Emergency alert systems, designed to warn the public of impending dangers, have a history of malfunctions, leading to widespread confusion and panic. Recent incidents, including a Friday alert in the UK that warned against sparking wildfires, have prompted public concern and a desire to understand how to disable these notifications.
False Missile Threat in Hawaii
One of the most widely reported errors occurred on January 13, 2018, when Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency accidentally sent an alert to over a million people stating a ballistic missile was inbound. The message, "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL," caused widespread fear, with residents and tourists seeking immediate shelter. The false alarm was attributed to an employee who "pushed the wrong buttons" during an internal drill. While the mistake was corrected on Twitter 12 minutes later, it took 38 minutes for a retraction alert to be sent to phones, as the system lacked a template for message retraction, requiring manual input. The administrator of the agency issued a deep apology for the distress caused.
County-Wide Evacuation Warning in Los Angeles
In January 2025, Los Angeles County experienced chaos when an evacuation alert intended for the West Hills area was mistakenly broadcast to all 9.6 million residents due to a technical error. The alert warned people to leave their homes because of wildfires. Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn acknowledged on social media that the warning was "mistakenly issued" and was meant only for areas impacted by a specific fire. The error led to significant public outcry and frustration among residents already on edge.
Hacked Siren System in Dallas
In April 2017, Dallas' emergency siren system was compromised when hackers took control of all 156 sirens, activating them for 1.5 hours overnight. These sirens are typically used to alert residents to take shelter during severe weather. The hack resulted in a spike in calls to 911 and left many residents shaken. City officials eventually had to shut down the system to regain control.
Alert Failures in the UK
In 2023, some customers of the Three network in the UK did not receive a government emergency alert test, while others received it at the wrong time. The test alert, intended to warn against activities that could spark wildfires, was broadcast to tens of millions of phones across the UK. However, a configuration error on the Three network meant that only phones actively connected at the specific broadcast time received the alert, as the network only sent it out once. This contrasted with other networks that repeated the alert to ensure broader reception.
Opting Out of Alerts
For individuals seeking to disable these notifications, options exist on most smartphones. On iPhones, users can go to Settings, select Notifications, and scroll down to turn off "severe alerts" and "extreme alerts." On Android devices, users can search for "emergency alerts" in their settings and disable similar alert types.
