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Volcano Monitoring Station's WiFi Named 'It Could Blow Any Minute,' Tourists Panic

The station's casual network name, intended as an inside joke among vulcanologists, was visible to every smartphone within 200 meters of the crater rim.

2 min read
The Volcanologist's Voice
Volcano Monitoring Station's WiFi Named 'It Could Blow Any Minute,' Tourists Panic
A volcano monitoring station on the rim of Italy's Campi Flegrei caldera has been asked to rename its WiFi network after tourists discovered it was broadcasting under the name 'ItCouldBlowAnyMinute_5G,' causing what local emergency services described as 'a mild stampede at a gift shop.' The network, which had been named by a monitoring technician as 'a bit of volcanological humor,' was visible to any smartphone within approximately 200 meters of the station, which sits adjacent to the Solfatara tourist area — a popular destination that receives 500,000 visitors annually. 'I was trying to connect to the public WiFi to post a photo of the fumaroles,' said German tourist Klaus Wanderlust. 'And the first network that appeared was ItCouldBlowAnyMinute. I did not stay to determine whether this was a joke. I took my family to the car.' Approximately forty tourists evacuated the area within minutes of the network's discovery, with several posting the WiFi name to social media accompanied by increasingly alarmed commentary. The hashtag #CampiFlegriWiFi trended briefly in Italy. The monitoring station's director, Dr. Paolo Fumarole, apologized for the incident while noting that the station's actual seismic and geodetic data shows 'no imminent threat.' He confirmed the network has been renamed to 'INGV_Monitoring_Station_7,' which he described as 'less amusing but less likely to cause a civil defense incident.' The technician responsible for the original name has been reassigned to a station on Stromboli, where, Dr. Fumarole noted, 'the volcano actually does erupt regularly, so the joke would at least be accurate.' Other WiFi names reportedly discovered at Italian monitoring stations include 'LavaLavaLava' at Etna and 'WeAreWatchingItForYou' at Vesuvius, both of which have been changed to alphanumeric designations.

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