For several years, the City of Orsay has used Friday the 13th to test its crisis management procedures. This year, Orsay residents are invited to actively participate in this exercise, which will take place from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM. The municipality, which has held the Pavillon Orange label since 2012 for its crisis prevention and management organization, aims to expose its teams to unforeseen situations.
Volunteers will be able to take on various roles, such as an injured person, a resident to be evacuated, a concerned local, or someone attempting to cross a restricted area. Others will be tasked with challenging the system by creating unexpected situations to test the teams' real-time reactions. These scenarios aim to assess the municipal services' ability to organize an evacuation, manage casualties, and inform the public while coordinating interventions.
« Preparing for a crisis means accepting to be confronted with the unexpected. Residents will help us test our reflexes as closely as possible to reality and identify areas we need to improve, » explains Laure Thomas, head of prevention, social mediation, security, and public tranquility. Municipal services and the communal civil security reserve will be mobilized throughout the morning.
Two preparation sessions are scheduled before the exercise. A public meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 4, from 6 PM to 8 PM with members of the communal civil security reserve. A second session, led by Xavier Laplume, founder of the company l’Empreinté, will take place on Friday, November 9, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. This theatrical workshop will help volunteers prepare their characters, with no prior acting experience required.
Individuals wishing to participate in the exercise on Friday, November 13, are invited to contact Laure Thomas, head of prevention, social mediation, security, and public tranquility, by phone at 01 60 92 80 84 or by email at laure.thomas@mairie-orsay.fr.
