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MACOMB, ILL. -- (Macomb, Ill.)  More than 14,000 people in Macomb received an emergency alert Tuesday, December 1st, but it was only a test.

Western Illinois University tested its emergency alert system.

The system was first implemented in November of 2007 to alert students, staff and faculty at both WIU campuses of school closures and emergency situations.

The Assistant Vice President for Administrative Services at WIU told us the alert system now has the ability to dial extensions, which is a critical feature.

"Almost 600 of our employees are reachable only by extension and so now our system is able to dial that extension and reach them directly rather than hitting an automated attendant or voice response system," said Dana Biernbaum.

The alert system is tested every semester.

"It's important that we test it every semester because we have new students coming in every semester, new employees coming in every semester, so we test it every active semester to make sure that everyone who's in our campus community, both here and in the Quad Cities, are familiar with how the system works, they recognize what the message looks like when they receive them," said Biernbaum.

KHQA was on hand as the test happened.

Three people in the office received the alert within minutes.

If you were supposed to receive the alert but had problems, contact the Office of the Vice President for Administrative Services at 309-298-1800