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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
BobBobBobbing · 15/08/2026 10:31

Was in a pub in the city centre and first thought was terrorist attack, then when I saw the word fire thought there was one in the nearby moor.

Then read the whole thing and went back to drinking.

TorroFerney · 15/08/2026 10:30

On my phone it's a bit like the sound we get when we leave the house phone out of the holster for a bit and it shouts to let us know. It's loud but a kind of muted loud so even though my phone was near me it took me a while to realise it was my phone, I couldn't work out where it was coming from initially.

MyOliveStork · 15/08/2026 10:28

No was worried about their being a local wildfire

Loulou4022 · 15/08/2026 10:28

I thought I’d set off the emergency alert on my phone (where you press the side button so many times and it calls the police) as I’d just shoved it in washing basket to take upstairs and as you can guess it had fallen to the bottom of all the clothes so I had to empty it while swearing thinking the police would be on their way!! 🤣

WyrdHag · 15/08/2026 10:27

I just thought 'WTF is the awful noise'? I have two mobiles so got it in stereo.

Like a PP said I was more in a fluster to make the bloody thing stop than thinking about what the message might be.

julie81 · 15/08/2026 10:27

No, we got ours in Welsh first but I pressed something and message disappeared, I said straight away but half joking, that will be telling us not to buy disposable barbecues
edited due to typo

wreckingmybread · 15/08/2026 10:25

NuffSaidSam · 14/08/2026 23:51

No, didn't cross my mind.

I did for a second think there might have been a terrorist attack as I was on the tube when it off and everyone was a bit panicked!

I was at the airport and exact same reaction there

Maray1967 · 15/08/2026 10:10

No, I was waiting in my car for someone, read it, and carried on waiting.

Houses have burned due to fires. This is serious and people need to think about what they’re doing.

Katemax82 · 15/08/2026 10:04

Yes I did. All my 4 kids were sat in the front room and called me in cos my phone was going off. My heart stopped for a second because I did think it was the 3 minute warning

MarilynMerlot · 15/08/2026 09:56

I was on a jammed and boiling rush hour bus, so not only was it incredibly loud, we had a bit of a Moment I think it was obvious people were thinking terrorist attack, then some lady yelled ‘it’s about the fires’ and everyone just went oh ok 😂

Oldraver · 15/08/2026 09:53

Gitsandshiggles123 · 15/08/2026 00:01

I never got it.....

Me neither, as I turned it off years ago

I heard OH's going off in the distance

Whynottryagain · 15/08/2026 09:52

No, but I assumed there was a terrorist attack or an actual wildfire nearby.

Monty36 · 15/08/2026 09:43

No.

Dymaxion · 15/08/2026 09:35

No, I thought it was my car complaining about some new aspect of neglect !

Gcn · 15/08/2026 09:20

What alert??

hahabahbag · 15/08/2026 09:20

No because I can smell the fires in my house!

RaininSummer · 15/08/2026 09:18

I expected it to be a storm alert or for flash floods not that it has actually rained. Would 'they' alert us about a missile? I suspect not because of the panic which would ensue and the fact that we can't do anything about it.

Redburnett · 15/08/2026 09:18

For a government alert I expected it to be something of that severity. I have now switched off emergency alerts as I am a responsible citizen and I do not need the government to warn me about heat and wildfires.

whackwhackoops · 15/08/2026 09:12

No I thought it was an annoying advert on my phone or that it had been hacked so was relieved. Not sure it gives the wrong people ideas though. I also got it again an hour later annoyingly

StopGo · 15/08/2026 09:11

I thought it would be something local like river bank risk of flooding or wild fire. My poor dog took off vertically and she can’t even read!

PollyannaWhittier · 15/08/2026 09:08

ChocolateApples · 15/08/2026 07:28

Not at all. I was mostly focussed on the unpleasantness of the noise, and was mildly embarrassed because I was outside in public. Soon as I looked at it it was clear what it was about, but by that point I'd hit okay so couldn't read the full message and was a bit annoyed/concerned in case I'd missed anything I needed to know in it.

It's definitely a design flaw that you can't shut the awful noise up but keep the message to read ! I did the same thing, but DSis couldn't find her phone so it continued on to the spoken message, so we did find out what it was.

Yogaandchocolate · 15/08/2026 09:07

I was leaving Tesco and thought they’d left the tag on my gin

TerfOnATrain · 15/08/2026 09:03

We were in the pub, I thought it was a fire alarm

Cityinthesummer · 15/08/2026 09:00

No I assumed it was about the fires but the panic was caused by receiving the first alert in Welsh and I only recognised the word for ‘fire’ and thought we might have to evacuate.

Mumtotornadoes · 15/08/2026 08:58

I thought an actual fire in my immediate area.

Not a general warning about lighting fires during a drought.

If anyone's going to snap launch a nuclear weapon it's going to be trump anyway.