August 14, 2008

Purdue to test emergency sirens during Boiler Gold Rush

The university's five sirens, placed strategically throughout campus, are scheduled to be sounded at 3:45 p.m., Wright said. The test coincides with Boiler Gold Rush, Purdue's five-day orientation program for new students.

"We want to verify that each siren works, we want the students to know what they sound like and what to do when the sirens are activated," Wright said. "We're training the Gold Rush's student leaders now so that they can instruct the new students immediately following this test on how they should react in a real emergency."

In an actual emergency, the sirens indicate a major disaster or imminent threat involving the entire campus and/or surrounding community. The threat could be from natural causes or a human-caused incident.

The sirens signal individuals to shelter in place, meaning to go to lowest level of a building or to get to the nearest room and secure the doors, depending upon the situation. When possible, people on campus also should check the Purdue home page, https://www.purdue.edu, e-mail and local media for more information on the emergency and the appropriate action to take.

The sirens are part of Purdue Alert, the multi-layered system of notifying people on campus of an emergency. Other notifications include the use of mass e-mail, Facebook, mass text-messaging and Boiler TV.

More information about alert system can be found at the Purdue Emergency Preparedness Web site, https://www.purdue.edu/emergency_preparedness/

Writer: Jim Bush, (765) 494-2077, jsbush@purdue.edu

 Source: Ron Wright, (765) 494-0446, rdwright@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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