Michiganians will get an alert on their phone Wednesday. What it means
At 2:20 p.m. on Wednesday, almost anyone with a mobile phone will receive a loud alert that is only a test by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Communications Commission, but it's one officials hope residents will take seriously in the future.
The message will say: "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” Or, in Spanish: “ESTA ES UNA PRUEBA del Sistema Nacional de Alerta de Emergencia. No se necesita acción.”
A tone and vibration will accompany the message. The alert will also be delivered on radios and televisions.
As extreme weather becomes more frequent, spurring flooding or tornados, emergency alerts are getting more attention, and emergency managers hope residents will heed their warnings. When severe storms hit southeast Michigan in late August, Wayne County residents received a message that alerted them not to wade into rivers and streams due to flooding and sewage overflows.
“Everybody’s a bit more aware of this kind of thing now because there are more extreme weather conditions that seem to be occurring," said Samer Jaafar, Wayne County's director of Homeland Security & Emergency Management.
Wednesday's alert will be sent through FEMA's Integrated Public Alert & Warning System. Emergency managers in Metro Detroit will be monitoring the federal test, intended to reach mobile phones across the country via Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and radio and television via the Emergency Alert System (EAS).
County governments use this messaging system, along with similar ones, to alert residents during local emergencies.
The wireless messages are part of the current method used by the federal and local governments to alert residents during an emergency. A federal fund called the Urban Area Security Initiative is often used to help local governments ― including Wayne County ― pay for emergency preparedness. There are also state funds available for the counties.
Brandon Lewis, Macomb County’s director of emergency management and communications, said people who receive one of the alerts should take the instructions seriously, tune into local media or other sources of information and take protective action.
“We’re using this when things are very dangerous and threaten life safety, so please take these seriously," Lewis said.
About the nationwide alert
The national test will help ensure the emergency alert systems continue to be effective ways to warn the public, according to FEMA. All major U.S. wireless providers participate in Wireless Emergency Alerts and will transmit the national test to their subscribers, according to FEMA.
Those individuals whose mobile phone is on and within range of an active cell tower from a participating wireless provider should receive the national test. Wireless providers will transmit the national test for 30 minutes, but a person's phone should only receive it once.
How Metro Detroit counties use alert system
Wednesday's federal test is an example of the way the federal and local emergency warning systems are meant to complement each other, said Wayne County's Jaafar.
"We are observers in this. But my staff will be monitoring closely," Jafaar said.
Macomb County gained access to the federal Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) in February. Macomb County hasn’t had to activate the system yet, though, Lewis said.
He said county officials will use the system to send out information to the public in the event of an emergency that “we deem could have significant impacts on life safety.”
An example would be if the National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning with winds forecast over 70 miles per hour or hail forecast in excess of 1.75 inches — about the size of a golf ball. In those cases, the county would activate its outdoor warning sirens and would send out a cellphone alert, Lewis said
If an area is placed under a tornado warning, the National Weather Service will activate IPAWS for the area, he said.
Macomb County doesn’t have to pay to use IPAWS, he said. Macomb County accesses it through a software system called CodeRed, and the state of Michigan covers that cost through a contract with CodeRed’s parent company. Lewis said he didn’t know the annual cost of that contract.
Wayne County also relies on the state for access to IPAWS, Jaafar said.
Oakland County's OakAlert system
Oakland County has its own primary emergency alert system, OakAlert. It is a subscription-based system that residents can sign up for online or via text, said Thom Hardesty, the county's director of emergency management and homeland security.
"People have the ability to sign up and then receive notifications for emergencies or even non-emergencies if that's what they choose," Hardesty said. "People can choose multiple ways to get messages. So a text message to the phone is one way, but they can also sign up for landlines to receive phone calls or for emails."
Residents can sign up for OakAlert using an address to get geographically specific notifications for their home, workplace, or school, Hardesty said. When it comes to deciding what information to include in OakAlerts, the department keeps it "need to know," he added.
"We will send messages when we activate the ... outdoor sirens," Hardesty said. "We might send them for a hazmat situation or if there were a danger where we needed people to shelter in place for an active assailant type situation, or for a missing, endangered person."
Roughly 17,500 have signed up for the service so far, Hardesty said.
"As soon as we have enough information that we can inform the public, we're going to get that message out," Hardesty said.
Oakland County can also issue emergency alerts through FEMA's system in certain situations, like hazmat emergencies, but it has to be approved by the State Police Emergency Management, Hardesty said.
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