West Trenton, N.J. – An emergency alert was unintentionally broadcast yesterday evening to residents of Salem and Cumberland Counties during a scheduled training exercise being conducted by the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, PSE&G Salem and Hope Creek Nuclear Power Stations, and county authorities.
At 8:45 p.m., a training message was created in order to test an electronic communications system. The message was intended for a small group of emergency management personnel who were participating in the exercise. As a result of a coding error, the message was publicly broadcast. The coding error has since been identified and corrected.
The New Jersey Office of Emergency Management worked to notify the public by working with the affected counties to initiate a reverse 9-1-1 call. Additionally, area media was contacted and messaging was broadcast on the social media accounts of the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, the New Jersey State Police, and the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness.
***FALSE EMERGENCY ALERT*** You may have seen this message on your TV tonight.There is NO emergency. This message went out in error #ReadyNJ pic.twitter.com/qzh0l9rZ03
— NJOEM (@ReadyNJ) May 24, 2017
In the event of an actual emergency, residents would receive additional alerts, which would provide instructions such as evacuation routes and reception centers. Alert messaging would also be broadcast on State Police and state and local emergency management social media accounts.
