ERR has been notified that some members of the public received over a hundred SMS text message alerts in a short period of time.

The exact number of affected people is still unknown, though around half-a-dozen calls were made to the national info line, 1247, all reporting the repetitive bombardment.

Janek Murakas, crisis manager at the emergency center (Häirekeskus) said: "The root cause of the glitch is not yet known. The national alert system involves many stakeholders, and employs a complex technical architecture, so identifying the cause will take some time. We have not experienced issues of that nature before."

The message warned local residents in the vicinity of Kukruse village, Ida-Viru County, of a large fire at a landfill site operated by Uikala Prügila AS, informing them to stay indoors and keep doors and window closed.

"Due to the Uikala landfill fire, the EE-ALARM alert message was intended for some 12,000 residents of the Järve district of Kohtla-Järve and Kukruse," Murakas added.

Ultimately the system had to be switched off, he said.

"We sent the EE-ALARM message just before midnight, but soon after that had reason to suspect a technical fault. By 1:51 a.m., it became clear that some people were receiving repeat messages, leading us to halt the alert transmission."

The fire began last Wednesday and had still not been fully extinguished as of Monday. Firefighters from surrounding areas toiled day and night in extreme heat, and three received injuries during the course of the job.

As billowing smoke spread to more densely populated areas, the Rescue Board (Päästeamet) escalated the incident to the highest warning level, triggering the SMS alert.

In the meantime, an interim solution has been put in place to avoid a repeat of the mass messaging while at the same time allowing for new notifications of any other incidents, Murakas added.

"The mobile operator and the alert system provider are working to determine the cause of the fault. Once identified, the necessary corrections will be made. We apologize to all those who received repeated alerts," he added.

Developed through the cooperation of several state agencies, the location-based SMS alert system allows short text messages to be sent to mobile phones in the danger zone, informing their owners of the nature of the threat and providing instructions on what to do next.

The system has been in place since January 2023.

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