Next Thursday, April 23, Puyallup is turning a regular school morning into a full-on volcanic escape rehearsal. From 9 a.m. to noon, thousands of students across Puyallup and neighboring districts will leave their classrooms and walk their lahar evacuation routes in a large, coordinated drill. The idea is to practice fast, on-foot evacuations for a sudden “no-notice” lahar and to make sure the routes and communication systems that would be used if Mount Rainier sends a mudflow down the valley actually work when it counts.
As outlined by Lahar Exercise, the East Pierce Interlocal Coalition is coordinating the drill with the Puyallup, Sumner‑Bonney Lake, Orting, White River and Carbonado school districts, and more than 50 facilities are expected to participate. During the exercise, the cities’ emergency operations centers will be activated to handle communications, assembly points and student accountability while the sidewalks and routes fill up with pupils, teachers and emergency staff.
Why a “no‑notice” lahar can be deadly
The U.S. Geological Survey’s D‑CLAW simulations show that a large lahar could reach Orting in as little as 50 minutes, which means some neighborhoods would have only tens of minutes to get to higher ground. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, lahars triggered by slope failures, not just eruptions, remain a serious risk on Mount Rainier’s west flank, so waiting around for obvious volcanic activity is not a safe bet.
How many Puyallup residents and workers are in the danger zone
A report cited by The News Tribune found that roughly 41% of Puyallup’s population, about 17,424 people, live inside the mapped lahar zone, and about 46% of the city’s homes also fall inside those hazard areas. The same piece notes that approximately 14,805 workers are employed within the danger zone and lists major local employers with significant staff inside the map, including Good Samaritan Hospital with about 1,696 employees, Family Resource Care with about 1,500, Miles Sand & Gravel with about 800 and the Fred Meyer distribution center with about 500.
How you’ll be alerted and what to practice
Eric Johnson, the city’s public affairs officer, told The News Tribune, “don’t count on having a lot of time,” while Emergency Manager Kirstin Hofmann has urged families to practice their walk‑out routes before the exercise. Officials also recommend packing a small go‑kit with water, medications, an N95 mask and phone chargers, and planning ahead for neighbors or family members who might need help evacuating…