UCF’s preparations for potential emergency situations include regular tests of communication tools that provide critical information to students, staff and faculty members, family members and the public.

Several of those UCF Alert communication tools will be tested on Friday, July 9.

Outdoor sirens, which emit a tone followed by a voice response, will be tested at noon.

A test emergency text message and e-mail will be sent between 1 and 2 p.m. Messages should be received by all students and faculty and staff members who already have updated cell phone information on file through the MyUCF Web site and who have not opted out of receiving emergency messages.

Faculty, staff and students are automatically prompted to update their emergency information, including cell phone numbers, the first time they log onto the MyUCF Web site every semester. Updates also can be made through the following steps after signing on to the MyUCF site.

Students: Click on Student Self Service, then Personal Information and then Phone Numbers.

Faculty and Staff: Click on Employee Self Service, then Personal Information and then Phone Numbers.

The university’s main Web site, www.ucf.edu, will be replaced from 1 to 2 p.m. with a text-only version that will be the primary source of information during an emergency. Users are encouraged to bookmark other university Web pages that they may need in advance of the test.

All on-campus resident assistants and many campus personnel who assist with emergency responses have received HEARO emergency radios from the university. Radios, which also are in key campus buildings such as the Student Union, will be tested at 2 p.m.

About 30 UCF buildings are equipped with indoor notification systems that emit tones followed by voice instructions during emergencies. Those systems will be tested briefly between 3 and 3:30 p.m. The tests in each building will last no more than five minutes.

Special efforts will be made to notify staff and faculty members who will be in the buildings during the time of the test. We encourage those staff and faculty members to inform students in their classrooms, laboratories and offices.

WUCF-89.9 FM will conduct a test of its emergency broadcast capabilities at 4 p.m.

UCF’s Twitter and Facebook pages, which serve as additional methods of notification, will be updated throughout the day. A test emergency message also will be posted on the university’s new sign on Alafaya Trail.

Visit the UCF Alert Web site for more information on the communication system that helps to keep the campus safe and informed during emergencies.