Today, starting at 11:20 am, FEMA and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will test the nation’s public alert and warning systems. This is not a local CodeRED or Nixle test – the Nevada County test is scheduled for Monday, August 16th.
According to FEMA, this week’s testing will be the sixth test of the nationwide public alert and warning systems and has been planned since June 2020. The purpose of the test is to assess the effectiveness of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to receive and convey a national message via radio and television and of the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) infrastructure to deliver a test message to mobile phones.
The test message sent to the WEA infrastructure will only be received by specially configured phones and will read:
“THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
Only phones that have been opted in specifically to receive system test messages will display the test message, which will be in either English or Spanish, depending on the device’s language settings. Most mobile phones will not display the test message. In contrast, consumers will automatically receive real emergency alerts on compatible phones (even if they do not receive the test message). Instructions for how to opt-in to receive the test message on mobile devices can be found here.
Sign up for local emergency notifications
Nevada County Office of Emergency Services provides information on how to sign up for for CodeRED in western Nevada County and Nixle Everbridge in the Truckee area.
Information on how to configure your mobile devices for CodeRED and more information can be found here.