Duke installs campus emergency siren system

DURHAM -- At Duke University, outdoor siren systems are being installed in seven spots across campus as a last-resort warning in the event of campus violence or natural disaster.

This summer, Duke joins plenty of other college campuses that, since last year's massacre at Virginia Tech, have scurried to improve their crisis-response mechanisms.

Duke bought its siren system from Federal Signal Corp., an Illinois company that also recently sold a warning system to UNC-Chapel Hill. Campuses are buying the outdoor siren systems as one component of larger security plans that include campuswide e-mail and text-messaging notifications. Campuses have been encouraging students to register their cell phone numbers to receive text-message warnings.

"This has become something of a growth industry on the heels of Virginia Tech," said Aaron Graves, Duke's associate vice chancellor for campus safety and security.

At Duke, the seven speakers spread across the far-flung campus are mounted 55 feet off the ground. They emit a variety of siren sounds that can be mixed so as not to be confused with a police or ambulance siren, Graves said. The sound, which measures about 72 decibels (well below any unhealthful standard set by the American Speech Language Hearing Association), can travel half a mile.

"It's a tone that will get your attention," he said.

The speakers also serve as a public address system, so campus safety officials can speak through them.

At Duke, the system is expected to be in place and ready to test in August. N.C. State University and UNC-CH tested their new campus siren systems in March.

The sirens are strictly a last-resort tool and can be used only for a small list of very specific reasons, said Randy Young, a spokesman for UNC-CH's public safety office. Those include an active shooter on campus, a tornado touching down on or near campus, or a large, life-threatening gas leak, explosion or fire.

"This is not a police callbox," Young said. "It has to be an absolutely imminent, verifiable threat, a life-and-death emergency."