Bakersfield College’s underground bomb shelter has proven not to be as historical as some students and teachers believed.
Students and teachers mentioned bomb shelters and fallout shelters. The only fallout shelter is located southwest of the Science and Engineering building.
Old equipment is located in this so-called fallout shelter, but nothing important. There was a dumbwaiter that didn’t work, but that’s it.
A survey of 100 was given. The question was “Did you know there is an underground tunnel system under BC campus?” 64% of students said they didn’t know, and the other 36% said yes. Bill Garrett, the plant engineer, said, “it’s better to keep that number low.”
In the past, students knew how to get in these tunnels, now students are banned from these tunnels.
BC was being built in 1954 and many of us would say that these tunnels were part of the emergency plan, just in case of an attack.
Garrett, who has been working at BC since October 1998, said, “The only thing that is historical about these tunnels is probably their age.”
The main purpose of these tunnels was to distribute hot and cold water to the BC campus. Pipes were installed on the sides as well as some wiring for communication purposes.
In these dark tunnels, there were only spider webs, cockroaches, and some mice. Lights are in there that could lead to a maze underneath BC.
The tunnels are eight feet in height and 14 feet underground of BC.
There are two main entrances to these tunnels, but nobody has access to them except maintenance personnel.
Starting under the Fine Arts building, going south, the tunnel leads to the Agricultural building.
Going west will allow you to reach the Science and Engineering building and eventually make your way to the Campus Center.
Taking the north route, you reach the Fine Arts and the Speech Arts and Music building.
After this, you go west and find alternate ways to other buildings such as the Humanities and Student Services buildings.
Between the Business Education and Student Services, the old tunnels end and new white tunnels begin. In the year 1994, these clean tunnels were installed and went west all the way to the library.
“I don’t know what these people in those days were thinking,” Garrett said.
“These tunnels were never meant to be (part of) an emergency escape plan, or to be used for storage, and will not be used in the future for BC students.”