CAMP MURRAY — The bogus volcano warning that blared over 50 tsunami sirens in Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties on June 7 was caused by a programming error, the state Emergency Management Department said Monday.
Instead of the Westminster chimes and corresponding “this is a test” message, the test message warned of a volcanic eruption along the Pacific and Strait of Juan de Fuca coasts.
State Deputy Emergency Manager Chuck Wallace said the button used to initiate the test was incorrectly programmed and sounded the alert siren instead of the chimes.
Wallace says the error has been fixed.
“It was a software issue,” said Ron Peregrin, Clallam County Emergency Manager.
“In order for those sirens to work, they have to go to each and every siren and do a software upgrade. They’ve tested it now.”
The warning system is tested on the first Monday of every month.
“One of the reasons they didn’t fix it immediately and test it [June 7] is they didn’t want to send two siren messages on the same day,” Peregrin said.
“That would have caused more confusion than it would helped.”
The next regular test of the coastal array will be on July 5. A single test has been performed on a siren in Grays Harbor County.
“They’ve got it repaired now,” Peregrin said.
An unintended benefit of the faulty warning message was the knowledge that citizens are paying attention to the sirens, Peregrin said.
“The number of calls we received throughout the system indicated people do listen to us,” he said.
“We received several calls, as did Jefferson County.”
Jefferson County Emergency manager Bob Hamlin could not be reached for comment Monday.
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.