Florida is looking for a new contractor to help conduct emergency alerts after a test mistakenly went out early Thursday morning to cell phones across the state.
Gov. Ron DeSantis called for “swift accountability” and that’s what he’s getting. Division of Emergency Management spokeswoman Alecia Collins announced in an email to the News Service of Florida that the state has ended a contract with Everbridge, a company that provided coding and instructions to push out emergency alerts. The move came Thursday, the same day as the deplorable 4:45 a.m. emergency alert — a day that started way too early for most of us.
The Division of Emergency Management later posted an apology on Twitter: “We know a 4:45 AM wake up call isn’t ideal.” Not a great move, as the jaunty tone and winky emoji seemed to make people even angrier.
Collins explained that Everbridge sent the wrong technical specifications for this alert — which ultimately pushed the alert over the Wireless Emergency Alert system.
She also implored people not to disable cell-phone emergency alert notifications. “We will ensure they are used appropriately henceforth,” Collins wrote.