'Is Alberta glitching?' Province's emergency alert system sends multiple tests

A test of the Alberta Emergency Alert system has some Albertans wondering if there was an actual emergency.

Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis sent out a statement earlier this week saying the province would be issuing an alert test across the province today at 1:55 p.m.

An online archive of the alerts shows as many as nine test messages went out to Albertans between 1:55 and 2:01 p.m.

The hashtag emergencyalerts quickly started trending on Twitter as cellphones buzzed and screeched out the alerts.

Paul Fairie, an instructor at the University of Calgary, posted: "Is the emergency alert system experiencing an emergency?"

Others asked, "Is Alberta glitching" and "Have you ever heard the story of the boy who cried wolf?"

One Twitter user said: "It works. IT WORKS," while another posted, "I think it's fair to say that test failed."

Another person simply tweeted: "Omg make it stop."

In a statement sent on Wednesday, Ellis acknowledged the glitch, saying all partners in the National Public Alerting System are working with the Alberta Public Alerting team to identify and resolve the issue that caused the repeat alerts. 

"Incidents like the one that occurred are exactly why we conduct testing on the Alert System. We need to ensure that the system is working as intended during an actual emergency to protect Albertans," he said.

"We recognize the disruption these multiple alerts caused Albertans and are addressing this issue as quickly as possible to ensure the system works as intended so we can keep Albertans safe during an emergency."