SACC Audit Finds County Emergency Broadcast Frequency Was Licensed to Ice Cream Truck Company

An internal audit of the San Andreas Communications Commission's frequency licensing database has revealed that Blaine County's designated emergency alert frequency was mistakenly reassigned to a mobile ice cream vendor for nearly two months commission officials confirmed Tuesday.

The frequency, used by county emergency management to issue severe weather warnings and evacuation notices, was reallocated two months to Chilly Willy's Frozen Treats LLC following what SACC's audit report describes as a "clerical transposition error" during a routine license renewal cycle. The mistake was discovered only after a county emergency management technician attempted to issue a flash flood warning weeks earlier and instead broadcast roughly ninety seconds of an ice cream truck jingle across the affected frequency band.

"We take full responsibility for the oversight," said SACC Deputy Director of Spectrum Allocation Renfield in a statement.

Chilly Willy's Frozen Treats LLC, a single-truck operation based out of Grapeseed, said it was unaware its jingle broadcast was overlapping with any emergency systems and had been licensed the frequency by SACC directly. "They gave us the paperwork, we paid the fee, we've been driving around playing music on it for months," said owner Vance. "Nobody told us it was supposed to be for tornadoes."

SACC says the emergency frequency has since been restored to county control and that Chilly Willy's has been reassigned a standard commercial mobile vendor frequency at no additional cost