At approximately ten to one on July 27, UAF Police Chief McGee kicked off the bomb threat exercise with a call to the president's suite. He told Brandi Berg that there was a bomb in the Butrovich building that would be detonated at 2:00 p.m. She took notes on his threat, and other details of the call, and placed a 911 call. Police were dispatched to the scene and arrived within minutes.

Building floor managers were notified and a total evacuation of the building began.

Specially trained explosive detection dogs and their handlers were brought in to sweep the building and located the device. Explosive experts from the Army were called in to disarm the device.

Emergency floor managers worked with department heads to get a count of employees. Once the bomb was located employees were allowed to return to the building.