police who
initiate a search of facilities and roads and issues
BOLO (Be On Look Out) to surrounding law enforcement
agencies.
A description of the missing
person was broadcast on
Fort Rucker’s 1640 ALERT AM
Radio Station. Motorists were
notified to listen by
Flashing ALERT Signs that were activated to flash their
amber beacons. |
5:15 pm |
Lost individual was located by a citizen who saw one of
Fort Rucker's beacon signs flashing earlier in the day
and monitored the 1640 AM broadcast to learn the
description of the man.
The citizen recognized the
man in a nearby town and contacted local police who
picked him up and returned him to his wife in good
health and condition. |
|
Information Radio Stations is a generic term
synonymous with Travelers Information Stations (TIS), Highway
Advisory Radio Stations (HAR) / Highway Information Systems &
Low Power Radio Stations (LPR). Operation of the stations is
governed by FCC Part 90.242 Rules. A FCC license is required.
Information Radio Stations may be fixed or portable.
Subcomponents may include transmitter, antenna and ground
system, digital voice player, wattmeter, cabinet with
conventional or Corbin locks, lightning arrestors for RF, power
and telephone lines, coaxial cable. Most stations employ black
maximized antennas to discourage ice accumulation and security
measures to prevent unauthorized program access. Options include
synchronization, battery backup, solar power, remote programming
by local, network or telco, multi-station audio distribution via
RF or LAN / WAN or wireless network. |