Outdoor Siren and TechAlert! Test Scheduled
March 21, 2011
In preparation for severe weather season, the test will be conducted Thursday, March 24.
Update cell phone, home phone or text message information at www.ttu.edu/emergency.
In preparation for severe weather season, Texas Tech will test its outdoor siren system Thursday, March 24. The sirens will sound for one minute at approximately 10:50 a.m.
The TechAlert! emergency communications system will also be tested during this time.
During an actual severe weather emergency, the Texas Tech Police will activate the outdoor siren system. If practical, the outdoor sirens will be augmented by the use of loudspeakers on university police vehicles broadcasting instructions and/or Texas Tech Police sounding the cars’ police sirens. In these situations, individuals should IMMEDIATELY seek shelter in a safe area. More tips can be found on the FEMA Web site.
“The safety of our university community is our top priority,” said Ronald Phillips, university counsel and emergency management coordinator. “We test our sirens once a year and our TechAlert! system at least twice a year. It’s important that our students, faculty and staff know the sound of our sirens and what to do when they are activated. It’s also vital that we have current phone, text message and e-mail contacts so that our emergency communications system can get the latest information out as fast as possible.”
Emergency Communications Overview
In case of a weather emergency, the TechAlert! and siren systems are only one of several tools the university will use to alert the campus, including the university’s home page at www.ttu.edu. Other facets of the university’s multiple, redundant emergency notification methods include:
Updates to the following Web sites:
- www.emergency.ttu.edu is the online Emergency Communications Center to inform the Texas Tech University community about what to do in advance of, during and after an emergency
- Other online resources for emergency news are the university home page and Texas Tech Today, in addition to our social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter.
Updates via local media:
- The university has established protocols to use local media to help inform the public.
Sirens
Sirens are used for outdoor notification in the event of weather emergencies. The siren system was upgraded in 2010 to include two new sirens that can be heard to an approximate radius of 4,400 feet.
Siren locations:
- Student Recreation Center
- Drane Hall
- Museum
- Chemistry Building
- CHACP II (Central Heating and Air Conditioning Plant)
- Industrial Engineering Building
Emergency Communications
Update your information!
TechAlert! is a mass notification system that simultaneously sends email, text and voice messages to alert the university community of emergency situations or class cancellations or delays.
- More than 17,000 students, faculty and staff have opted in to receive text message alerts.
- As of the last TechAlert! message, more than 40,600 voice and 35,400 email messages were sent.
If you have not already done so this semester, update cell phone, home phone or text
message information at www.ttu.edu/emergency. Up to four phone numbers can be entered, with TTY/TDD for hearing impaired and text
messaging options.
Parents, if you wish to receive TechAlert notifications, ask your student to include
your phone number in their registry.