No one in Louisville needs a reminder about what happened Nov. 4, 2025, when a fiery fall sunset was overtaken by a black, billowing plume. As always, DJ Aron Solo was on the scene:
“Something big in Old Louisville is on fire,” he said in a message that accompanied pictures of this immense billowing cloud that rose up in the southside of the city.
“Oh __ %^#@#,” I responded. “What IS that?”
“Like maybe the entire University of Louisville, something huge.”
“Looks like 9/11”
Speculation grew while the initial information was sparse, but eventually we would learn that a UPS plane carrying 280,000 pounds of jet fuel had crashed directly into a petroleum recycling company and autopart salvage yard just south of the airport.
It will be months — possibly years — before we know the full extent of the toxic fumes that were released from this impact. But within minutes, thanks to our rapid-response volunteer network, ART FM was able to get the word out to our listeners on WXOX 97.1 FM — “STAY AWAY FROM THE AREA.”
Uncertainty pervaded until we got official LENS (Louisville Emergency Notification System) text alerts on our phones. Once the messages arrived, each became more serious than the last.
The shelter-in-place grew incrementally from the site of immediate impact to the entire metropolitan area. The situation went on all night and Jefferson County schools were cancelled the next day in compliance.
At community radio station WXOX we did our best to keep the community informed, reading the information we received on our phones for our listeners to hear. Yet, we were flying without a net.
The expensive Emergency Alert System (EAS) — installed at the mandate of the U.S. government and tested regularly at the bequests of state and federal authorities — sat there silently humming along as if nothing was happening at all.
It is our number one priority at ART FM to provide our listeners with emergency information when they need it, but we never imagined we would have to do it alone.
On Nov. 4, the Emergency Alert System failed us here in Louisville, Ky., and it put our entire community at risk. Unfortunately, this is not the first time.
Just a month prior, during the Carbide Industries explosion in the Rubbertown area, residents complained about not receiving alerts and not knowing they had to register with the LENS network to receive them (Nina Clark, 10.10.25 Chicago Music News). Apparently, little has been done to resolve the issue.
WXOX reached out to Eric Gibson, the state emergency management director, to get an explanation. As of this publication, we have not yet received a response.
[Related: “FCC’s “Ground Up” Review of Public Warning Systems Generates Buzz“]
The fact that the EAS system was not triggered in Louisville on Nov. 4 represents a critical failure on the part of local emergency management, and it put our entire community at risk. While city-wide text alerts are helpful, they cannot replace over-air announcements that reach people who don’t have phones or who cannot access them at the time of the event.
This failure should be a wake-up call to stations nationwide to have their own emergency response plan in place. Don’t be caught without a net.
To prevent lapses like this in the future, the FCC should consider regular tests for EAS originators, as they do participating stations. Likewise, as Bennett Kobb proposes in his comments to the FCC (PS Docket 25-224), the commission should provide more assistance to EAS alert originators by way of equipment standardization, technical support and training programs.
We, the people of Louisville, deserve information we need to make healthy decisions for ourselves and our families in emergency situations. We deserve it rapidly and pervasively. We expect that officials will use every means possible to disseminate it loudly and broadly.
When powerful systems such as the EAS are in place but not activated, the public deserves answers. Our lives should not depend on having charged our phones.
