National EAS Test – Wednesday at 2:20pm

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), partnering with the Federal Communication Commission, and WGMD, will conduct a national test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) with radio, TV, cable stations, and wireless carriers at 2:20PM EDT October 3, 2018.

Cell phones that are turned on and near an active cell tower will be able to receive the test message. Both EAS and WEA test messages will start with “THIS IS A TEST” and end with “No action is needed.”

Public safety officials need to insure when an emergency or disaster happens, they have a process and system that will send out important alerts and warnings to the public. Testing the public alert and warning system is a way for us to make sure the infrastructure for broadcasting a national message is ready and able to send the message successfully.