A fake tornado drill posted Monday on a Facebook page led to some confusion among emergency officials.

The announcement for the drill, which was supposed to happen Wednesday in Butler County, appeared on a Facebook page titled Butler County, PA 911 Notifications. But the website is not affiliated with Butler County Emergency Services.

Steve Bicehouse, emergency services director, said he heard about the drill through media reports. The department’s official page is titled Butler County PA Emergency Services, and it posts alerts from agencies such as the National Weather Service and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

Bicehouse said he has been aware of the other site for a while.

“I’ve known about it for years,” Bicehouse said, saying the only thing he really knows about it is that it is run by a 17-year-old boy.

The fake post was removed later Monday. Bicehouse said he did not contact the site to remove the post.

The owner could not be reached for comment.

He said the National Weather Service also had been contacted about the drill and had concerns about it as well.

“It wasn’t just us,” Bicehouse said.

If the department was to do a drill, Bicehouse said it would not be done in that fashion.

“A drill has to be controlled,” Bicehouse said.

He noted a tornado drill done during winter would not cause too much disruption. However, a tornado drill done during tornado season, which is taking place now, and done two days after a tornado touched down in Cranberry Township could cause massive disruption or panic.

Matthew Kramar of the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh said drills are done in cooperation with the weather service and the county emergency services department.

“Neither of which were done here,” Kramar said about the fake post.

He said the premise of the drill, which was to see how fast a warning could be disseminated through social media posts, is a good one. However, he said these types of actions are best left to emergency officials.

The only contact Bicehouse has had with the site was roughly a year ago. He said the site was using the emergency services department’s official seal.

“I had to tell him he couldn’t do that,” Bicehouse said, noting the site removed the seal promptly.