Officials Investigating Inadvertent Activation of Rochester’s Outdoor Warning System

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- Multiple outdoor warning sirens in the Rochester area were erroneously activated on Monday night. 

See Also: State Lawmakers Could Address Rochester-Specific Items During Legislative Session 

That’s according to a statement issued Tuesday morning by the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office Media Development Specialist Kyle Brandt. 

Officials say a “digital forensics assessment” has been launched to determine what caused the sirens to sound. 

Get our free mobile app

Outdoor Warning Sirens Inadvertently Activated in Eastern Rochester

Olmsted County dispatch began receiving calls around 10 p.m. Monday regarding the sirens sounding in northeast Rochester, southeast Rochester and as far east as Chester Woods Park. 

Officials indicate the sirens were on for about 20 minutes before Olmsted County Emergency Operations staff shut them off and reset the outdoor warning system. 

See Also: Car and Train Collide at Dodge County Railroad Crossing 

Brandt says emergency operations staff immediately contacted Blue Valley Public Safety, which is the authorized maintenance provider for the warning system, to start remedying this issue. 

No Evidence of Hack or Infiltration

Although the cause of the inadvertent siren activation is under investigation, Brandt says there is no preliminary evidence that a cyber attack or infiltration caused the sirens to sound. 

Emergency operations staff and Blue Valley have changed the system’s encryption key and plan to take more steps to ensure the new encryption keys are encoded across the local alert system, the statement says. 

Brandt pointed out that “rebroadcasting of siren signal tones on the same radio frequency as a siren operates,” and nighttime “high-level solar activity,” are common causes of random activation of the outdoor sirens. 

Brandt says we are currently experiencing elevated solar activity. No damage has been reported due to the siren activation.