Government alert?!?!

I think its more about services being stretched. As tragic as those other events are the hospitals and emergency services arent struggling with the pressure of dealing with them. They dont tend to spread either. I mean the saying is "spread like wildfire" isnt it. Its like covid lockdowns were to try and reduce pressure on the nhs by distributing infections over a longer time period.
So this alerts is really 'this is a widespread emergency because there are more firess than the services can manage and they are exhausted now and fires spread'. If all your fire service is dealing with the fires already happening what happens if someone else starts another?

(I appreciate domestic violence is not dealt with very well).

I turned mine off yonks ago - I'm happy to take my chances old school styley...

Blasted politicians, trying to save lives.... Tssssk!!

As I recall, it started with him saying 'Those of you who can't swim, wait over in the shallow area for me...'.

So LEARN TO SWIM kids, for pity's sake! 😱

Mine has just gone off again at 4am!!! I mean I get it’s important but scaring the 💩 out of me again at 4am is a bit much!

Scared the bloody hell out of me, DH & my phone, received the alert at the same time, wondered what the hell was going on. DS1 was at the pub having dinner with his girlfriend for about 15mins, everyone’s phone was going off in the pub! DH has turned the alerts off, I will too. When did we give permission to receive these notifications?

Right? The hysteria is bonkers.

The country is in a state of emergency when it comes to wildfires and the conditions are perfect for the emergency to escalate.

But god forbid people should get an alert sent to their phones setting out what they should avoid doing to avoid the situation escalating and risking even more lives.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when my dc got theirs earlier on. DH came back from supermarket a little later and said he’d had one. About 2 hours later I got mine and it scared the crap out of me. I poured a glass of wine to calm myself and about 20 minutes later I got a second alert so obviously needed a second glass of wine!

I was in the middle of making food on my new electric bbq thought it was a warning signal on that! I'd already set the smoker function but at least not a disposable bbq on dry grass

I didn't get the alert. Id switched them off apparently.
I can understand things are critical when Andy called his first COBRA meeting yesterday after which he announced a ban on disposable bbqs.
To stop the prolific fires
And that he likes greggs.
Meanwhile there's a drought.
You couldn't write it.

I was.

💯

Well, that's nice for you. I would very much appreciate knowing how to change the setting to mute, because I've tried quite hard, and got nowhere.

"Abuse of power"? They sent a message to your phone (which you can opt out of). They didnt come into your house and sniff your knickers, Princess.

I agree. Our politicians/civil servants are over-stepping again.

Haven't read the whole thread and probably already mentioned but you can see all the past ones here https://www.gov.uk/alerts/past-alerts

Not true. My phone got the alert but silently. I have my phone on mute pretty much always so maybe that's why. Or maybe there is a setting somewhere.

Anyway, given the absolute tinderbox conditions we are experiencing, I 100% support the use of the warning system today. Maybe it should be utilised for hosepipe bans and similar and not have an opt out.

I disagree as an 18yr old the adverts scared you death, only time & impact has changed along with new generations.

Really?

My understanding is that the alert was requested by the fire services who are dealing with the vast majority of the country being in drought, most of the rest much drier than usual, a record number of wildfires (the annual record for E&W has already been broken) and emergency services stretched beyond their limits. Reducing the immediate risk is one of the overriding priorities in conditions like this nd in a country with fuck all public fire safety awareness this feels fairly proportionate.

Well i never met jimmy saville or rolf but if that is what you take from it thats fine.

Yeah I didn't get it - wondering why not. Do they want me to be dead or something?

Well I would be dead. Didn't hear it. Didnt know a thing about it till now . When was it?

I disagree. What changed the AIDS epidemic was successfully treating it so the virus no longer killed people. Lifestyle changes contributed, but the medication had the biggest impact.

Public information from government(s) can be useful, but there's a risk in sending a frightening "official" message, that people will ignore the message for various reasons - they don't think it applies to them, they feel helpless, they don't believe the message. Social media and word of mouth also spread powerful messages, and they can completely undermine the government health message. (I'm thinking of polio vaccine scares affecting several countries in Africa since 2003)

PIF/PSA are a interest of mine