Alert system glitch causes confusion

A computer malfunction activated a regional Emergency Management Warning System last Saturday night, confusing citizens and resulting in Donley County’s 911 system being overwhelmed.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn said the trouble began at about 6:45 p.m. when the PARIS alert system operated by the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission (PRPC) was triggered to activate all of the programmed alert templates. Donley County Judge John Howard said the error was later determined to have been caused by a software update that had been installed six hours earlier.

During the malfunction, residents in Donley County began receiving multiple phone calls and messages from the office of emergency management but with no details of the supposed emergency.

The malfunction also impacted the Clarendon College alert system, activating templated messages for various emergency situations, and alerts were activated in Ochiltree, Swisher, Gray, and Hansford counties as well, according to Howard.

Blackburn said confused citizens then began calling 911 and the direct line to the sheriff’s office. Three people were answering calls, but the volume still overloaded the 911 system, which began diverting calls to dispatchers in neighboring counties.

PRPC shut down the system, which was repaired and brought back online this week, officials said.

“This had nothing to do with anything that was done here, but I apologize to the citizens for the concern and confusion this caused,” Blackburn said.

Blackburn said residents should be aware in the future that actual emergency alerts will contain details of the emergency as well as any instructions for how residents should respond to that emergency.

The sheriff also said that in an actual emergency his office will work with The Clarendon Enterprise to get information out to citizens quickly through the web and social media.
Also in case of an actual emergency, Blackburn urges people to not call 911 or the sheriff’s office direct line unless they are in actual distress to avoid overloading the system and emergency personnel.