TEMA director apologizes for emergency alert test

NASHVILLE — The director of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency has issued a statement regarding the Thursday morning TEMA alert test, apologizing for confusion the alerts may have caused.

The messages went out to mobile devices across the state Thursday morning to coincide with the beginning of September, which is National Preparedness Month.

“The purpose of the test was to assess the readiness and effectiveness of the system to address the public during times of emergency,” TEMA Director Patrick Sheehan said in the statement posted on the TEMA website. “Unfortunately, during today’s test we learned valuable lessons about the Emergency Alert System, our protocols, and areas to improve on the delivery of these types of alerts in the future.”

“We have received calls and messages from hundreds of Tennesseans letting us know about problems with receiving messages and the concerns caused by the messages received,” the statement continues.

“In many instances, the caveats that the message was part of a test were not received, making it seem like an emergency was imminent,” Sheehan said. “While many are understanding, knowing that we need to test our systems, many have voiced their concerns about the angst this test caused. Please accept my sincerest apologies for any inconvenience today’s test caused.”

TEMA will re-evaluate their protocols and systems in the coming days and weeks and will not conduct any public tests of the system in the foreseeable future, according to the statement.