A remote worker, I was sitting in front of my desk in my living room when suddenly, a huge pulse shocked its way through my house, sounding as though a car was thrown onto my roof.
I went outside and saw neighbors, drivers, even the mailman all outside looking around wildly, asking each other what was going on. The pulse reverberated again, and my older neighbor let out a high pitched scream and ran into her house. I wished the mailman luck and went back to my house, where I climbed onto the roof — I know, I know — to see what was going on.
I could tell the pulsing was coming from the west, but that was it. Other neighbors called out to me, asking if I could see anything. One of them was trying to comfort her crying baby and howling dogs, her husband presumably at work. Even from my vantage point, I couldn’t see anything. I called my parents, making sure they were both okay and inquiring if they knew anything. Luckily they were fine, but just as confused as the rest of us.
I tried every Google-able sentence I could to see what was going on, and nothing came up. Reddit was full of locals trying to identify what was happening; everywhere from Draper to the Avenues seemed to be affected. According to some, police on scanners were also trying to figure out what was happening. Fantastic. Not even the police know what’s going on. Not that they typically do anyway, in my experience ... but that’s another opinion piece.
Living in Utah, everyone on the Reddit thread was of course asking the same question: Is this the big one? Grasping for answers, I started going over my earthquake preparation knowledge. The pulsing went on, happening every 30-40 seconds, shaking windows and creating more panic. Finally, my father called me back. My mind is racing: Is everyone okay? Did he figure out what’s causing it? He’s more west than I am, is he in danger?
“Apparently it’s the Tooele Army Depot, they’re having artillery practice.”
Are you kidding me? All the panic and emergency preparation went out of my head, replaced simply by deep frustration. Artillery practice? I had one neighbor near tears, panicking and screaming, and another neighbor attempting to contact her husband while her baby wailed in the background. And this was all for artillery training?
In the 15 minutes after I received my father’s call, I had friends from all across the Salt Lake valley contact me, saying they, along with their neighbors or coworkers, were all outside in the midst of freaking out, wondering if the apocalypse was finally here. I told them all what I’d learned.
How was the information still not fully out? How was I the first one informing them?
It’s ridiculous that we had to experience sheer panic and pure, unknown chaos that could have been — and should have been — prevented by informing the community ahead of time.
There should be an easier way for us to learn what’s happening in our community. We should be able to look to our cellphones and find accurate, reliable information rather than finding out from a friend of a friend’s dad who’s simply making his best guess.
In the meantime, let’s hope the panic didn’t cause too much harm — and that the booms didn’t shatter any windows. We’ll also have to hope that the massive dropping of the ball from the Tooele Army Depot and others in charge will be a learning lesson for how they keep our communities safe and informed.
I think I speak for us all when I say we’d rather not have to deal with the consequences of any more lessons.
(Ellie Otis) Ellie Otis lives in Cottonwood Heights.
Ellie Otis lives in Cottonwood Heights.
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