On the heels of the EAS Alert sent in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago about an alleged incoming ballistic missile, it appears 'mistaken identity' could be the culprit for an alert issued Wednesday night in Spokane that grabbed attention as a lot of fire trucks were sent speeding to the Spokane Arena.

Thanks to one of our Newstalk listeners and friends, we learned that at 11:48pm an alert was generated on what appeared to be the Spokane County Code Red Mobile Alert App.  It was first rolled out in 2017 as a way to stay on top of all sorts of emergencies.

Our listener sent us this from their phone, an alert from the Spokane Fire Department showing a "confirmed" structure fire at the Spokane Arena.

However, it turns out the plume of 'smoke' was actually a huge cloud of steam emitting from the ice plant.  Our listener sent us a followup saying "staff doesn't know steam from smoke. It was from the ice plant."

The Spokane Fire Department did send units to respond, as workers apparently told them the 'smoke' was also present in the ticket booth at the facility.  According to our source, the Fire Department was not overly amused by the call over a large plume of steam...

These EAS and other emergency alert systems are invaluable for providing information and updates to citizens, but when something goes wrong, bad information, or mistakes are made, the results can be rather alarming and unsettling!

 

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