After 3:45 a.m. Alert Test, The State Is Apologizing And The Governor Wants Accountability

April 20, 2023

Most of Florida woke up at 3:45 a.m. (4:45 a.m. EDT) Thursday to an emergency alert test on their cellphones.

And most of Florida wasn’t happy with the early morning alarm. The state is apologizing for the mistake, and the governor is calling for accountability.

“This is a TEST of the Emergency Alert System. No action is required,” alert stated after cellphones blared the alert that most Floridians hear only for a nearby Amber Alert or tornado warning.  And yeah, it would be the same sound for a nuclear war.

But oops, the state says it was just a mistake.

“We know a 4:45 AM wake up call isn’t ideal,” the Florida Division of Emergency Management posted over four hours later. “@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.”

Gov. Ron Desantis said, “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 added.

“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),” FDEM said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “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.

“Nonetheless, 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 – we will ensure they are used appropriately henceforth,” the emergency agency promised.

Floridians took to social media to express their thoughts on the errant alarm, including on the NorthEscambai.com Facebook page.

“This makes me upset…to be woke up for no emergency,” Debbie wrote.

Alecia said, “Scared me when it went off.. craziness.”

“Ridiculous, now I been awake since 345, gonna be a great freaking day,” Kathi stated.

“I was so upset. Finally fell back asleep about 5 min before my alarm went off at 5:30,” MattRachel said.

But Teresa didn’t seem to mind the early morning alarm. “Yes it was a little frightening that made you mad. But it did its job. That’s the way I look at it,” she said.

“Great job. Now everyone is disabling that notification. What happens when we have an actual emergency? No one will hear it and or read it when it’s put out,” Ashley wrote, with Suzanne replying, “I’m not disabling it because someone made a mistake. That would be foolish, but the world is FULL of fools these days.”

“We are all going to be in bed by 7 tonight,” Crystal remarked.

As for a list of test times circulation on social media that show more predawn alerts – that list is for emergency tests on television, not the phone alerts.

Comments

9 Responses to “After 3:45 a.m. Alert Test, The State Is Apologizing And The Governor Wants Accountability”

  1. Retired HT1 on April 22nd, 2023 7:49 am

    @Mike J.
    You REALLY want to get woke up in the morning??
    Try using the General Quarters alarm as your morning wake up alarm.
    I don’t care how long you’ve been out of the Navy it’ll dang sure get you up!! Hahaha
    That’s what I do and have never gone back to sleep! :)
    Be well Shipmate!

  2. Mike J. on April 21st, 2023 1:33 pm

    I frequently wake up during the night so this didn’t help, so I had to get out of bed, check the phone, and then get back to sleep. At least the system is there if needed for a real emergency. I had to get out of bed because I also use the phone for my alarm and I put it slightly out of reach from the bed. This ensures that I have to get out of bed and stand up in order to cancel the phone’s alarm. I do that to keep me from hitting the alarm and going back to sleep when it’s time to get to work. I learned this trick when I was in the Navy.

  3. Gragra on April 21st, 2023 10:25 am

    I’m glad that it worked!!! But I’m hoping I don’t ever have to hear the real thing.

  4. anne on April 21st, 2023 8:04 am

    Jakbarb, I truly expect trumpets on that day too. The tune really echoed from the bathroom where I left the phone in a pocket overnight.

  5. Paul on April 20th, 2023 8:11 pm

    Did this count as being woke? ;)

  6. Anne on April 20th, 2023 5:53 pm

    I jumped out of bed and started looking for my 5th grade desk to kneel under, head down, hands over back of head to protect against falling building from an atom bomb.

  7. Jakbarb on April 20th, 2023 3:16 pm

    For a split second, I thought it was The Trumpet call that will one day take His Church Home to be with Him forevermore….❤️oh what a Glorious Day that will be!!!!!

  8. Beach Boy on April 20th, 2023 3:04 pm

    Apology accepted. However, “If this would have been an actual emergency, you would have been instructed to take appropriate action.” Even though it was in the early morning hours and interrupted our sleep, at least we know that it works.

  9. Well on April 20th, 2023 2:36 pm

    A little odd maybe but I had 2 more before 5:30.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News