That blaring noise you heard? It was a test of the federal government’s emergency alert system
WASHINGTON — “THIS IS A TEST”: If you have a cellphone or were watching television Wednesday, you should have seen that message flash across your screen as the federal government tested its emergency alert system used to tell people about emergencies.
The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System sends out messages via the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts.
The Emergency Alert System is a national public warning system that’s designed to allow the president to speak to the American people within 10 minutes during a national emergency via specific outlets such as radio and television. And Wireless Emergency Alerts are short messages — 360 characters or less — that go to mobile phones to alert their owner to important information.
While these types of alerts are frequently used in targeted areas to alert people in the area to things like tornadoes, Wednesday’s test was done across the country.
Antwane Johnson, the director of FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System which conducted the test, said afterward that he’s confident the test performed as expected but that the government would gather and analyze data in the coming weeks to assess how it went. He estimated hundreds of millions of people received Wednesday’s message.
Johnson said he’d already received reports from across the country of people who’d received the alerts including from colleagues at a conference for emergency managers in Tennessee. From where he observed the test, Johnson said he saw the entire map “light up.”
“I am totally elated,” he said.
The test was slated to start at at 2:20 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, although some phones started blaring just a few minutes before that. Wireless phone customers in the United States whose phones were on got a message saying: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” The incoming message also made a loud noise.
Customers whose phones were set to the Spanish language should have gotten the message in Spanish.
The test is conducted over a 30-minute window, although mobile phone owners should only get the message once. If their phones were turned off at 2:20 p.m. and then turned on in the next 30 minutes, they should have gotten the message when they turned their phones back on. If they turn their phones on after the 30 minutes have expired they should not get the message.
The message also went to people watching broadcast or cable television or listening to the radio.
Federal law requires the systems be tested at least once every three years. The last nationwide test was Aug. 11, 2021.
