Sirens heard on campus, no threat

By Katie Schimmelpfennig

Trevecca students and staff heard sirens today around 1 p.m. but the sirens were not from Trevecca’s emergency siren system.

Severe weather rolled through campus producing thunderstorms, heavy rain and dark skies.

Today at 1:10 p.m. Norm Robinson, head of campus security, sent an email to all faculty, staff and administrators that Trevecca was safe.

“Metro has set the Davison county severe weather siren off for southern Davidson county.  TNU has NOT issued a severe weather threat.  The storm is not in the campus area.  We are currently ALL CLEAR!” the email said.

But Renee Chilson, food service manager, evacuated the cafeteria to the hub, the bottom level of Jernigan Student Center, after hearing the sirens.

“I’ve never heard it that loud before,” Chilson said.

She heard Metro’s outdoor early warning system. It consists of 73 sirens placed in public places throughout Nashville. The closest to Trevecca are located near Napier Enhanced Schools and the Nashville State Fairgrounds, according to Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson county’s website.

Even though Trevecca’s protocol is to only evacuate when Trevecca’s siren sound, Chilson evacuated the cafeteria between 12:50 and 1 p.m. because the cafeteria is “surrounded by glass”, it was “really dark outside” and the “TV broke in” with severe weather, she said.

One of the seniors evacuated from the cafeteria, Vera Pendergraft, wasn’t scared.

“I knew the Trevecca ones weren’t going off, so I wasn’t even sure whey we were going down in the first place,” she said.

She is glad Trevecca’s alarm doesn’t sound unless there is a threat near campus, she said.

Trevecca did not sound their sirens because, “the tornado warning was issued for a small portion of extreme southern Davidson County,” Robinson’s second email to all faculty, staff and administrators, said.

Trevecca’s sirens will sound, “only when the tornado warning is directly affecting, or is imminent to, the campus community,” the same email said.

The emails sent to faculty, staff and administrators cleared up some confusion. The email was forwarded to students later at 3:56 p.m.

“Campus security was really good about it,” Chilson said.

To hear the alarm sound click here.

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