At around 2:15 p.m. on October 10, Knoxville Police Department and KFD responded to CMC Recycling at 2706 Mynderse Avenue after employees discovered a “5×5 steel box” that was “actively emitting smoke.” As a result, officials ordered an evacuation within an approximately 3,000-foot radius of the area and a public safety message was sent through the Integrated Public Alert and Warning.
Knox County 911 said the alert was only supposed to go to people in the evacuation zone around CMC Recycling. However, the message went beyond the area and even reached people outside of Knox County.
Knox County 911 told 6 News that it used the FEMA Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) to send the alert. They are now working with their vendor to find out why so many people outside of the evacuation zone received the alert. The agency went on to apologize for any unnecessary stress and anxiety caused by the alert.
“In the meantime, we are already in the process of revamping our messaging, which is currently limited to 90 characters. Knox 911 and Knoxville Knox County Emergency Management Agency (KEMA) are working together to better utilize this technology by embedding a web link into future messaging. Doing this would allow for additional information and instructions to be immediately accessed,” wrote Knox County 911.
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