‘Malfunction’ causes false alarm in Huntington Beach as emergency sirens sound

Some Huntington Beach residents got a rude awakening early Friday when the city’s emergency alert sirens were activated at about 4 a.m., raising fears of a tsunami or another emergency. But city officials said it was a false alarm.

According to the city, the sirens were “inadvertently activated.”

“Many of you may have heard the civil defense sirens sound,” the Huntington Beach Fire Department tweeted at about 4:20 a.m. “There is no current threat to our community.”

The city said in a statement that “we are currently investigating the cause of the situation, which is attributable to a malfunction of the system that controls the sirens at our fire stations.”

Had there been an actual emergency, messages would have been sent out through the AlertOC system, Wireless Emergency Alert system and social media, city officials said.

Officials noted that the emergency sirens are tested at noon on the first Friday of each month. The test was canceled Friday due to the morning false alarm.

“The system has been taken offline temporarily until the issue is resolved,” according to the city.

“Early-warning systems are an important part of alerting our H.B. residents and visitors, and the safety of our community is our No. 1 priority,” the city said. “Early notifications during an emergency are a critical component of our emergency planning. This siren system is just one of multiple systems that are used to notify residents of an emergency. It is a priority of the city to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.”

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