Those sirens

Bleah. Heard the sirens loud and clear in our office at the corner of Franklin and Battle, but no one in the house heard the spoken announcement. I was on the back porch, and it sounded as expected: bland authoritarian voice in the sky. Sounded as if coming from the direction of the Arboretum.

I, for one, love our bland authoritarian voice in the sky overlords!

Oh, that's so funny -- I heard it and didn't think twice. It reminded me of the volunteer fire department siren in the the small town where I went to college!

I either started listening too late or they should make it louder. Hmmm. Sounds like a country song.

WOW! I heard it and thought it was the fire department at the duplex fire site on Ephesus Church Road. And I was near the roundabout in Durham County.
Let's hope this is only used in real emergencies, and not for sports celebrations.

It is very good to know that the emergency warning system is in good working order.

Heard it, wondered, thought it was a visiting siren from some mythic land.....

Seriously, I did wonder mildly, and later I heard the explanation on WCHL, which included the info that it was supposed to be heard "within a radius of 1/2 mile" and that it was part of a more comprehensive alert system including use of instant email across the UNC community. I am exactly 2 miles from the carillon (had to know this as a student in need of hardship parking) and I daresay it could have been heard another mile or so, at least. And my unc.edu mail didn't carry any notice.

Also heard that it was a practice alert in case of tornado, terrorist attack, or .... nuclear attack, nuclear accident, the Apocalypse? -- actually I don't remember precisely what the other examples were, but I remember being somewhat unsettled by the options.

Priscilla,

I think that we both heard the one at the University buildings off Airport Drive across Martin Luther King Boulevard from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA.

Linda Convissor sent out a notice to our HOA and it was also in the papers.

Priscilla,
I've pasted in the Formal Notice that went out to UNC employees and students on Sunday, December 16 at 8:21 p.m. You may need to change your email settings to receive these - I'm not up to date on the protocol of who gets them - I know I had to sign up to get all the Informational emails.

My office is upstairs in 210 Pittboro Street and I didn't hear the siren; my colleague downstairs did. It's been interesting to get reports of who heard it and who didn't - I'm learning there are many variables to to how the sound carries and distance is clearly not the only variable.

And as others have mentioned, this is one component of a larger safety effort underway.
Linda

Dear Faculty, Staff and Students:

The Universitys Department of Public Safety will test a newly installed UNC Emergency Alert System Siren on Wednesday (Dec. 19) between noon and
1 p.m.

The Universitys siren system will sound during an immediate life-threatening situation such as an armed and dangerous person in the area, a major chemical spill or hazard, or a tornado.

During the test, people on or near campus will briefly hear the siren sound during full-volume testing. Siren locations are at the Hinton James Residence Hall off Manning Drive; the Gary R. Tomkins Chilled Water Operations Center behind the Dogwood Parking Deck; Winston Residence Hall at the corner of Raleigh Street and South Road; and at Airport Drive near UNC buildings and support facilities north of main campus off Martin Luther King Boulevard.

After the siren sounds, a recorded public address announcement will say, This is a test of the UNC Emergency Alert System. This is only a test. When the test is over, the siren will sound again along with a public address announcement saying, All clear. UNC police have issued an all clear. Resume regular activities.

No action is required for this test, part of a training exercise to ensure the siren system works properly. The University will also notify campus neighbors about the test in advance.

Activation of the siren system coincides with the spring 2008 launch of Alert Carolina, an educational campaign for the University community covering campus safety issues and what you should do in an emergency.
Details about the campaign launch, including another full-volume siren test, will be announced later.

In an emergency, the public address announcements made in conjunction with the siren sounding would provide instructions including:

* Seek shelter inside now.

* Close windows and doors.

* Stay until further notice.

When the danger is over, the siren system and public address announcement will signal all clear.

To learn more about the UNC Emergency Alert System Siren and see photos, go to http://universityrelations.unc.edu/alert/sirenfacts.php: