(Cincinnati, OH) - Hamilton County Commission President Todd Portune released a statement Sunday after an erroneous nuclear ballistic missile attack warning was issued Saturday in Hawaii causing the public to panic. Hawaii State Leaders told the press that the mistake was caused by human error during the testing of the state's Emergency Alert System.
Portune states that due to recent upgrades the same mistake won't happen in Hamilton County. He stated there will be a briefing on the upgrades to the County EMA Board along with county staff, administration and Commissioners at a meeting of the EMA Executive Committee Monday evening January 22nd, 2018.
Portune also stated a public discussion will take place the week of January 22nd at the county Regional Emergency Operations Center on Radcliffe Dr. in South Fairmount.
See the statement below.
Yesterday, the State of Hawaii, issued an erroneous warning to all citizens in the state of an impending Nuclear Ballistic missile attack. Residents were told that the warning was not a test and that they should immediately seek shelter.
The warning caused great anxiety throughout the State. It was, as we all now know, erroneous.
Shortly after word of Hawaii's gross error was made known I, in my dual capacity as Board of County Commissioners President and as Chair of the Hamilton County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency Executive Committee, discussed the incident with Hamilton County EMA and Homeland Security Director Nick Crossly to go over the county's protocols, checks and balances that we have diligently worked to put in place in order to guarantee that if an event requiring a warning takes place, we will be able to issue a timely and intelligible warning; but also to guarantee accuracy in the process.
I am happy to report that the work we have done since I first introduced the initiative to upgrade our warning system dating back to my first meeting as a commissioner, and our annual focus on upgrading the county's emergency management and homeland security planning and preparations since, continues to work in a manner that guarantees the most accurate and timely delivery of necessary information to the people of the county. I am further happy to report that we have built into the system such checks and balances as to safeguard against an error of the magnitude that we just witnessed in Hawaii from happening here.
Prior to yesterday's incident, Hamilton County Homeland Security and Emergency Management, at the initiative of Director Crossly and the Board, have worked to further upgrade our capabilities to provide the swiftest and most complete information available to county residents that we can in a timely manner in the event of a real event. Those upgrades also include measures that work to prevent the kind of mistaken. or erroneous dissemination of information that, were it to occur, would cause great panic and anxiety in the region and could do real harm to persons, business or property.
Even before yesterday's incident in Hawaii we planned a briefing to the County EMA Board along with county staff, administration and Commissioners at our upcoming meeting of the EMA Executive Committee Monday evening January 22nd, 2018.
A full public briefing and discussion is being scheduled to take place later that same week at the county Regional Emergency Operations Center on Radcliffe Dr. in in the Cincinnati neighborhood of South Fairmount.
Please stay tuned for more information.