WARREN COUNTY, Ohio — Training efforts will be increased for Warren County Emergency Management employees after an emergency alert intended for a specific area was sent to several counties.
On Tuesday, Warren County EMA said an investigation into the alert has shown that the error "was human-caused."
The alert was sent through the county's Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) on July 26 and was followed by several other alerts clarifying the first, which only read "Emergency Alert. Secure doors and windows. Additional Details. Remain inside with doors secured."
A follow-up alert told residents that this was only meant for those in Deerfield Township. It also asked residents not to call 911.
A third alert, sent roughly at 1:30 p.m., told residents the safety alert was canceled.
"Cancel safety alert, situation is focused at Spring Mill Way, Deerfield Twp. No threats to rest of Warren County," the alert said.
The alerts were tied to a law enforcement operation at a home in Deerfield Township that ended with the arrest of one man.
WATCH: Learn more about the standoff that caused the alert in the video below:
Warren County officials initially said it believed the issue with the alert stemmed from "a technical malfunction" or a "computer glitch" rather than human error. However, the investigation into what went wrong has shown that it was human-caused.
The agency said a couple of things went wrong that day.
"When an IPAWS alert is issued, a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) is broadcasted from cell towers to mobile devices in the affected area/within the cell tower coverage," reads a release from Warren County EMA. "To send the alert to a specific, smaller geographic location, a polygon can be drawn on the map, which then will only send the alert to the cell towers in that area."
On Saturday, the employee who drew the map, intending to only send the alerts to Deerfield Township residents, did not complete the shape. Because of that, the system defaulted to sending the alert to a much wider range.
The reason the message was so short and lacking in description that day was a second issue, Warren County EMA said.
IPAWS provides options for both a 90-character alert and a longer, 360-character alert.
"On Saturday, when the initial message was entered into the IPAWS alerting system, the information was entered into the required 90-character box with additional details included in the optional 360-character box," Warren County EMA said. "There was a belief that everyone would receive the 90-character information and those with the ability to receive the 360-character message would would receive the information on both the 90- and 260-character boxes."
In reality, Warren County EMA said the shorter message is sent to mobile devices on 3G or older networks; the longer message is sent to phones on 4G or newer networks.
The alert was not only sent to all Warren County residents, but also to some people in surrounding counties such as Hamilton, Butler, Clinton, Clermont and Greene counties.
Warren County EMA said it plans to implement additional and more in-depth training on the IPAWS system, how to send IPAWS alerts and how to craft effective messaging. In addition, the agency said a thorough review and update of the county's IPAWS policy instructions is also taking place.
