{
  "id": "2024-01-23-liberty-university-green-hall-smoke",
  "slug": "liberty-university-green-hall-smoke-2024-01-23",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Liberty University",
    "shortName": "Liberty",
    "state": "VA",
    "type": "private-masters",
    "alertSystemName": "LU Alert",
    "enrollment": 16131
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2024-01-23",
    "type": "other",
    "cleryCategory": "advisory",
    "headline": "Smoke from building drains traced to a planned test of the sanitary sewer system",
    "headlinePublic": "Smoke from building drains traced to a planned test of the sanitary sewer system",
    "summary": "On January 23, 2024, [Liberty University issued an LU Alert](https://www.liberty.edu/security-public-safety/2024/01/23/lu-alert-campus-alert-15/) advising the campus community that smoke seen coming from drains in Green Hall was part of a planned test of the building's sanitary (sewer) system. The smoke was [non-toxic and posed no risk](https://www.liberty.edu/police/campus-safety-and-security/alert-system/), and the alert was intended to prevent unnecessary 911 calls or alarm.",
    "outcome": "No emergency existed; the smoke was a deliberate, non-toxic component of a sanitary-system test. The advisory reassured the community and prevented misdirected fire-emergency reports.",
    "resolution": "unfounded"
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "Daytime EST on January 23, 2024",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "LU Alert: Campus Alert: Liberty University will be conducting a test of the sanitary system in Green Hall today. You may see smoke coming from drains, but It is non-toxic and poses no risk. The test will be conducted throughout the day.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.liberty.edu/security-public-safety/2024/01/23/lu-alert-campus-alert-15/",
      "sourceDescription": "Liberty University Security & Public Safety official alert archive, January 23, 2024 (text confirmed via search snippet from the official page)",
      "annotations": [
        "Verbatim text confirmed via the official Liberty University Security & Public Safety alert archive page (lu-alert-campus-alert-15); the capitalized 'It' in 'but It is non-toxic' is preserved as published",
        "Lynchburg is on Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5) in January",
        "This is an advisory rather than an emergency notification: it pre-empts false alarms about a benign, planned activity rather than warning of a threat"
      ],
      "characterCount": 236
    }
  ],
  "context": "Liberty University is a large private Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, with a deputized police department and the LU Alert mass-notification system used for [road closings, weather, and life-threatening situations](https://www.liberty.edu/police/campus-safety-and-security/alert-system/). Not every alert is an emergency: on January 23, 2024, Liberty issued an [LU Alert about a planned sanitary-system test in Green Hall](https://www.liberty.edu/security-public-safety/2024/01/23/lu-alert-campus-alert-15/) producing non-toxic smoke from building drains. Smoke testing is a standard plumbing diagnostic that forces theatrical (but harmless) smoke through sewer lines to find leaks; without notice it can trigger fire-emergency 911 calls. The advisory is a useful example of how campus alert systems are also used proactively to suppress false alarms, a contrast to Liberty's documented [bomb-threat and severe-weather protocols](https://www.liberty.edu/security-public-safety/emergency-management/emergency-plans/). It joins the archive's small set of 'non-event' advisories that show the full range of what mass-notification systems carry.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "The alert was a proactive advisory to prevent false fire-emergency calls about benign smoke-testing of the sewer system",
    "Liberty explicitly characterized the Green Hall smoke as non-toxic and no-risk",
    "It illustrates that campus alert systems carry routine advisories, not only threat notifications"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "LU Alert: Campus Alert (January 23, 2024) - Liberty University Security & Public Safety",
      "url": "https://www.liberty.edu/security-public-safety/2024/01/23/lu-alert-campus-alert-15/",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Campus Alert System - Liberty University Police Department",
      "url": "https://www.liberty.edu/police/campus-safety-and-security/alert-system/",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Emergency Plans - Liberty University Security & Public Safety",
      "url": "https://www.liberty.edu/security-public-safety/emergency-management/emergency-plans/",
      "type": "official-archive"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "advisory",
    "smoke-test",
    "non-event",
    "christian-university",
    "virginia",
    "false-alarm-prevention"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-29",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-06-01",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}