Florida officials canceled the state's contract with software firm Everbridge, after they say the company mistakenly sent out an emergency alert test to cellphones statewide at 4:45 a.m. Thursday, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) said the alert was intended for television networks and wasn't supposed to "disturb anyone already sleeping."
"We know a 4:45 AM wake up call isn't ideal (smiling face emoji with sweat). @FLSERT wants to apologize for the early morning text," the agency tweeted approximately four hours after the erroneous alert was sent out.
In a follow-up message, the FDEM said it would be "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."
Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis said he ordered the head of the state's emergency-management agency to "bring swift accountability" to the debacle.
"This was a completely inappropriate use of this system," DeSantis tweeted. "Stay tuned."
Division of Emergency Management spokesperson Alecia Collins told the Journal the agency canceled its contract with Everbridge later on Thursday.
The software company confirmed the separation in a statement obtained by WLRN.
"There appears to have been an unfortunate procedural error in this monthly test that we are investigating," Everbridge spokesperson Jeff Young said. "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."
According to the Journal, Everbridge has been providing the coding and instructions to push out Florida's emergency alerts since 2016. Collins said the company sent the wrong specifications for the test on Thursday, which resulted in the alert being pushed out over the Wireless Emergency Alerts system to mobile devices, instead of the TV networks that were expecting it.
The National Weather Service in Tampa Bay called on residents to keep the emergency alerts enabled on their phones for safety's sake.
"While certainly inconvenient this morning, we STRONGLY discourage you from disabling these alerts on your phone," it tweeted. "This could mean that you are unable to receive timely severe weather notifications from the @NWS that may mean the difference between life and death."
According to WLRN, state Sen. Bobby Powell sent a letter to Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie, asking that future alerts be sent at a more forgiving time.
"In order to prevent such a cell phone 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.
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