Campus Updates
University to test emergency sirens Feb. 28
UNC-Chapel Hill will test its emergency sirens on Tuesday, Feb. 28, between noon and 1 p.m. as part of Alert Carolina, a safety awareness campaign.
The University tests the sirens each semester to make sure the equipment works. That equipment now includes a sixth siren installed recently near the William and Ida Friday Continuing Education Center.
During the test, anyone outside on or near campus, including downtown Chapel Hill, likely will hear the sirens. (The sirens are not designed to be heard inside or while you are in a vehicle.) The sirens will sound an alert tone along with a brief pre-recorded voice message. When testing is complete, a different siren tone and voice message will signal “All clear. Resume regular activities.”
The sirens will sound for a major emergency or an immediate safety or health threat such as:
- an armed and dangerous person on or near campus
- a major chemical spill or hazard, or
- a tornado warning issued by the National Weather Service.
During the test, the University will send test text messages – one when the sirens sound along with a second one to mark the “all clear” – to more than 50,000 cell phone numbers registered by students, faculty and staff. In an emergency, the University will post safety-related announcements on the Alert Carolina website.
“The sirens are our most direct way to quickly tell people about a life-threatening emergency on or near campus,” said Chief Jeff McCracken, director of public safety. “We conduct regular tests to remind everyone what the sirens sound like. We want students, faculty and staff to think about what they would do in a real emergency.”
The University recently put up posters in every classroom to help educate students and faculty about what to do when the sirens sound.
The University uses multiple ways to reach students, faculty and staff. Central to that approach are Emergency Notification Protocols adopted last fall that inform the campus community using three different types of notifications – Emergency Warning (sirens), Timely Warning and Informational Message.
The University will announce additional changes to the notification protocols resulting from a review of events this academic year including the actual siren activations in September 2011 when tornado warnings were issued for Orange County by the National Weather Service.
Other changes for Alert Carolina include a new mobile version of the Alert Carolina website to make it easier for people with mobile devices to access alertcarolina.unc.edu. Details will be announced later.
Published Feb. 22, 2012.
University Operator: (919) 962-2211 | © 2012 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |