From The Trussville Tribune staff reports
JEFFERSON COUNTY — The Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency issued a statement regarding what they called “a poor April Fool’s joke.”
A post on Facebook warned about a train derailment in the Jefferson and Walker County areas. The post said the derailment happened in West Jefferson and Quinton and that there was an evacuation order in place.
Jefferson County EMA said this post was not true. The county reached out to both CSX and BNSF Railways. There are no evacuation orders at this time in Jefferson County.
The EMA said any such news would be posted on its own Facebook page and through the Everbridge Emergency Notification System.
The person responsible for the post has been contacted and admitted to it being an April Fool’s joke.
The Jefferson County EMA said causing mass panic by falsely reporting an incident is against Section 13A-11-11 of the Criminal Code of Alabama.