The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) is reminding Tennesseans today to be aware of the planned national emergency alert test that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will conduct on Wednesday, Oct. 3.
On Wednesday, FEMA and the Federal Communications Commission will conduct a nationwide test of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System.
The national test will include both a Wireless Emergency Alert message, sent to mobile devices, at 1:18 p.m. (CST) and an Emergency Alert System (EAS) message to be broadcast on radio and television at 1:20 p.m. (CST).
FEMA will send only one Wireless Emergency Alert message to mobile devices and because the Wireless Emergency Alert message is a Presidential Alert, users will not be able to opt out of receiving the message, even if users have deactivated alert notifications in their mobile devices.
Only wireless providers who have chosen to participate in the national Wireless Emergency Alert System test will deliver the alert system message to their customers’ mobile devices.
The EAS portion of the test is expected to last one minute and will allow FEMA to verify the delivery and broadcast of a national test message and assess the infrastructure for its distribution.
