UK Apologizes For Emergency Test Mishap

A scheduled emergency test at the University of Kentucky ran into an early problem Friday.

But officials are calling the drill a success despite the slip-up.  

The exercise began around 10 AM Friday. UK bio-safety officer Brandy Nelson says the drill was intended to test the capabilities of a variety of emergency responders both on and off campus.

"Today we were doing a full-scale exercise to test how first responders would react in the event that we had a biohazard situation with one of our laboratories," she explains.

But the first prerecorded notification that went out failed to identify the alert as a test. Officials say the mistake was quickly corrected and the proper message was immediately transmitted.

Otherwise, Nelson describes the exercise as a success. She says the university received a lot of helpful feedback from the city’s fire department HazMat group, which was able to tour some of the university’s laboratories.

Copyright 2014 WUKY

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Josh James fell in love with college radio at Western Kentucky University's student station, New Rock 92 (now known as Revolution 91.7). After working as a DJ and Program Director, he knew he wanted to come home to Lexington and try his hand in public radio.