FEMA, FCC performing nationwide alert test tomorrow

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, in coordination with the Federal Communication Commission, will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) tomorrow. The tests are part of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS).

The test will be conducted at 1:20 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4 and will be distributed through radio, television and cell phone communication.

IPAWS is a program which was created by FEMA in 2004 which allows federal, state, local and territorial public alerting authorities to send geographically-targeted alerts. Alerts are sent through EAS and WEA as well as through internet-based alerting systems.

Emergency Alert System

The last EAS nationwide test was conducted Aug. 11, 2021, in coordination with FEMA and the FCC. The 2021 test was the sixth performed with others occurring in November 2011, September 2016 and 2017, October 2018 and August 2019, according to FEMA.

“The 2023 nationwide Emergency Alert System test will be broadcast for approximately one minute, and we'll use the same activation and pathway as the previous nationwide test conducted in 2011, 2019 and 2021,” Antwane Johnson, FEMA Director, Integrated Public Alert and Warning Systems said Tuesday. “The test message that runs on radio and television is nearly identical to the regular... monthly test messages that are typically heard and seen by the public.”

The EAS requires radio and television broadcasters, cable television, wireless cable systems, satellite and wireline operators to provide the President with the capability to address the American public within 10 minutes during a national emergency.

According to FEMA, during the EAS test, radios and television across the country have normal programming interrupted to play a test message in English or Spanish. The last EAS test message in 2021 lasted approximately one minute long and the audio stated:

“This is a test of the National Emergency Alert System. This system was developed by broadcast and cable operators in voluntary cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communications Commission and local authorities to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency an official message would have followed the tone alert you heard at the start of this message. No action is required.”  

The intent of the 2021 test was to assess the effectiveness of EAS to receive and convey a nation message via radio and television. Johnson said federal rules required all participants in EAS to participate in the testing of the system.

“This requires radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers and wireline video providers (to comply),” he said. “FEMA will send a national test message to participating stations to test or verify the delivery and broadcast of the national test message, assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure of the distribution of the national message and determine whether technological improvements are needed.”

Messages cover a large geographical area and emergency messages with audio/text may be repeated twice, but EAS activation will interrupt programing only once. Austin Randazzo, FCC Associate Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau said the FCC will be collecting information from participants in the test.

“For all EAS participants, and that includes broadcasters, cable companies, satellite TV, and so forth, they're required to file information with the FCC about how the test went for them,” Randazzo said. “For example, they are required to report to the commission whether they received the alert, whether they were able to retransmit it back out to the public, whether they encountered any technical issues in the course of sending those alerts out. The FCC then analyzes that information to determine any opportunities for improvement of the system as a whole.”

Wireless Emergency Alerts

WEAs are short emergency messages from federal, state, local and territorial public alerting authorities which can be broadcast from cell towers to any WEA-enabled mobile devices in a targeted area. This will be the third nationwide WEA test conducted, according to Johnson.

“Unlike the second national WEA test, which was delivered only to cellular users who opted in to receive text messages, this year's test message will be sent to all compatible cellular phones that are turned on and in range of cellular service,” he said. “Wireless providers that participate in WEA are required to deliver this test message, which will be accompanied by a unique tone and vibration and will read: 'This is a test of the national wireless emergency alert system. No action is needed.' Cell phones should receive the message only once. The message will display on cell phones regardless of whether consumers have opted out of receiving other WEA text messages.”

Wireless cell phone providers primarily use cell broadcast technology for WEA message delivery.

“The Wireless Emergency Alert portion of the test will be disseminated by wireless providers that have chosen to participate in Wireless Emergency Alerts. Cell towers will broadcast the WEA test for approximately 30 minutes,” Johnson said. “...That does not mean that cell phones will broadcast the message continuously for 30 minutes, it just means that the message will be active in the system for 30 minutes. Meaning that if a phone is off at the time that the message is broadcast, if a person was to turn that phone on, then of course the message should be delivered to the phone and presented to the person that had just turned their phone on.”

WEAs have a unique tone and vibration which is repeated twice. If you are on a phone call when a WEA is sent to your area, the message will be delayed until you finish your call.
The WEAs can be sent to a mobile device without the need to download an app or subscribe to a service. Their purpose is to warn the public of an impending natural or human-made disaster. The messages are short and can provide immediate, life-saving information.

All major cell phone providers participate in WEA on a voluntary basis. WEAs do not track your location and are not affected by network congestion.

The types of WEAs are presidential alerts, imminent threat alerts, public safety alerts, America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) Alerts and opt-in test messages.

Presidential alerts can only be sent during a national emergency. Imminent threat alerts are for natural or human-made disasters, extreme weather, active shooters and other threatening emergencies. Public safety alerts contain information about a threat that may not be imminent or after an imminent threat has occurred.

AMBER Alerts are bulletins issued in child-abduction cases. Opt-in test messages assess the capability of state and local officials to send their WEAs and will state it is a test.

Randazzo said information will also be collected from participants in the WEA alert.

“The FCC recently sent letters to the nine largest wireless providers, and those letters sought information on how they're going to perform during the test,” he said. “For example, we ask questions about, 'What was the exact time you received the test message? What's the exact time that they retransmitted it? Did they encounter any technical issues in the course of their participation in the WEA component of the test? When we receive those responses, we again expect to take a look at that and identify any weaknesses in the system and any opportunities for improvement.