Chautauqua County officials said they are trying to pinpoint how an emergency alert was sent to mobile phone users Tuesday afternoon.

The alert, “Local Area Emergency in this area until 1:00 PM EDT Monitor Radio or TV ALL IPAWS-S,” was sent to an unknown number county residents around 1:30 p.m. However, dozens reported receiving the message on their phones.

John Griffith, county emergency services coordinator, said the alert was sent in error and was partially the result of a “computer glitch” involving the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System — part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“We are looking into it right now,” Griffith said.

“It had something to do with the computer that sent it out.”

IPAWS is a national public alert system used by federal, state and local authorities to notify the public of emergencies.

In a statement sent later Tuesday, the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office said, “This alert was a computer glitch, accidentally sending an alert from FEMA’s iPAWS (Public Alert and Warning System). There was no emergency situation in regards to the alert that the public received.”

Shortly after the alert went out, the Jamestown Police Department said it was unaware of any local incident. Afterward, the department put out the following on Twitter: “We just received this message in regards to the alert that went out: ‘Please disregard the Emergency Alert that came over your phone. There was an error in setting up the iPAWS system.”

A second, valid alert sent through IPAWS on Tuesday asked residents to check their properties for a missing 74-year-old Panama woman. Diana Chase was last seen near her home on Blockville Watts Flats Road.

Chase was reportedly wearing a light-colored hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans and black slip on shoes.