Partnerships, preparedness and practice made for successful lahar drill

The Sumner-Bonney Lake School District was one of five school districts in the region to participate in the March 21 lahar exercise, deemed to be the largest full-scale drill in the nation.

The hour-long exercise was the culmination of months of planning among local cities, towns, law enforcement and emergency management agencies. SBLSD’s schools on the hill in Bonney Lake sheltered in place, while our Sumner valley schools evacuated their buildings and safely walked to the Gordon Family YMCA. Watch this video for a look at both the education and evacuation parts of the exercise.

Note that if this were a real emergency, valley students would continue to walk from the YMCA up the hill to Bonney Lake, where students would be sheltered in our hill schools. This was the same drill practiced two years ago in April 2022.

SBLSD has worked closely with the Sumner and Bonney Lake Police and Public Works departments to coordinate this exercise to ensure the utmost safety of everyone involved. We value our strong partnerships with law enforcement and emergency management agencies in preparedness activities all year long.