The District of Squamish has sent out an apology to those locals who accidentally received a "violent incident” alert just before 10 a.m. Sunday morning (Oct. 27).
The warning, sent to an undisclosed number of locals, was actually part of a test, but that was not noted in the original alert.
The initial alert said that a violent incident had been reported 172 metres east of recipients' homes.
It instructed those who received it to "evacuate the area immediately. If you have a designated rally point, go there now."
About 10 minutes after the original alert, a second message was sent clarifying that it was a test alert and noting, "there is no active threat."
The District also posted on its social media channels that there had been a test, not an actual violent incident.
This morning, outside the Squamish Public Library, there was an inter-agency emergency exercise from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., with the participation of District staff and first responders.
A District spokesperson told The Squamish Chief that a follow up message was sent to those who received the frightening initial alert, apologizing for the incident.
"The District of Squamish sincerely apologizes for this morning's unintended emergency alert." reads the note sent to the initial alert recipients and forwarded to The Squamish Chief by the municipal spokesperson.
"The alert was intended for a small internal test group and therefore, the 'test' language was not included.
We are now aware of a technicality in the system that resulted in a larger recipient group than intended," the message continued. "We are conducting a full debrief to understand exactly how this happened and to prevent this from happening again. Please accept our apology for any stress or concerns this may have caused."
