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Millions of Brits were left terrified after an Emergency Alert blasted out on their phones on Friday.
The siren sounded on devices across England and Wales, warning people against lighting anything that could spark a wildfire, including BBQs, campfires and fireworks.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the public to take the warning 'seriously'.
However, many Brits said the Emergency Alert caused 'needless panic' – with some even receiving it more than once.
Over the last few years, there have been several incidents in which emergency alert systems have gone wrong.
Most famously, Hawaii's emergency management agency accidentally sent an alert to more than a million people in 2018, saying a ballistic missile was heading towards Hawaii and telling them to seek shelter.
Meanwhile, during last year's Los Angeles wildfires, an evacuation alert intended for people in the West Hills area was mistakenly sent across the entire Los Angeles County.
If you've had enough of the Emergency Alerts, thankfully there's a simple way to turn them off on your device.
Millions of Brits were left terrified after an Emergency Alert blasted out on their phones on Friday. The siren sounded on devices across England and Wales, warning people against lighting anything that could spark a wildfire, including BBQs, campfires and fireworks
1. Fake nuclear missile alert in Hawaii, 2018
On the morning of 13 January 2018, people across Hawaii received an Emergency Alert that read: 'BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL'.
On the H–3, a major highway north of Honolulu, vehicles sat empty after drivers left them to run to a nearby tunnel after the alert showed up.
Fearing a nuclear attack, terrified residents and tourists even flocked to shelters and into their garages.
The false alarm was caused by a Hawaii Emergency Management Agency employee who 'pushed the wrong buttons' during an internal drill timed to coincide with a shift handover at 8.07am.
The mistake was corrected by government agencies on Twitter (now X) 12 minutes later. However, it took 38 minutes for another phone alert to be issued confirming to residents that it was a false alarm.
Experts explained that there was no template in the system for an alert retraction, and so the all–clear message had to be manually entered and activated.
'I deeply apologize for the trouble and heartbreak that we caused today,' said Vern Miyagi, Administrator of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.
On the morning of 13 January 2018, people across Hawaii received an Emergency Alert that read: 'BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL'
'We've spent the last few months trying to get ahead of this whole threat, so that we could provide as much notification and preparation to the public. We made a mistake.'
2. Evacuation warning sent county–wide during the Los Angeles wildfires, 2025
In January 2025, chaos was sparked across Los Angeles County as 9.6 million residents were wrongly told to evacuate wildfires.
The entire population was mistakenly told to leave in an alert intended for West Hills area.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn took to X shortly after the notification went out, stating that it 'was mistakenly issued,' and was actually meant for the areas 'impacted by the Kenneth Fire in Woodland Hills.'
'I have been informed the evacuation warning that many of us just received on our phones was mistakenly issued countywide due to a technical error. A correction will be issued shortly,' she wrote.
Many were left furious by the disastrous mistake, and quickly fired back at Hahn in the comments.
'Your failures will be remembered in history textbooks. Resign. This is going to get people killed,' one wrote.
In January 2025, chaos was sparked across Los Angeles County as 9.6 million residents were wrongly told to evacuate wildfires
'Thanks for freaking out all of Los Angeles County. Didn't need this while all of us and family are on edge already,' said another.
Another user commented: 'You incompetent buffoons.'
3. Emergency alert sirens hacked in Dallas, 2017
In April 2017, Dallas' emergency siren system was hacked, causing sirens to blast out for 1.5 hours in the middle of the night.
Hackers took over all 156 of the city's sirens, which are usually used to alert people to shelter indoors during severe weather.
The incident led to a surge in calls to 911, with many residents left shaken.
Rocky Vaz, who headed the city's Office of Emergency Management, said his office eventually had to shut down the system.
'We shut it down as quickly as we could, taking into consideration all of the precautions and protocols we had to take to make sure that we were not compromising our 156 siren system,' he said.
In 2023, Brits on the Three network were left baffled after they did not receive an emergency alert test from the UK government
4. Three customers fail to receive UK alert, 2023
In 2023, Brits on the Three network were left baffled after they did not receive an emergency alert test from the UK government.
Tens of millions of phones across the UK emitted the 10–second siren, which was accompanied by a message which popped up, explaining that it was a test and people did not need to take any action.
However, Three customers reported they did not receive any alert – while others received it too early.
What appears to have happened is a configuration error on the Three network.
While most networks repeated the alert at regular intervals to ensure it was picked up by all phones, Three sent it out just once at 3pm – meaning only phones that were actively connected at that time received it.
How to turn Emergency Alerts off on your phone
If Friday's alert was the final straw for you, you'll be relieved to hear that you can opt out.
On iPhone, simply go to your settings and select the Notifications menu, before scrolling to the bottom.
There, you'll see the option to turn off 'severe alerts' and 'extreme alerts'.
On Android, search your settings for 'emergency alerts', and you can opt out from there.