Test alert by Verizon leads to confusion in NJ – St. Louis Post

Not quite the “War Of The Worlds” broadcast of a Martian
invasion in New Jersey, a Verizon “emergency” alert Monday that the
company texted to its wireless customers still jangled some nerves
and triggered hundreds of calls from concerned residents to local
and state offices.

The company sent the alert to customers in Middlesex, Monmouth
and Ocean counties, warning of a “civil emergency” and telling
people to “take shelter now.” Trouble was, the message was meant to
be a test but it wasn’t labeled as such, Verizon later
admitted.

Within about 90 minutes, the state homeland security and
emergency management offices posted on Twitter that no emergency
existed, but by then people had called a variety of local, county
and state agencies to express their concerns.

In Monmouth County, the number of calls to the county 911 call
center doubled between noon and 1 p.m. to more than 170, compared
to the same time last week, Cynthia Scott, a county sheriff’s
department spokeswoman, said.

“It was more concern than panic,” Scott said. “We had people
calling who had a lot of questions.”

New Jersey State Police also fielded calls, as did numerous
public offices in Ocean County.

“It seemed like calls went to any agency that had a listed phone
number,” said Lt. Keith Klements, division commander for the county
sheriff’s office.

The reaction wasn’t as extreme as the panic touched off by Orson
Welles’ 1938 “War Of The Worlds” radio broadcast of a fake Martian
invasion in Grovers Mill, N.J. Many people believed the broadcast
was a real emergency announcement. But for a short while Monday,
the alert started a chain reaction across a wide swath of central
New Jersey.

“We were getting reports from individuals but not from any of
our people out in the field,” Klements said. “And no one was saying
it was coming from a specific source. But we have to take it
seriously, so we immediately checked with the state.”

A spokesman for the state Office of Homeland Security and
Preparedness didn’t immediately return a phone message.

In an email, a Verizon spokesman said the company apologized for
any inconvenience or concern that the message caused. The company
didn’t say why the message was sent without being labeled as a test
or whether Monday’s incident was the first time such a mistake had
occurred.

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