Federal test of Emergency Alert System mistakenly sends message out over TV, radio airwaves          

Test was part of federal government's new satellite warning system

[June 26, 2007]  SPRINGFIELD -- A faulty Emergency Alert System message sent out Tuesday morning to broadcast stations around Illinois was part of a federal government test of a new satellite system being installed. There was no federal emergency at the time to trigger the message.

Andrew Velasquez III, director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, said the new satellite warning system was installed in Illinois on Monday as part of a Federal Emergency Management Agency program to install the system in all 50 states.

The federal government conducted a test of the new system Tuesday morning, but rather than being an internal test, the message was sent out to broadcast stations.

"At this time, we don't know why the federal government used a ‘hot' or active code rather than a test code when they sent out this test message," Velasquez said. Velasquez said a test message would not have triggered the system to send the message out over the broadcast airwaves. Four messages were reportedly sent out as part of the test.

The Emergency Alert System replaced the former Emergency Broadcast System. It can be activated by the federal government, by states or by the National Weather Service. On Tuesday it was activated by a federal test.

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency has received reports from across Illinois about the message and has learned that the message also was broadcast in areas outside Illinois. The IEMA did not receive notice from the federal government that a test of the Emergency Alert System was scheduled for Tuesday.

[Text from Illinois Emergency Management Agency news release received from the Illinois Office of Communication and Information]