While I'm sure it was annoying for those who live in the area I'll admit it made me chuckle. Sounds like something I would have done when I was a teenager if I'd had the means. We don't have any sort of warning sirens out here though.
Not sure about other places, but my university has emergency broadcasting system (blue lights), and they test that system every month at a random time.
Thank god I don't live on campus anymore. When I was living on campus, they do fire alarm drills as well, and sometimes it means they will set the alarm at any moment, sometimes even in the early morning.
To a night owl like me, it definitely sucks. Not only fire drills, sometimes an idiot smoking in his dorm can also trigger the alarm, and evacuating a massive L-shape building.
I wonder how cops and firefighters think -- they come to the same building every so and often, only to find fake alarms 100% of the time.