KENNEWICK — Brian Conrad was just getting up when his cellphone sounded.
It was a little after 8 a.m. Saturday in Maui, Hawaii. The Kennewick man had flown in the day before with his wife, Taryn, daughter Ashelyn, 5, and his mother, Sue.
At their condo in Wailea, “we had our coffee. The windows were open and you could hear the birds chirping. It was sunny, with clear skies,” he said.
It was a beautiful start to their vacation.
But then Brian checked his phone.
The tone had been an emergency alert. Brian had to scan the message more than once before its meaning sank in.
“Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.”
Brian and the rest of the world now know it was a false alarm. An employee at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency mistakenly sent out a real alert instead of running an internal test.
But for a half hour, people across Hawaii — including Brian and his family — thought danger was imminent.
Brian shared the alert with his wife and mom. “You could see the fear in everyone’s eyes,” he recalled.
They were far from home, in a condo near the water with little protection. And they had almost no information.
They turned on the TV, hoping for details, for instructions. But nothing.
That made Brian wonder — if a missile really was on its way, wouldn’t sirens be blaring? Wouldn’t officials be sharing updates?
Still, from the window, they saw people running to their cars and driving off. And tension with North Korea had been all over the news.
“With there not being any additional information (put out), I was skeptical. But with all the heightened tension abroad — that’s what made it real,” Brian said. “You’ve heard of all the tension and the firing of missiles and test launches. That’s what was going through the back of my head. Maybe something went awry.”
Taryn held onto tight to little Ashelyn, setting her up with headphones and a video so she wouldn’t be scared.
Sue’s mind was racing. “I kept looking around going, ‘Where is the safest place for us to be? We can’t sit here by the window,’” she said.
Brian remembers feeling grateful they were all in the same place. He later heard of families split up when the alert came, with one member at the grocery store or out grabbing coffee.
Still, the Conrads had loved ones on the mainland, including older kids Madison and Tanner. That was so hard.
Minutes ticked by. “There were times I was waiting to hear a blast or feel something,” Brian said.
Eventually, official word came that it was a false alarm. Relief swept through.
“Hawaiian officials were all on TV as quickly as possible and offering apologies. I felt that, for what it was, they reacted the best way they could,” Brian said.
Still, “it was a very long 20 minutes waiting for information,” Taryn said.
Sue said, “We kept sitting here waiting for someone to say, ‘This is not true.’ And we weren’t hearing anything.” It was frightening not knowing where to go or what to do, she said.
The family talked about it with good humor on Monday. But the experience was tense and made them think.
Being prepared for an emergency is important, but Brian said he’s not going to let fear of something like a missile attack dominate his life.
“I’m not going to live my life in fear. I’m not going to live trying to prepare for doomsday. That’s not how I want to live my life,” he said.
Instead, he’s going to “enjoy and appreciate family and friends and loved ones,” he said. “Enjoy each day.”
