The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a nationwide test of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018.

The national IPAWS test will include both a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) message, sent to mobile devices, at 2:18 p.m., Eastern, and an Emergency Alert System (EAS) message, to be broadcast on radio and television, at 2:20 p.m., Eastern.

The WEA message will display on mobile devices as a Presidential Alert and will read: THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.

FEMA will send only one WEA message to mobile devices and because the WEA 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 WEA test will deliver the WEA 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.
FEMA has selected October 3, 2018 as the alternate national test date should anything interrupt the primary national test date of September 20, 2018.