Mistake by emergency worker sends errant test messages to cellphones across Alaska
- James Brooks
- Jul 26
- 3 min read
In Juneau an intentional test sent separately on Thursday as part of flood preparations was successful
A mistake by a state emergency operations center worker inadvertently sent emergency alert test messages to cellphones across Alaska on Wednesday afternoon.
Mark Roberts, head of the emergency operations center, said the error occurred when a worker was conducting a regular weekly test of the Emergency Alert System, which broadcasts disaster warnings by radio and TV.
“When our operator went to select that test, they inadvertently selected the wireless emergency alert test as well,” he said.
The Wireless Emergency Alert system, mandated by the federal government, distributes emergency messages to every cellphone in an area specified by emergency managers.
How do I enable warning messages on my phone?
All new cellphones come with emergency alerts enabled by default. Test messages are not enabled.
To enable test messages or to double-check that emergency alerts are active on your phone, search for “government alerts” or “emergency alerts” in your cellphone’s settings.
On an iPhone, they can be found under Settings > Notifications > Government Alerts. Many Android phones have the setting under “state and local tests.”
Unlike a notorious 2018 incident in Hawaii, when a test failure caused a statewide missile attack alert, Alaska’s Wednesday alert was clearly identified as a test and was distributed only to Alaskans who have manually enabled test alerts in their cellphone settings.
“This was not a live alert, so it didn’t go out to everybody,” he said. “They come, by default, not enabled … so mainly the folks that got it were emergency managers we work with within the state.”
Though inadvertent, the alert was a successful test of state officials’ ability to trigger the Wireless Emergency Alert network.
A nationwide test took place in October 2023, and emergency officials issued a statewide Amber Alert to cellphones in June 2023, but until Wednesday, there had been no statewide alerts since then.
Some alerts have gone out locally. Earlier this month, tsunami warning messages were thrown to cellphones in Anchorage and along the coast after a major earthquake near Sand Point.
No impactful tsunami resulted from that incident, but in other states, the use of local cellphone alerts has saved lives. In some cases, failures to issue an alert may have cost them.
Earlier this month, more than 130 people died in Texas amid widespread flash flooding. Officials there failed to use the federal cellphone warning system, which likely contributed to the death toll.
In California and Hawaii, Wireless Emergency Alert messages about deadly wildfires also failed to reach people in time.
In the City and Borough of Juneau, officials are preparing for what’s known as a jökulhlaup — a glacial outburst flood — of the kind that inundated parts of the city last year.
A new flood is expected in early August, and though local officials have since constructed flood barriers, they’re also preparing for another disaster.
At 3:30 p.m. Thursday, the city successfully tested a local emergency message sent through the Wireless Emergency Alert network to phones in the area.
Additional disaster preparation is already underway in the city, with organizations scheduled to fill and distribute sandbags this weekend.
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
