Accidentally triggered alarm test awakens Floridians in sleeping hours
WeirdNews
The Florida Division of Emergency Management apologized on Twitter about four hours later.
FLORIDA (Web Desk) - Thousands of cellphone users across Florida had a rude awakening at 4:45 a.m. Thursday when the state's Emergency Alert System was accidentally triggered for a test.
The emergency alert tone was triggered on phones across the state in the wee hours Thursday morning with a message reading: "TEST -- This is a TEST of the Emergency Alert System. No action is required."
The Florida Division of Emergency Management apologized on Twitter about four hours later.
"We know a 4:45 a.m. wakeup call isn't ideal," the division tweeted. "@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," officials wrote.
Later on Thursday, state officials said that they had fired the company that provides the alerts.
"The Division understands that unexpected 4:45 AM wakeup calls are frustrating and would like to apologize for the early morning text," the Florida Division of Emergency Management said in a statement.
"We are taking the appropriate action to remove the company responsible for submitting the alert this morning. We want to stress that while this wakeup call was unwarranted, disasters can happen at any time and having a way to receive emergency alerts can save lives," the division said.
Officials in Seminole County urged residents not to turn off emergency alerts as a result of the error.
"Misinformation is circulating regarding this morning's accidental alert from the state of Florida and a schedule of future test alerts," the county tweeted. "Residents will not receive monthly Emergency Alert tests from the state going forward. This morning, the state accidentally used the 'live' screen instead of the 'test' screen when sending a test alert."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said an investigation has been ordered into the erroneous test.
"This was a completely inappropriate use of this system," DeSantis tweeted.
