Two 130-decibel sirens wailed across Virginia Commonwealth University's downtown Richmond campuses Wednesday as the school tested an emergency warning system that is a direct result of the shootings at Virginia Tech last April.

The sirens are mounted atop Cabell Library at Monroe Park and the Wood Building on the MCV campus. They sounded for one minute at noon, with a shorter blast later. The shorter blast would signal all clear in the case of an emergency.

The sirens are audible for up to a mile, and school spokesman Pamela Lepley says VCU officials already were considering stronger emergency response measures when a student gunman killed 32 people and then himself at Virginia Tech on April 16.

The shootings happened over a period of about two-and-a-half hours, and Lepley says VCU quickly realized it needed a system to get everyone's attention immediately.