In its first emergency warning since April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech experienced problems with its alert system last week when sending out a campus-wide emergency notice concerning reports of gunshots heard on campus.
Larry Hincker, Virginia Tech associate vice president for university relations, said someone reported a sound like gunfire near a dormitory Thursday. When police arrived on the scene, they secured and searched the building, Hincker said, though police later discovered the sound was from a nail gun cartridge being exploded.
After the police arrived, Hincker said, the university activated the alert system, which consists of four main channels: e-mail to the university community, 200 classroom alert signs, a warning on Tech’s Web site and a message delivered to mobile phones.
Hincker said the vendor Virginia Tech uses to send alerts to mobile phones experienced difficulties, and the message was not delivered to some members of the university community.
“That contractor’s equipment froze up about halfway through the first of the three messages that I sent,” Hincker said. “It was a malfunction of the vendor’s equipment or processes.”
Hincker said he does not know how many people were affected by this malfunction but stressed the importance of using multiple communication methods. In light of the malfunction, Hincker said Virginia Tech has not made any decisions about whether it will keep its current vendor or about what will be done to fix the system.
The emergency alert system was tested Oct. 8, Hincker said, but was not used to warn of an emergency before last Thursday.
The University of Virginia is planning a test of its emergency alert system this afternoon starting around 2:30, Director of Emergency Preparedness Marjorie Sidebottom said. She noted this test is not a response to Virginia Tech’s malfunction but rather “has been planned for a while.”
The test will involve sirens and a public announcement followed by a mass text message and e-mail to the University community, Sidebottom said.
“We’re going to be monitoring the systems to see how things are going out to make sure we’re not identifying any issues,” Sidebottom said. “We’ll have an all-clear by 3 [p.m], maybe earlier.”
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