Q&A with Adam Fouche about UGA's response to recent ice storms

Feb. 13, 2026 by Isabella De La Sierra

Adam Fouche is the interim associate vice president of UGA Environmental Safety, Risk and Resiliency. Fouche discussed his role and the university’s actions and response to the recent ice storms in January. 

Q: What were your motivations for the particular response to the storm on January 24th? A lot of students were recommended to go home. What motivated that?

Adam Fouche, interim associate vice president for environmental safety, risk and resiliency, stands outside on UGA campus, Feb. 11, 2026. Fouche answered Reporting 1 student's questions about his role in the university's emergency response to recent ice storms. (Photo/Georgia Bosart)

A: I inform the administration about what we can reasonably anticipate. And then the administration uses that to make decisions about whether we do or do not close. But what we were looking at, particularly with the ice storm, was the information we were getting from the National Weather Service, you should be prepared for widespread and prolonged power outages. That’s always a concern with ice. Trees fall, power lines can’t sustain the weight. So what we were worried about is if we lose power to a majority of campus, we do not have the ability to care for the people who are living here, not all 9,000-plus. And so that was part of what led to the, “It might be safer if you go home.” Then, when it looked like we had maybe a little less than half of our students staying on campus, we started looking at whether we had to move students around and where we could shelter them. Where can we get backup power, create an opportunity to at least have heat to keep them warm and then be able to get them from that location to the dining hall, for instance, where we can feed them? And that's what led to everything that you saw unfold during that. 

Q: What, in the events of the recent winter storms, has maybe changed policies in your department? 

A: No, I won't say any policies changed. We have a virtual presence, which is in Microsoft Teams; the vast majority of the people were a part of the emergency operations center virtually. I’m leading team calls every 12 hours or so like, “Where are we right now?” After the first storm, though, there might be some groups we were missing that we want to be a part of this. Between the first storm and the second storm, we added a few people from different groups across campus. Even after the second one, we’ve added some people we probably want to have represented. We didn’t change any policies, but the actual operations. 

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/ce2d78_dd4c753958364b30bf685aea0a97380d/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Adam Fouche answers a question about changing procedures regarding hoax calls on Feb. 11, 2026. Fouche's department handles the UGA alert system that does after action reviews for each event. (Video/Cole Prewitt)

Q: What do you see as the most prevalent future risk to campus safety? 

A: Weather, 100%. You will 100% face a weather emergency. You have already, probably. So I see weather as being one of the biggest threats, just because we can't control it, we can prepare for it in some extent. What do you do when, at some point, your entire response system is completely overwhelmed? And so that, to me, is the biggest concern for campus. 

Comments trimmed for length and clarity.