FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a national test of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.
The national test will help ensure that Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and the Emergency Alert System (EAS) continue to be effective ways to warn the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level.
All major U.S. wireless providers participate in Wireless Emergency Alerts and will transmit the national test to their subscribers.
If your mobile phone is on and within range of an active cell tower from a participating wireless provider, you should receive the national test. Wireless providers will transmit the national test for 30 minutes, but your phone should only receive it once.
“THIS IS A TEST": If you have a cell phone, radio, or are watching television Wednesday, that message will flash across your screen as the federal government tests 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 thing like tornadoes, Wednesday's test is being done across the country.
The test is slated to start at 2:20 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday. Wireless phone customers in the United States whose phones are on will get a message saying: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” The incoming message will also make a noise and the phone should vibrate.
Customers whose phones are set to the Spanish language will get the message in Spanish.
The test will reach millions of mobile phones across the country via Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), radio and television via the Emergency Alert System (EAS), and other communication pathways.
Test will take place at at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.
Bizarre factor
The test has spurred falsehoods on social media that it's part of a plot to send a signal to cell phones nationwide in order to activate nanoparticles such as graphene oxide that have been introduced into people’s bodies. Experts and FEMA officials have dismissed those claims but some social media say they'll shut off their cellphones Wednesday.
Backup testing date is Oct. 11.