Government alert?!?!

Given the number of fires and the way they are taking hold - many unreported I think it was good use of the warning phone alert. There is a risk to life.

Just seen a thread where someones neighbour has started a fire..........FFS

We've had a forest fire in my village already this year, so when this alert went off we (multiple neighbours) all ran outside looking for fire as none of us could read it as it was sent out in welsh and even my welsh speaking neighbour couldn't translate it (formal written welsh is very different from spoken welsh). It took another 3-5 minutes before it was sent again in English. What a joke!

I’m glad they used it. Lots of people are still lighting fires. I drove past a verge that had gone up in flames a few days ago and the speed that it was spreading was scary (and yes I did call the fire brigade, it was in the middle of nowhere and there was nothing we could have done to help).

They are going to have to start handing out fines

I don’t think it should be used to tell us not to use bbq. They can make announcements etc…the emergency alert should be for immediate danger - don’t leave your home, immediately leave your home, immediate threats type of thing. I understand the danger of fires, where I come from there are signs up every summer showing if you can bbq or not depending on the weather. Other methods of communication work well.

I agree it's a misuse of the system to use the dramatic sound alert. Are they going to do it for every other season/time dependent event.

Start of the first heatwave every summer- emergency alert: don't divebomb into disused quarries or rip currents in the sea when you can't really swim.
Start of every cold snap-
emergency alert: don't play on the ice or jump in after dogs
England lose in world cup match
emergency alert: don't get pissed and go home and beat the shit out of your wife

Yes, if everyone did as they were told a lot of death and serious injury would be prevented, but in reality most of the country would just switch the alerts off permanently

It did feel a bit apocalyptic

In the 70’s there were loads of public information adverts, about ringing the coastguard , clunck click every trip ( seatbelts), swimming sure others will contribute, some of them as a child were really scary.

iPhoneTo opt out:

1. Go to your settings and select the ‘notifications’ menu.
2. Scroll to the bottom.
3. Turn off ‘severe alerts’ and ‘extreme alerts’.

Donald Pleasance as the Grim Reaper in Lonely Water.

I thought my vibrator had run out of charge! Never cleared my stairs so fast! 😂😂

I’ve just had it again. It woke up both my children as our phones were on in their rooms for white noise. I’ve disabled it now!

This will encourage people to turn off their alerts. It's a bit silly really. This should be on TV and billboards and other media, but alerts should be restricted to things like evacuation notices or chemical leaks.

There was a whole Gov department for that though... that is no more.

I was expecting to see a fire very nearby (terrace backs on to heathland), we all excited the house immediatly and stayed outside until we had the alert in English and new what the fuck was going on. Had DD already been in bed I would have woken her and taken her out with me.

Definetly not an appropraite use of the warning system.

I'm really interested to know where you are. Why is it in French?

I don't see why you can't mute it. The noise is the thing. People would still see the alert appearing on the screen.
It's horrible, shocking and unnecessary to be screamed at by our phones. Most of my sound alerts are turned off for other notifications.

I think people are greatly underestimating the number of fires going and overestimating the number of people who watch adverts....

Fair enough, good point...

I was driving and it really scared me. Weirdly I didn’t realise it was a government alert and thought it was my car and that the brakes had failed or something. Only for a second or two but enough to send my heart racing.

Don't think it's nationwide. I didn't get it - and no need because it's been mostly pissing rain here.

I remember terrifying adverts showing gravestones and horrific apocalyptic landscapes to put people off sexually transmitting HIV "AIDS KILLS"

... and before that, there was the leaflet provided by presumably the same government department called "protect and survive" which showed you how to prop up a table at an angle against the wall in the event of nuclear fallout.

My phone did not go off, so I first found out about it on FB where some people were worried it meant that a wildfire had broken out near them.
I though these alerts were meant to be for the "oh shit" sort of stuff. Threats of bombs, take action now etc. It is no surprise that some people heard them and thought a nuke was coming their way. Not " don't do this".
If people think it is just going to be used to curb behaviours, and not actually alert them to impending danger, then can you blame them for turning the notifications off?