Northwestern’s emergency sirens accidentally went off Sunday morning at Allison Hall, Technological Institute, the Jacobs Center and the Burton Academic Advising Center.

The siren system, part of which was replaced Feb. 10, had been programmed by Whelan Security to go off at that time for monthly automated tests. The only automated tests that University Police allow are daily midnight and noon tests that are silent. Police don’t know why Whelan scheduled the test for 6 a.m. on a Sunday, said deputy chief of police Daniel McAleer.

UP has removed the automated tests, and no other alarms have gone off since.

The siren system is used to give out rapid warnings. If they need to be activated, dispatchers open up the system and send out pre-written messages. The sirens have mostly been used in the case of tornado warnings.

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