From coast to coast, U.S. smartphones will receive an alert on October 4th

If an alert coming from your smartphone shakes you up on October 4th, don’t say that we didn’t warn you. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) will be conducting a test of the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts on Oct. 4. A release issued by FEMA says, “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) this fall.”

The national test will have two parts testing WEA and EAS capabilities. The tests are scheduled to begin at at 11:20 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (2:20 pm Eastern Daylight Time) Wednesday, Oct. 4, and last for up to 30 minutes. The WEA portion of the test will be aimed at all consumer cellphones and each phone will receive it just once. Depending on which language a phone is set to receive, the alert will appear in English or Spanish. 

This will be the third time that the government has issued a WEA test nationwide, but only the second time that all cellular devices are involved. The EAS test will be sent to all televisions and radios and will last about one minute. Following a blaring alarm, you’ll hear the following words, “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public.” This will be the seventh nationwide EAS test.

FEMA notes, “The purpose of the Oct. 4 test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level. In case the Oct. 4 test is postponed due to widespread severe weather or other significant events, the backup testing date is Oct. 11.”