Bryan Griffin, Governor Ron DeSantis’ Press Secretary, announced via Twitter Thursday afternoon that the state government would take action against the person(s) responsible for the early-morning alert. “This morning’s 4:45 (3:45 central) SERT test alert was not appropriate and not done at our direction. The party responsible will be held accountable and appropriately discharged.”
Additionally, Governor DeSantis Tweeted “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.”
This morning's 4:45AM SERT test alert was not appropriate and not done at our direction. The party responsible will be held accountable and appropriately discharged.
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) April 20, 2023
You got that message this morning, too, right? The one at three in the morning?
We did too – so did everyone else in Florida!
The Florida Division of Emergency Management accidentally sent out an early morning test to millions of Floridians phones – and took to Twitter to apologize this morning.
The Division noted that the test was just going to be on TV – but made it onto cell phones as well.
“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 agencies twitter account added.
You can find the test times for the television alerts on this website. The next one is scheduled for May 22nd at 12:50pm central time.
The silver lining: the emergency alert system works.
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.
— FL Division of Emergency Management (@FLSERT) April 20, 2023
We’ve never needed local news more than we have today. With newspapers going out of business and fewer reporters around to watchdog local government, cover events or sports, and make sure you know what’s going on in your community
Donate today to keep local, independent and accountable journalism in your community today!
Plus, we’ll give you some cool swag when you make your donation monthly.
Stop scrolling social media to find out what’s going on in Niceville. Sign up for our weekly newsletter for the info impacting your daily life!