Plymouth Fire Department Informs Residents Of National Emergency Alert System Tests Being Conducted Tomorrow

Press release from the Plymouth Fire Department:

August 10, 2021

Chief G. Edward Bradley, Emergency Management Director Henry Lipe and the Plymouth Fire Department would like to inform residents that the National Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alert will be tested tomorrow afternoon.

Chief G. Edward Bradley, Emergency Management Director Henry Lipe and the Plymouth Fire Department

At 2:20 p.m. Eastern Time on Aug. 11, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in partnership with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), will conduct a national test of the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alert.

At 2:20 p.m. Eastern Time on Aug. 11, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in partnership with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), will conduct a national test of the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alert.

The purpose of the test is to assess the effectiveness of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to receive and convey a national message via radio and television, and of the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) infrastructure to deliver a test message to mobile phones. Unlike the last nationwide WEA test in 2018, most mobile phones will NOT display the test message.

During the EAS test, radios and televisions across the country may interrupt normal programming to play the EAS test message, which will last approximately one minute and may be delivered in either English or Spanish. The visual message, which will only be displayed on televisions, may vary depending on the station. The message will include, at a minimum, the originator, event, location, valid time period of the message and the time the message was transmitted.

The test message sent to the WEA infrastructure will only be received by specially configured phones, and will read: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

Only phones that have been opted-in specifically to receive system test messages will display the test message, which will be in either English or Spanish, depending on the device’s language settings. In contrast to the test messages, in a true emergency, the public would receive emergency alerts on their compatible phones (even if they haven’t opted-in to receive test messages).

For more information about the FEMA test, visit here. More information about WEA and EAS can be found here.

Stay Informed

Receiving warnings, timely emergency alerts and information from public officials is critical to staying safe during any emergency. Along with the national Integrated Public Alert & Warning System, community members are also encouraged to sign up for email updates from the Plymouth Fire Department.

To do so, visit the Plymouth Fire Department’s website here. On the homepage, click the banner at the top or the tile that says ‘Sign Up For Email Alerts’ and enter your email address to subscribe to the website and receive email notifications of new posts.

The mission of the Plymouth Fire Department is to protect the lives and property within America’s Hometown by reducing the effects of fire, medical emergencies, hazardous materials incidents, special rescue emergencies, and disasters. Our department will provide a proactive, highly trained professional emergency service for the Town of Plymouth to conduct Fire Prevention, Code Enforcement, Fire Investigation, Fire Suppression, Emergency Medical Treatment, Mitigation of Hazardous Materials Incidents, Specialized Rescue Response, and Public Fire Safety Education.

We will strive do this with highest possible levels of economic efficiency for our public and safety for ourselves.

This press release was produced by the Plymouth Fire Department. The views expressed here are the author’s own.