Update: The Florida Division of Emergency Management says it fired the company contracted to handle emergency alerts. The company, Everbridge, confirmed the separation in a statement.
“There appears to have been an unfortunate procedural error in this monthly test that we are investigating,” said Everbridge spokesperson Jeff Young in a statement.
“We are committed to the State of Florida and to FDEM as a partner, as we are with all of our customers, to continue to improve and ensure best practices are applied."
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Original Story: The Florida Division of Emergency Management is the culprit in this morning’s early wake-up call to the millions of people in the state. Floridians were still snug as bugs in bed when every cellphone and tablet in their home went off. Simultaneously.
Reports of Floridians jumping out of bed, falling out of bed, and smashing their phones and tablets poured across social media Thursday as most everyone reacted to the screeching alert that was sent by the Florida Department of Emergency Management. Many people reacted with amusement and humor, many others, however, did not.
The test was only supposed to be for terrestrial tv broadcast, but someone [no one has yet said who] made a mistake and sent the alerts to devices.
In a statement, the Florida Association of Broadcasters, which was initially blamed for the failure, says it only sets the scheduled test times, and not the actual alerts.
"The test is sent out monthly to only TV and radio broadcasters as required by the FCC. FAB only sets the schedule, the Florida Division of Emergency Management is responsible for sending it out. FAB has no involvement in the sending of these alerts. A mistake was made by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, they are well aware of the seriousness of it," said Pat Roberts, President & CEO of the FAB.
Emergency managers later sent a statement accepting responsibility and apologizing for the mistake.
"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 department said in a statement on Twitter.
That apology alone may not be good enough. Among those apparently awakened: Gov. Ron DeSantis.
"I’ve ordered FL Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie to bring swift accountability for the test of the emergency alert system in the wee hours of the morning. This was a completely inappropriate use of this system. Stay tuned," the governor tweeted out.
As of noon Thursday, #EmergencyAlert was trending on Twitter.
For residents of the western panhandle—the wake-up call came even earlier, given they’re an hour behind the rest of the state.
In a letter to emergency managers, Sen. Bobby Powell, D-West Palm Beach, is asking that alerts be sent out no earlier than 8 a.m.
“In order to prevent such a cellphone mishap again, and in an abundance of caution in the event of human error, I would ask that you consider a more humane, later morning testing time, such as 8:00 am, in place of the 4:50 am time slot?” Powell wrote to Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie.
