National tests of emergency alerts scheduled

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on Wednesday, Oct. 3. 

The WEA portion of the test will commence at 12:18 p.m. MT, and the EAS portion will follow at 12:20 p.m. The test will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and determine whether improvements are needed.

The WEA test message will be sent to cell phones that are connected to participating wireless providers. This is the fourth EAS nationwide test and the first national WEA test. Previous EAS national tests were conducted in November 2011, September 2016 and September 2017.

The EAS is a national public warning system that provides the president with the communications capability to address the nation during a national emergency. The test is made available to EAS participants (i.e., radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers, and wireline video providers) and is scheduled to last approximately one minute. 

Cell towers will broadcast the WEA test for approximately 30 minutes. During this time, WEA-compatible cell phones whose wireless provider participates in WEA should be capable of receiving the test message. Some cell phones will not receive the test message, and cell phones should only receive the message once. The WEA test message will have a header that reads “Presidential Alert” and text that says:

“THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

The WEA system is used to warn the public about dangerous weather, missing children and other critical situations. Users cannot opt out of receiving the WEA test.

The test was originally planned for Sept. 20, but was postponed due to ongoing response efforts to Hurricane Florence.