The company whose software the state blamed for a malfunction that caused an emergency alert to be mistakenly sent statewide refutes claims its technology didn’t work.
Crisis24, the company that owns the software Maine uses to send emergency alerts through the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System — which is a national emergency alert system managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency — said it reviewed its technology and found no issues with it despite Maine emergency officials’ insistence that it failed.
“The software experienced no technical issues and performed as it was utilized,” the company said in a statement to the Bangor Daily News on Tuesday.
On Monday, Vanessa Sperrey, a spokesperson for the Maine Emergency Management Agency, which oversees the use of the emergency alert system in the state, said a technical error mistakenly sent the alert phones across Maine rather than to just those in the immediate area near the Windham and Raymond town lines. The agency did not respond to multiple requests for comment Tuesday.
The alert, which went to anyone with a cellphone that can receive emergency alerts, also violated the state’s own policies that govern the use of the emergency communications system. Specifically, the state’s policy states the system should not be overused and that alerts should be specifically targeted to a geographic area that needs the information the most.
“Overuse of the system diminishes the effectiveness of IPAWS as citizens are more likely to ignore or opt-out of receiving notifications if they receive too many alerts,” the state’s policy says. “Misuse of the system when there is not an immediate threat, reduces the credibility of IPAWS alerts.”
While other state and local emergency agencies can have access to use the alert system directly neither the Windham Police Department nor the Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency do, according to FEMA. Windham police requested the alert hours before it actually went out, the Portland Press Herald reported Monday.
The request was routed through the Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency which requested MEMA issue the alert specifically to cellphones along the Windham-Raymond line, said Michael Durkin, the director of Cumberland County EMA.
