At Notre Dame, our safety teams don't just wait for emergencies; we actively prepare for them. On Monday, July 13, our Emergency Management and Environmental Health and Safety (formerly Risk Management and Safety) teams led a full-scale hazardous materials drill designed to keep skills sharp and campus secure.
A safe campus relies on strong community roots. This exercise was a massive collaborative effort involving 60 participants from both the University and our surrounding areas:
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Campus Response: NDPD, NDFD, and EHS personnel managed the simulated scene on the ground.
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City Response: South Bend Fire and South Bend Hazmat teams deployed alongside our campus crews.
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Medical Response: Four local hospitals coordinated directly with responders to practice emergency medical triage and communication both on campus and at the hospitals including Beacon South Bend, Beacon Granger, Beacon Elkhart, St. Joseph Regional Medical Center. Dr. Steven Joyce, Memorial Hospital South Bend EMS Medical Director also participated.
"When our campus teams train seamlessly alongside South Bend's elite responders and Beacon and St. Joseph Med Center's medical personnel, we build the muscle memory required to keep our community safe," said Keri Kei Shibata, associate vice president for Campus Safety and Chief of Police.
From deploying advanced drone technology for aerial oversight to testing live patient decontamination corridors, every element of the drill was executed with precision.
The Notre Dame teams dedicate significant time and resources to these joint exercises so that if a crisis ever occurs, the transition from campus response to regional support is instantaneous.
While the teams hope to never need these specific protocols, the exercise proves that our campus and local area partners stand ready to protect the Notre Dame family at a moment's notice.
Originally published by at police.nd.edu on July 14, 2026.