Tacoma Fire fixes bugs with protection alerts

TACOMA, Wash. – A gas leak occurred at a construction site in Tacoma on Wednesday morning, triggering an emergency alert on residents’ phones. However, it turns out that more people than necessary received the warning.

The leak was reported around 9 a.m. at S 4th Street and L Street, near the construction site of the new Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital.

The location is also in close proximity to other hospitals such as MultiCare Tacoma and Tacoma General, a daycare center and parking garages.

The emergency alert sent to phones read: “Security Alert | Tacoma Fire Department: Broken gas line in the area. The hazardous materials team monitors air quality. Temporary shelter in place unless otherwise stated.”

Tacoma Fire said the warning was for people within a quarter-mile radius of the leak site.

However, it appears that the warning was distributed to more people than intended, likely causing confusion and concern among those who did not know what the circumstances were and where the warning came from.

One person on Facebook reported receiving the warning in Fife.

“We now know that the warning went well beyond the intended radius, and we are currently investigating what caused this so we can avoid this in the future,” the Tacoma Fire Department said on Facebook. “We recognize that this error has had an impact on a large number of residents, organizations and businesses and we sincerely apologize. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through our processes to ensure this does not happen again.”

A screenshot of the alerts sent by Tacoma Fire.

Minutes later, the department also sent out a notification saying the incident had been resolved and the shelter-in-place order had been lifted.

“We do not know at this time whether this message was received by everyone and are working with system administrators to determine this,” TPD responded to a comment on their Facebook post about the follow-up message.

Several people said on the fire department’s Facebook page that they would rather be notified incorrectly than not at all; that it was better to be safe than sorry and thanked Tacoma Fire for their work.

In response to criticism of the same post, the ministry responded to one person with: “We appreciate the criticism. We can and will do better.”

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