Three years before the Virginia Tech shootings, Western officials began implementing a comprehensive, campus-wide emergency warning system.

The sixth and final phase of the emergency plan – the installation of speakers on top of three campus buildings – is complete and will be tested May 12 or May 19, Telecommunications Director Edwin Craft said.

Gene Tice, vice president of student affairs and campus services, gave credit for the formulation, research and implementation of Western’s emergency plan to Craft and his team.

Western has 60 buildings spread over 200 acres. The warning system can notify all areas of the campus in six different ways.

Should a crisis happen, the Event Notification Server, a gateway system that links all communication sources on campus, is activated.

A warning message is sent to 200 on-campus phones per minute, more than 13,000 cell phone subscribers, in-building paging speakers, digital signage, campus e-mail and first responders, such as police and firefighters.

The newly installed speakers on top of Downing University Center, Cherry Hall and Keen Hall will play a three second tone followed by a recorded or live message, Craft said.

The recorded messages, sent from campus police headquarters, can warn the campus community of severe weather, a biohazard disaster and an active threat such as a shooter or bomb threat.

The all clear message will sound when the crisis is under control, he said.

If something happens that is not addressed with the recorded messages, a live message is broadcast from police headquarters, Craft said.

The Western fight song has been recorded and will be played to celebrate victories such as the Hilltopper men’s basketball team earning a Sweet 16 berth in this year’s NCAA tournament, he said.

President Gary Ransdell or Bob Edwards, assistant vice president of University Relations, can authorize an alert.

Thorough planning helped the team avoid problems that have plagued other campuses such as cell phone providers not being able to handle the volume of calls that go out, Craft said.

In a test of Western’s text-messaging and e-mail warning system on Feb. 8, 11,676 subscribers received text messages in an average time of 15 minutes.

Congress passed a bill on Feb. 7 mandating that colleges issue public warnings within 30 minutes of a threat or emergency.

“Our original goal was for the messages to be received in less than 30 minutes and so far, we achieved a 99 percent rate,” Craft said in a previous interview.

Even with the comprehensive warning system in place, Craft said evaluations and revisions will be made to ensure the continued success of the program.

Reach Larry Rowell at news@chherald.com.