Did anyone else NOT get the wildfire alert?

[Brownbananaspot]

Just curious as nobody in my house did (we don't live particularly rurally but there is no phone signal here so we rely on WiFi calling). When the system has been tested previously we bavn't had the alerts then either.

It seems a but of a flawed system if it doesn't get through. I can only assume it's due to our poor signal unless there's a different reason.

I was in a large ish crowd of people at an outdoor event and I thought it was a fire alarm until I realised my phone was vibrating.

I didn’t - outer SW London, which surprised me, since Richmond Park - IMO very vulnerable thanks to idiots with barbecues*+ - is very close.
*despite clear signs banning them / evidence was found v recently of 2 portable barbecues - black, burnt grass. 🤬

No. I'm in Scotland. I wonder why we didn't get them, when there's been fires in the Cairngorms, Arthur's seat, even smaller ones locally to me?

It’s an emergency alert system. It’s there to warn you of emergencies. This was not an emergency, therefore it is a misuse of the system.

This seems rather foolish…

Maybe it’s an emergency because the fire brigade are at breaking point (volunteers in our area) and they were the people asking for the alert to be sent

No, it’s not an emergency. It’s a public service announcement.

People who turn off the alerts are a bit like the woman who was in the news the other day, who was on holiday where evacuations were possible due to wildfires and she had ear plus in overnight and missed the alert. No-one thought she was clever, in fact they thought the complete opposite

And what easier way to send it.

It is there to warn about and give advice during emergencies

The fire brigade as an emergency service consider it to be an emergency, and with current reports noting 19 hospitalised it’s fair to say that these fires are life threatening

https://www.gov.uk/alerts

Emergency Alerts is a UK government system that provides warning and advice in a life threatening emergency.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_Kingdom_wildfires

I would turn mine on in another country because it's used properly, here it's just for public information, last time there was one of these here it was to tell people it was windy I believe

🤦‍♀️

A public service announcement can be announced via the media. It was a misuse of the emergency alert system and if casual Andy does it again I will be turning them off until someone with brains and balls is in charge.

I didn’t, but I didn’t get the one last year when it was a big storm and everyone else around me did 🤷🏼‍♀️

I was with a group of people and the only one who didn’t was the one person who doesn’t have an iPhone. She got the message but not the alarm sound. She hadn’t turned anything off in her settings either, it was just a bit weird. All of the rest of us got the alert and message at the same time, non iPhone user didn’t have anything showing on her phone and then she got the message about 2 minutes later.

Perhaps if they live under a rock, eschew all other forms of communication, don't pay any attention whatsoever to the news both local and national, and are generally totally oblivious to anything more than six inches away from their own nose, but beyond that I can't see what purpose an "emergency phone alert" could possibly serve, or what it could inform of that people are likely to be unaware of in any case.

If it's an imminent but unforeseeable natural disaster, then a phone alert is going to make no difference whatsoever to your ability to avoid it, which leaves all the stuff which is communicated via a myriad of other pre-existing means and methods in any case. I can't believe there is a single person alerted by this latest message who wasn't previously aware this summer has been hot and dry.

i did get one, it can be quite scary to hear.
The flaw is, you hear it you might accidently press something and the whole message disappear.
it should come across as text message or something similar

DH and DS did but I didn't, we were all in the house together. I assume I'm allowed to BBQ and they're not (joke before I get piled on!).

So the fire services asked for it, you know the people who are having to deal with the fires. Why do you think you know better than them?

I know the fire service asked for it. I think they were right to ask for an announcement - it’s an important announcement, nobody is disputing that.

It is not an emergency alert.

That’s one opinion, the legislation is not as black and white as you are making out, I had a review of it and while I can see both sides it was definitely still a defensible use of the system how the legislation is framed.

Quite possibly
I mean you lived through covid, right? Theres a limit to how far the government is going to go to try and save your life, and there's always a risk they'll try but mess up anyway.

See the floods in valencia : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8xy03zk44o
It's likely that fewer people would have died if the local govt warnings had been used properly - switching your alerts off isn't helping your survival chances in the face of administrative cock ups

I got one on my work phone, but didn’t on my personal phone. They were sitting next to each other on the side, both connected to the WiFi and both on the same network 🙄

I didn't get it and neither did the other mobile 'phone in the house. Didn’t get the storm one last year either. Our water company told me of the hosepipe ban by text.

Disabled the system the first trials they did - I made my own informed choice about what notifications etc I want on the smartphone I pay for (like I have various app push notifications enabled and disabled according to my choices).

Have we got to "if you don't let them beep your phone then you don't deserve the fire brigade to come out" levels of stupidity yet or is that next week? Register of people who've disabled alerts who won't be saved and all the other shite. Are we grassing up neighbours who have green lawns to the authorities yet? Any excuse.

My alert was in Welsh. I am not Welsh, don’t live in Wales, and was nowhere near Wales last night