Leonardtown, MD — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in coordination with state, local, tribal, and territorial emergency managers and state broadcasters’ associations, will conduct a test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) in twenty-two states, two territories, and the District of Columbia on Wednesday, February 24, at 2:20 p.m.
Broadcasters across Maryland will join fellow broadcasters from 21 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for the test. The EAS test is being made available to radio, broadcast and cable television systems and is scheduled to last approximately one minute.
The test will verify the delivery and broadcast, and assess the readiness for distribution of a national-level test message. The message of the test will be similar to the regular monthly test message of EAS, normally heard and seen by the public: “This is a national test of the Emergency Alert System. This is only a test.”
The EAS test might also be seen and heard in states and tribes bordering the states participating in the test.
Public safety officials need to be sure that in times of an emergency or disaster they have methods and systems that will deliver urgent alerts and warnings to the public when needed. Periodic testing of public alert and warning systems is a way to assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and determine what improvements in technologies need to be made.
More information on the Public Alert and Warning System and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) is available at www.fema.gov/ipaws or www.ready.gov/alerts.