University Park Installs New Weather Alert Sirens

[MrMustang1965]

from the DMN:

One of the sirens is on the Southern Methodist University campus, which is inside University Park city limits. That siren will eventually have a few extra features, said Bill Detwiler, chairman of SMU's Emergency Planning Task Force.

One of those features will be a special tone used to warn students and faculty of lockdown situations.

"It will have a voice-over capacity, which would let us use it as a public address system," Mr. Detwiler said.

The SMU siren also will have a unique tone, independent of the city, to alert students to campus emergencies.

The university already had been working on its emergency communications planning for a couple of years. But the recent shootings at Virginia Tech have institutions re-evaluating and enhancing their systems, Mr. Detwiler said.

The upgrades cost the city $150,000, with $25,000 of that coming from SMU, said Steve Mace, a University Park spokesman.