Treasure Coast Residents, along with millions of other Floridians were jolted awake this week by an early morning alert that went off on every cell phone and tablet in their homes. The alert, sent by the Florida Department of Emergency Management, was meant to be a test for terrestrial TV broadcast but was mistakenly sent to devices as well.
Social media was flooded with reports of Floridians jumping out of bed, falling out of bed, and smashing their phones and tablets in reaction to the screeching alert. While some found the incident amusing, many others were not amused.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management has since taken responsibility for the mistake and has fired the company responsible for handling the alerts, Everbridge. The company confirmed the separation in a statement, saying they are committed to the state of Florida and to FDEM as a partner to ensure best practices are applied.
The Florida Association of Broadcasters, which was initially blamed for the failure, said it only sets the scheduled test times and not the actual alerts. In a statement, Pat Roberts, President & CEO of the FAB, said, “A mistake was made by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, they are well aware of the seriousness of it.”
Later, emergency managers apologized for the mistake and accepted responsibility for the mishap, tweeting, “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.”
The incident has caused concern among Floridians about the reliability of emergency alerts and the need for more accurate and effective systems. It remains to be seen what steps will be taken to prevent similar incidents in the future.