National Emergency Alert Test Oct. 3
October 3, 2018
Don't panic if your cell phone sends an emergency notification at 12:18 p.m. this afternoon.
The Federal Emergency Management System, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, has set a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts for today, Wednesday, Oct. 3.
September is National Preparedness Month, and the plan had been to issue the test Sept. 20. But agencies needed to devote time to responding to Hurricane Florence and decided to push the test to today.
The test will be broadcast via radio, TV, cable stations and wireless cell phone carriers. The wireless portion of the test will occur at 11:18 a.m. Pacific Time (12:18 p.m. Rocky Mountain Time) and the emergency alert portion at 11:20 a.m. Pacific Time (12:20 p.m. Rocky Mountain Time).
No action is required by the public.
The test is a way to assess whether the system is ready to distribute a national message, should one be necessary, and whether any technological improvements are needed.
For more information visit www.fema.gov/emergency-alert-test.
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