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Contact: Paul Cocke, director, University Communications, (360) 650-3350

BELLINGHAM – Western Washington University plans to test its emergency notification system known as Western Alert on Wednesday, Nov. 9.

At 10:55 a.m. on Nov. 9, Western will sound the “Big Ole” steam whistle for several minutes and a test message will be sent out to students, faculty, and staff via campus e-mail and cell phone text messaging. Test messages will also be posted on the University’s homepage at , the emergency information website at  and the portal for students, faculty and staff. The steam whistle is a signal on campus to immediately look for emergency information through the above sources.

Western also will test again its newest Western Alert emergency communications element, a building annunciation system. The university has installed building annunciation  – which can send emergency voice messages to the campus through fire alarm speakers – within fire systems in all academic and administrative buildings, some residence halls, the Wade King Student Recreation Center and the Viking Union. On Nov. 9 a test voice message will be repeated several times in buildings as well as some outside speakers at the university tennis courts, the south campus oval at the Communications Facility and at the Old Main lawn. 

Amber fire alarm strobes also will flash in the main corridors of academic buildings and bathrooms. No action is required on behalf of the campus community.

Western’s campus test coincides with the . FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will conduct the first nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) Test on Nov. 9, at 2 p.m. Eastern.

Faculty, staff and students are strongly encouraged to provide their cell phone numbers to Western so that each person can receive emergency messages via text.  A text message is one of the most reliable ways to quickly provide our campus community with emergency information. Most cell phones are capable of receiving text information even if users do not regularly text on their phones. Users should be advised that cell phone services may apply a small standard text messaging fee for receiving emergency alerts, depending on the terms of individual cell phone plans. Employees wanting to provide cell numbers may also call Human Resources at 650-3774. 

To date, 91 percent of �������� students, 59 percent of staff and 49 percent of faculty members have provided their cell phone numbers to Web4U to receive emergency text messages.

Community members also may .

The steam whistle, affectionately known in Whatcom County as “Big Ole,” was cast from aluminum-bronze by the Bellingham Bay Iron Works in 1899. The 2,000-pound, five-foot whistle operated at the local lumber mill on the waterfront at the foot of

Cornwall Avenue

until 1942 when that mill closed. In May 2002 the whistle was recovered from the Bloedel, Stewart-Welch’s Division at Port Alberni, B.C. which operated it until 1997. The steam whistle was installed at the Encogen NW Cogeneration Plant at

Cornwall Avenue

, where it was operational and blown on several special occasions, such as the Fourth of July. Several years ago, Western worked in cooperation with the WhatcomMuseum to relocate the steam whistle to the University’s Steam Plant.