STATE OF VERMONT

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

Vermonters will see national emergency alert test Wednesday afternoon

WATERBURY, Vt. (Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021) — Vermonters might see and hear emergency alerts on television, radio and mobile phones Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 11, 2021, as part of a routine national test conducted by federal authorities.

The test is scheduled for 2:20 p.m. Wednesday at the direction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The state of Vermont and Vermont Emergency Management are not initiating this test.

The test involves the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Wireless Emergency Alert System (WEA). During the test, radios and televisions across the country may interrupt normal programming to play the EAS test message, which FEMA advises will last for about one minute.

The WEA system will deliver a test message to mobile phones whose users have opted in to receive system test messages. Most mobile phones will not receive the test message, even though they are signed up to receive alerts of actual emergencies, according to FEMA. To learn how to opt in your device to receive test alerts, visit this link for step-by-step instructions from the FCC.

Members of the public should know that these tests are legitimate, and there is no emergency. More details about the test are available from FEMA at this link. General information about the EAS and WEA systems is available on FEMA’s website.

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