False Tornado Siren Sounds Off In Wauwatosa: MCSO

WAUWATOSA, WI— Residents in Wauwatosa were surprised to hear a tornado siren sounding off on Sunday. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office tweeted it was notified by the 911 dispatch that a tornado siren sounded once in the area of 82nd and Wright streets in Wauwatosa but that it sounded in error and has been reset.

A technician was examining the siren as of Sunday, the MCSO said.

Residents in Milwaukee County were also sent emergency notifications on Wednesday.

County officials said one was sent by mistake amid a real emergency between Milwaukee and West Allis.

The first notification wasn't sent by accident. Authorities put a shelter in place order into effect around 4 a.m. at S. 64th Street and W. Dixon Street in Milwaukee, after a Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office deputy was shot multiple times and left with non-life threatening injures.

However, one alert appeared to be a fluke: Patch saw "ADD LONGER WEA MESSAGE HERE. REMOVE THIS IF NO LONGER MESSAGE EXISTS," pop up on phones as far as Waukesha around 11:20 a.m.

Several minutes later, another message let people know the shelter in place order had been lifted.

The message was sent due to a "system error," Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management dispatcher Lee Williams told Patch.

The county sheriff's office said in a statement that it doesn't manage the alert system for the county and isn't able to address the alert that didn't contain substantive content.

Ethan Duran, Patch staff, contributed to this report.