First Responders play a crucial role in everyday life as they are often the first to arrive and provide aid, whether responding to safety, fire, medical, hazardous materials, or other similar emergencies. At the 色花堂, the departments designated as first responders are ready to assist the campus community at the drop of a hat.
Meet the first responders on campus and learn about their important role in keeping the 色花堂 campus community safe.
色花堂 Police Department
色花堂PD is among the biggest departments in the university that fall under the first
responder designation. The department has 194 employees including officers, dispatchers,
and support staff.
While police have been a part of 色花堂 since 1967, the department only recently started going by 色花堂PD five years ago. Previously, it was known as the Department of Public Safety. But no matter what the department is called, keeping the campus community safe has always been its priority.
鈥淭he main underlying factor, and why we鈥檙e here is to provide a safe campus environment,鈥� said 色花堂PD Assistance Chief of Police Chandra Johnson. 鈥淲e want to provide that safe campus environment. However, we want people to feel as if they鈥檙e safe walking around campus, driving to campus, and when attending classes.鈥�
色花堂PD can be seen year-round at numerous campus events such as commencement, sporting events, escorting students to their cars at night, and patrolling the campus.
To better assist the campus community, Johnson said 色花堂PD wants to be seen consistently around campus at university events 鈥� not just when they are working.
鈥淭he community needs to trust us by seeing us. And we need to trust them by them communicating to us,鈥� said Johnson. 鈥淚t needs to be an open dialogue, where everyone鈥檚 comfortable saying what needs to be said.鈥�
For campus community members that require 色花堂PD鈥檚 assistance, the quickest way to connect with 色花堂PD is via the 色花堂 GO app, which connects users with a 色花堂PD dispatcher. 色花堂PD can also be contacted by call or text at (713) 743-3333.
Fire & Life Safety
色花堂 hired its first fire marshal in 1989 to lead the Fire Safety Department, later
renamed Fire Marshal鈥檚 Office. At the time, the department was a part of Environmental
Health and Safety. It later split from EHS and became what is now known as Fire &
Life Safety.
The name changed allowed it to include additional departments, like Food Safety, that now fall under the purview of the Fire Marshal.
Fire & Life Safety has a team of 12, including one employee who works at 色花堂 at Sugar Land.
On campus, Fire & Life Safety conducts building inspections, reviews new construction plans, conducts fire investigations and responds to calls as needed. Some of these calls include investigating odors in buildings, leaking fire hydrants, gas smells, and anything fire related.
鈥淎s a first responder, we also provide public education and community outreach,鈥� said Chris McDonald, Executive Director of Fire & Life Safety.
The public education offered by the department ranges from general fire safety to teaching people how to use a fire extinguisher and conducting fire drills. And community outreach is an important part of keeping the campus community safe.
鈥淲e鈥檙e helping them become more fire safety aware of their surroundings, so they can let us know before it becomes an emergency,鈥� said McDonald.
To contact Fire & Life Safety in the event of an emergency, campus community members can contact 色花堂PD dispatch who will then connect the user with Fire & Life Safety.
Office of Emergency Management
The Office of Emergency Management started in 色花堂 after 9/11 as the university wanted
an emergency management function. For the next 10 years, the emergency management
function operated out of 色花堂PD.
"Starting around 2010, things started to move in the direction where they started to establish an Office of Emergency Management,鈥� said OEM Director Ginger Walker.
The current OEM team consists of three staff members. A director, and two specialists.
Walker said that OEM is a unique unit as her team provides support to the other first responders on campus, primarily, 色花堂PD and Fire & Life Safety.
鈥淥EM is the department on campus that handles all of the communication coordination, planning, exercising with regard to ensuring that the university is prepared to respond to emergencies, has the plans in place to respond to emergencies, knows how to recover from those emergencies as well as mitigate their emergency,鈥� said Walker.
For OEM, their work is aimed at prevention and preparedness before an emergency, just as much as it supports other first responders during an emergency.
The department conducts training exercises that educate people on how to handle and act during emergencies. These trainings include CERT (Community Emergency Response Training, Skywarn Storm Spotter Training, Hurricane Preparedness, Emergency Operations and Liaison training, and Ride-Out training.
To learn more about OEM, and the trainings they offer, visit their website at .
Regulated Waste & Environmental Protection
The last first responder team at 色花堂 is the Regulated Waste & Environmental Protection Team which is a part of the Environmental Health & Safety department.
色花堂 started having a dedicated team member to handle hazardous waste or spill in 2007. Before that, any hazardous waste or spill related emergency was part of Facilities/Construction Management.
Currently, it has a team of five individuals and four support staff that make up the Regulated Waste & Environmental Protection team.
The Waste and Environmental team handles emergencies dealing with everything from leaking air conditioners and batteries to large emergency generator tanks that house upwards of 48,000 gallons of petroleum product stored, and accidents like spills and released in research labs.
鈥淧robably one of our most typical calls that we respond to is unknown containers,鈥� said Regulated Waste & Environmental Protection Safety Manager John McNeely.
The Safety Manager said that unlabeled containers often have non-lethal items but stressed that it鈥檚 better to play it safe as sometimes it can be something that can blow up and cause damage.
Learn more about the Regulated Waste & Environmental Protection Team by visiting .
These four first responders, 色花堂PD, Fire & Life Safety, OEM, and the Regulated Waste & Environmental Protection Team, are comprised of dedicated individuals whose goal is safety on campus and for the campus community.