PORTLAND, Ore. — Many people who live in the area of Southeast Portland where a shooting took place early Monday morning woke up to an alert in the middle of the night. It told them to shelter in place while police tried to find the suspects involved.
That same alert also went to thousands of Portlanders who don’t even live in that part of town. The alert was supposed to go out to those who live within a two-block radius. Instead, it went out to thousands. On Monday afternoon, the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management said the problem has been fixed.
The shooting happened in the area of Southeast 112th and Holgate Boulevard in the Powell Hurst-Gilbert neighborhood.
“There was an error in the system, that unfortunately was set to go out, that same message that was set to go to a two-block radius went out to about 10,000 email addresses and phone numbers in Multnomah County, “ said Katy Wolf, operations manager with the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management.
Thousands received a message from Public Alerts, which is a notification system residents sign up for. It’s designed to send out alerts in case of an emergency. In Monday morning’s case, some people who live nearby didn’t get any notice, while others in places like Southwest Portland received an alert.
“We’re trying to make things better, we’re always trying to refine the system’s usage. It was one of those settings that didn’t do what it was intended to do,” Wolf said.
Wolf added that once those alerts went out, they knew something wasn’t right. It’s an error that was quickly figured out, but not before thousands of people woke up wondering what was going on.
If you are signed up for those public alerts, there is nothing users need to do because, according to Wolf, the error has been fixed.
How to sign up for emergency alerts
The official website for local alert systems across the state is oralert.gov. The website has a search field where you can type in your county, city, tribe or zip code and find your local public alert system. Follow the link to that website and follow the instructions to sign up for alerts.
Here are the web pages for county alert systems from Southwest Washington down through most of the Willamette Valley.
- Multnomah County: https://member.everbridge.net/453003085612905/login
- Clackamas County: https://member.everbridge.net/892807736729067/new
- Washington County: https://member.everbridge.net/910125044858893/login
- Clark County: https://member.everbridge.net/453003085616336/login
- Columbia County: https://member.everbridge.net/453003085613334/login
- Skamania County: https://signup.hyper-reach.com/hyper_reach/sign_up_page_2/?id=45528
- Marion County: https://member.everbridge.net/892807736721950/login