Officials in Florida are apologizing after mistakenly sending out a rude awakening to the locals.
Emergency management officials say an "Emergency Alert" test was sent out at the unpleasant hour of 4:45 Thursday morning.
Phones across the state were buzzing with the message: "TEST - This is a TEST of the Emergency Alert System. No action is required."
WTSP posted an image of the alert on Twitter, saying "Good news — the test worked."
Governor Ron DeSantis pledged to look into the issue, calling it a "completely inappropriate use" of the emergency alert system.
"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," DeSantis tweeted.
DeSantis' press secretary, Bryan Griffin, also tweeted about the alert, saying "the party responsible will be held accountable and appropriately discharged."
While the message made it clear it was just a test, officials say it shouldn't have gone out so early and that steps will be taken to prevent it from happening again.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management apologized for early morning text, saying it knows "a 4:45 a.m. wake up call isn't ideal."
"Each month, we test emergency alerts on a variety of platforms. This alert was supposed to be on TV, and not disturb anyone already sleeping," the department said on Facebook. "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."
The department put out an additional statement, further explaining the mixup.
"Florida contracts with a company called Everbridge to provide the technical coding and instructions required to push out emergency alerts. Everbridge sent the wrong technical specifications for this alert – which ultimately pushed the alert over the Wireless Emergency Alert system (cellphones)," the statement said. "Good government identifies errors, corrects them expediently, and holds people accountable when appropriate. The Division recognizes that this error was unacceptably disruptive and will correct it."
The department said test alerts, which are supposed to be televised, are typically scheduled for early in the morning "because that is when the fewest people are watching TV (to minimize disruption)."
Officials also urged residents not to disable emergency alerts on their phone, saying the system will be "used appropriately henceforth."
"The Division stresses the importance of being able to receive emergency alerts as disasters can happen at any time and these alerts save lives. Please do maintain emergency alert notifications on your cellular device," they said.
In a statement to WRSP, the software company called the incident an "unfortunate procedural error."
"We have a long history of supporting the State of Florida and the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) dating back to 2016. Our system is used by cities, states, and entire countries around the world," Everbridge Vice President of Corporate Communication Jeff Young said. "There appears to have been an unfortunate procedural error in this monthly test that we are investigating. As mentioned by FDEM, we too regret the inconvenience this test caused the residents of Florida."
According to WKMG, the state has since terminated its contract with Everbridge over the incident.
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