Rescue authorities reduce automatic incident alerts, Tilannehuone warns

Finland’s rescue authorities have reduced their automatic incident reporting, a change that the operators of Tilannehuone.fi, a website listing rescue department alarm assignments, say could fuel rumours and misinformation. Yle reported the change.

Since the beginning of September, initial alerts are no longer issued automatically for medium-sized and large rescue assignments. Rescue departments will assess the need for communication case by case and publish information only after it has been verified. Small incidents will no longer be published.

Brothers Rami and Tuomas Mikkola, who founded and run the Turku-based website, say the change will make it harder for people to understand the overall safety situation around them.

“The change leaves room for rumours, which then start circulating on social media,” Rami Mikkola said.

Tuomas Mikkola said that small incidents were important because they showed how many accidents were taking place in people’s surroundings. Rami Mikkola said real-time information about minor traffic accidents had helped people travel more cautiously in the mornings.

He also said reports of small fires that people had extinguished themselves with fire blankets or portable extinguishers could prompt others to check their own emergency preparedness.

The rescue service’s automatic reporting system was taken out of use as part of a wider reform of its information systems. The change has been justified by the ageing Peto-media system used by rescue authorities and by privacy concerns. Rami Mikkola questioned the justification, saying address details had previously been available only to the media.

Tilannehuone.fi previously received its basic information from the public task list in the authorities’ media service. The list includes the time, municipality and type of assignment. The brothers have used that information to create content, add observations and link to articles from other media outlets.

“Because of the subject matter, automation is used only to a limited extent. You cannot trust everything to artificial intelligence. At every stage, a person checks what is published,” Rami Mikkola said.

The website also uses police statements, traffic reports, maritime rescue notices and announcements from Åland. It is funded by advertisements published on the platform.

The site was founded in 2007 under the name Kumiankka. It later became Tilannehuone as its operations grew more professional. The brothers hope initial alerts will be restored when a new communications system for the rescue service is developed.