The great false alarm

By BRIAN WALKER

Hagadone News Network

Sandra Campbell was blow drying her hair on the 16th floor of a condominium on Waikiki Beach when she heard the siren that shocked Hawaii on Saturday.

"I wasn’t too nervous," said the Coeur d’Alene woman, who is vacationing with her husband, Oscar.

"We used to live near a nuclear plant in California, and there were a lot of sirens to test the system often. It just didn’t feel like it was too important."

Oscar, who was on a walk, didn’t get too worked up about the siren, either. Life on the beach carried on and no one was about to give up their valuable parking spot.

"In the area we were in, there was no scurrying around," Oscar said, adding that he saw that other areas weren’t nearly as calm, especially with the islands already jittery over the talk of nuclear-tipped missiles from North Korea.

Then the emergency alert popped up on their cellphones: "Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill."

At that point, the situation had the couple’s full attention, but they didn’t run for cover.

"When you’re on the 16th floor, where do you go?" Sandra said. "There was no plan in place and nothing was broadcasted, so it became a wait-and-see situation for us. We didn’t think that it would be a good idea to run around in the streets, so we decided to wait it out. Both of us had the same attitude."

Sandra said she believes her spiritual nature prevented her from panicking and fleeing for cover.

"We both live our lives day by day to keep things straight," she said.

Oscar’s military instincts also kicked in.

"If such a thing were to happen, they probably would have stopped the missile before it hits anyway," Sandra said, summarizing his thought.

The couple then saw on TV that the siren and message were a false alarm, which Hawaii emergency officials said was sent when someone hit the wrong button during a shift change.

Even in hindsight, Sandra said, she didn’t believe she had a false sense of security during the nearly 40-minute ordeal.

"We’ve both lived long enough to have an idea of when things are going to seriously happen," she said. "There needed to be a bit more information (to start running for cover). It was a quick thing, then nothing."

Still, the false alarm has created a memorable adventure for the Campbells. They’ve told their friends on social media that they survived the ballistic missile attack.

"We’ve been looking for T-shirts that say that," she said. "We haven’t seen any of them yet, but we know that they are online."

Mitchell Bonds, a former copy editor at The Press who now works at the West Hawaii Today newspaper and lives in Kailua-Kona, said he was playing a game with friends when he received the alert text message.

"I just stared at it for a moment and thought, ‘I can’t believe this is happening,’" said Bonds, who grew up in Priest River. "As I went outside to look, I told them, ‘If I’m not back in 15 minutes, that means I exploded and it’s been good knowing you guys.’"

Bonds said he then saw the tweet sent by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, that the message was a false alarm.

"I sat down and told the guys, ‘At least I would have died doing what I love — being a nerd,’" he said.