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AIBU?

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Original poster

When the alert went off, be honest, did you think the Russia had launched one?

217 replies

Tping · 14/08/2026 23:47

When the alert went off did you, for a fraction of a second, think Vlad had finally snapped and pressed the button?

Disappointing if he had because I if I’d known, I’d have added more loo roll to the Tesco delivery.

OP posts:
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ilovepixie · 19/08/2026 18:48

I never got an alert.

Auroraloves · 19/08/2026 18:46

I was on an aeroplane flying back to the UK from my holiday abroad and several phones went off as soon as we hit UK airspace. It was pretty scary to be honest

UrOutdoors · 19/08/2026 18:43

SerendipityJane · 15/08/2026 12:06

No.

If it was 1987, then yes.

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There are more nuclear weapons in the world now than there were in 1987, we just don’t talk about it any more. So it’s still a very credible threat.

EmeraldShamrock000 · 19/08/2026 12:58

I do not fear Vlad pressing the big button at all. He is safer, more sane than Trump or Netanyahu . Although my first fear of a terrorist attack would be from Islamic extremists.
Zelensky has Trump and Netanyahu on their team.

bitontheobtuse · 15/08/2026 15:30

DH's phone got it; my immediate thought was that there was a wildfire heading our way. There's been a few arson attacks locally (rural). Assumed it was something like that.

Bugger. Just sitting here typing this and the patio door is open... the smell of smoke just wafted in.

LHP118 · 15/08/2026 15:19

Tping · 15/08/2026 00:02

Keep calm, carry on.

Best of British.

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Same

Lindy2 · 15/08/2026 13:46

I was in the Cornwall countryside. I thought it was perhaps a nearby wildfire.

Home is London. Had I been there I would probably have assumed a terrorist attack.

smallglassbottle · 15/08/2026 13:42

No, I thought "what's that?" Then I remembered, then I read the message, rolled my eyes and went back to doing the laundry. I briefly considered that the public must be pretty stupid to need a reminder not to set fire to things during a dry spell, remembered that they are, in fact stupid, and rolled my eyes again.

<disclaimer: not all the public are stupid, just most of them>

BEAchDays2 · 15/08/2026 13:35

No

MrsPottscloset · 15/08/2026 13:34

No but I had just sat on my phone and I thought I had broken it 🤣

Lizchapman · 15/08/2026 13:22

I was actually reading the Sky News notification saying they were sending one out when it came through 😂😂

Nevs · 15/08/2026 12:10

As a Russian, no I did not.

SerendipityJane · 15/08/2026 12:06

Tping · 14/08/2026 23:47

When the alert went off did you, for a fraction of a second, think Vlad had finally snapped and pressed the button?

Disappointing if he had because I if I’d known, I’d have added more loo roll to the Tesco delivery.

No.

If it was 1987, then yes.

Blueuggboots · 15/08/2026 12:00

I can’t believe there are so many utterly stupid people that they actually need to send an emergency alert warning people that the ground is dry and therefore a high fire risk. NO SHIT SHERLOCK!!

Whatonearthwoman · 15/08/2026 11:48

Before i read the alert, after hearing the alarm i genuinely thought terrorist attacks

mondaytosunday · 15/08/2026 11:44

No I thought I’d set off my smoke detector as I was cooking!

hobbledyhoy · 15/08/2026 11:42

AutumnCrowsMusings · 15/08/2026 11:33

You got rain instead.

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😂 ah heat alert. Yes we definitely did not get that. Always rain.

Ironfloor269 · 15/08/2026 11:37

My first thought was I’d left the fridge door open or that the air fryer was creating too much smoke.

catlovingfeministgirl · 15/08/2026 11:36

Yes! It made me think of a book I read. Actually, 2 books. One is 59 minutes by Holly Seddon. A nuclear alert is sent. Immediately thought of that. The other book is Refugee by Stella Beake. About an actual nuclear attack on the UK. Very glad this alert was just about potential wildfires!

AutumnCrowsMusings · 15/08/2026 11:33

hobbledyhoy · 15/08/2026 11:29

In Scotland, never got anything?

You got rain instead.

UrOutdoors · 15/08/2026 11:33

My first thought was nuclear bomb, but I didn’t think about who might have launched it.

I saw Threads in the 80s when it was shown on TV ( I was 17) and since then, I’ve been waiting to die in a nuclear apocalypse.

hobbledyhoy · 15/08/2026 11:29

In Scotland, never got anything?

Alwayswonderedwhy · 15/08/2026 11:01

No, my first thought was it one of the kids setting of an SOS on life 360.

BendoftheBeginning · 15/08/2026 10:59

I wondered if there had been a fire evacuation alert, like the emergencies in Canada right now.

Can’t quite believe how much people are complaining about this. The whole point is that the next huge out of control fire could be in your city/town/village/neighbouring field. It only takes a spark, and it’s pretty clear loads of people just aren’t paying attention and think it couldn’t happen near them.

TorroFerney · 15/08/2026 10:39

daisychain01 · 15/08/2026 06:47

The government has run many trial alerts over the past 2 years. Unless you've been living under a rock, you'd be familiar with the sound, and it's widely known at the moment that there are fire risks across the UK,

stop creating attention seeking threads with titles that are click bait and not useful or funny,

If there are no threads allowed that are attention seeking, and threads have to be useful or funny then this place won't last very long! As an aside I have no memory of many alerts on my phone in fact I think this is the first one where all three of us in the house have had it. I also think people would assume the alert goes off when something has happened, so as others have said, they thought there was a fire near them, this is a slightly different kind of message. It says there's a risk of wildfires - that's not quite right, there are wildfires, maybe they should have stressed that ?

The title of this thread isn't click bait though I don't think, it is asking a question.