AnyAnyone else just had the wildfire alert on their phone?

[OonaStubbs]

Anyone else just had the wildfire alert on their phone? It scared me to death. There are no wildfires round here that I know of.

It suddenly played a loud siren with no warning! Even a phone in a bag elsewhere in the car would still be loud and startling in the enclosed space (intentionally, it has to also wake people up and alert them from a different room), and could also briefly be confused for an emergency vehicle siren very close by.

My DS misread it, he’s on his Xbox. And calmly announced that we were surrounded by a wildfire. We are in the area that has been affected yesterday. I have now instructed DS that if we do get a serious warning he is in charge of the hose pipe and to damp down the fences. We would be surrounded if there was a wildfire.
I’ve also been mentally planning what to take if we are evacuated. Again DS has been given the responsibility of remembering the dog. I’m in charge of everything else including DH who has recently had a knee replacement so is nigh on useless.
Im considering a daily fire drill to keep them on their toes. They are rolling their eyes and laughing.

Nope. My alerts are turned off.

No drought in Scotland. Though SEPA is warning of low water in places. Was pouring today.

I’m pretty confident no one in Scotland received this alert.

No. Just don't light them. It's the sparks , tipped out coals and hot tray that starts fires.

I just got it again! How annoying

It’s pretty loud. It’ll be heard if it’s in the car.

They won't spontaneously combust. The alert and the withdrawal of sale is to try and prevent people from using them outdoors and starting a fire by accident.

What a shame your idiot teen is quite such an idiot to think your area is immune from what happened in Stourbridge (which could happen anywhere atm, hence the alert…)

Several teens round here are out helping various village folks trim trees and bushes that are overhanging (neglected by the council) since the chat about how easily the firsts in Stourbridge spread, in part, to how easy a path it had from house to house. The chat started last night on the village WhatsApp but the teens have joined since the alert. Great use of it imo.

It's all okay now, she took them for a bubble bath 🛁

I live in a moorland area where we have often had fires. There was very bad one that made the news a few years ago and one was put out, thankfully quickly, in the last few weeks.

As I type I can hear fireworks. People are really that dumb.

I agree. If I’d been driving especially if I couldn’t reach my phone that would have been really dangerous. It seems like about the same level of warning as a hosepipe ban to me, put it on the news and social media. Lots of people are now trying to work put how to turn off the alerts, and next time will not think it’s so important.

It felt a bit underwhelming. Just a lecture (though a very appropriate one) rather than an emergency alert.
It has changed my whole perception of the system: from thinking of it as like something out of a disaster movie, I have switched to seeing it as more like a reminder of a hairdresser appointment

You dont need to be near woods. A small spark from anyone havibg an bbq could set a dry lawn on fire, the fence etc. A few days ago go a garden bbq set fire to the fence which spread to cars in driveways and eventually houses. The houses burned down.

Why? What do you think they are going to do in the cupboard?

I’ve just had the alarm again.

I was driving on the motorway when I received it, and pretty sure it caused a couple of cars to crash, as just afterwards we passed a group of drivers with bust up cars screaming at each other

it was quite disconcerting,
and very very loud

Honestly dont understand your thought process. Why were they suddenly unsafe sitting in the cupboard? It's not like they were going to light themselves.

Scared the sh1t out of me!!! 😱

Don't be unkind, did no harm and poster feels better now.

Yes and I don't agree it was necessary. I was in a suburban shopping centre and at no imminent risk whatsoever.

I have turned off the emergency alerts now I know the government are going to use them to spam me, rather than notify me of true emergencies that they need to publicise this way

Yes, was in a pub, my phone sounded first then everyone else's phones sounded. Was a right racket.
I personally thought this was a stupid warning from the government, this would have sufficed as a regular text, it's hardly a national emergency

It want that bad. We were on a plane that just landed so everyone's went off at the same time. Even that wasn't loud enough to make me crash a car (or the pilot a plane!)

Mine has gone off twice in the last half an hour. Going to have to work out how to silence it so it doesn’t wake me up in the night.

Yes - we were driving and it blared out of the Bluetooth. Bloody scared us half to death