Florida alert – Emergency alert displayed on smartphone — Courtesy: Shutterstock — Image by: Simone Hogan
Millions of Floridians were awakened early on Thursday by a test of the state’s emergency notification system. The CEO of a crucial event management business has written a letter outlining what went wrong and why this happened.
Everbridge CEO David Wagner published a message to Floridians that reads as follows:
“If you or anyone you know was awakened by a test alert on your phone…I’m sorry,” Wagner wrote.
According to Wagner, a number of preventative measures that were supposed to be taken before the release of any emergency notification were disregarded due to human error.
“Our job at Everbridge is to give you and all of Florida’s emergency departments, at the state and county level, peace of mind so you can sleep through the night knowing you will be awoken and alerted if there is a hurricane or an imminent life-threatening event. The last thing we want to do is wake you up when you should be asleep,” Wagner wrote.
Everbridge will purchase advertisements in a number of prestigious Florida newspapers this week along with in a number of digital sources to make sure that as many Floridians as possible receive the message.
Many people keep cell phones next to their beds while they sleep, and the FDEM alarm broadcast statewide by the non-profit, state-chartered Florida Association of Broadcasters caused many to react, well, startled.
The message stated that this was only a “test” of the emergency warning system and not an actual emergency. No action is necessary.
The Florida Department of Emergency Management tweeted the cause of the alarm, which came with an apology but scant consolation for those who were awakened early:
“We know a 4:45 AM wake-up call isn’t ideal. @FLSERT wants to apologize for the early morning text. Each month, we test #emergencyalerts on a variety of platforms. This alert was supposed to be on TV, and not disturb anyone already sleeping. We are taking the appropriate action to ensure this will never happen again and that only true emergencies are sent as alerts in the middle of the night.”
FAB representative Pat Roberts added an explanation as well:
“As you know, there was an alert sent this morning at 4:50 a.m. The State of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management Watch Office sent out the incorrect test, which sent the wrong alert. We are told we should be receiving a statement from the Division shortly.”
“We will release it immediately after receiving it, along with our own statement.”
“The FCC mandates that only TV and radio stations receive the test on a monthly basis. The Florida Division of Emergency Management is in charge of disseminating the timetable; FAB only establishes it. FAB is not a party to the transmission of these warnings.”
“The Florida Division of Emergency Management made a mistake, they are fully aware of how serious it is, and we are all working to fix it.”
According to the aforementioned explanation, the test did not sit well with many Floridians, as seen by these comments on the association’s Facebook page:
- Are you freaking serious? 4:45 AM WAKING EVERYONE UP? Someone needs to lose their job!
- Who came up with this schedule? Because of it, hundreds, or even thousands or more will just end up disabling the alerts. Great job bringing it to our attention.
- Those alerts are at 3:50am for those of us in the central time zone…. Thanks a lot.
- HEY FAB, what an inconsiderate time for a test at 4:45AM this morning. You really need to think about this one, NOT COOL!
- Which one of you thought “it’s a great idea to “TEST” the emergency alert system at 4:45am?” You sadistic twerp! A great way to embed a bad impression, so no one takes it serious when it’s real. #genius
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William is the Managing Editor at FloridaInsider.com. His years of experience in journalism, broadcasting and multimedia include roles as a Writer and Web Producer. He graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor of Science and Communication.