Anyone listening to Jeremy Vine over the alert?

[princesspadam]

Dear god! The amount of hand wringing it’s caused with callers reporting their children screaming, one callers wife hasn’t slept all weekend

whats wrong with everyone? talk about snow flake

this is fairly standard practice in other parts of the globe (have had it several times in the US)

my DCs didn’t even mention it when I got home on Friday night (neither did DP)

People who don't understand this are also the same people who get cross when they open paracetamol boxes and get the leaflet every time.

1. The leaflet is deliberately inserted there specifically so people will see it even if they don't read it.
2. You can just take it out the first time and stop it happening again. Same way you can turn alerts off if you don't want to be informed about potential risks to you, but it's not advised.

And for pp who said "But I think the point being made is we probably didn't need to wake people up with an emergency alarm to tell them not to have a BBQ!"

Wasn't it about 7pm? And given the terrible state of affairs in W Mids, apparently we very much DO need to be told.

If they are happy to risk dying in an emergency who are we to stop them.

At least you didn’t live in Wales where we had the alert in Welsh first that over half population couldn’t read, the English version didn’t turn up until 10 mins later.

No objection to having Welsh first but they could have at least tagged the English on the same post..cue emergency service getting overloaded with panicked people.

I didn’t panic, as I can get the gist of written Welsh to a point, (can’t speak it much though) so I knew it was about wildfires but I can understand those who haven’t a clue having a moment

whats wrong with everyone? talk about snow flake

Is the point OP made - my point is; ill, asleep and in bed, woken by a very loud alarm that I didn’t recognise, and in my half asleep state thought it was the fire alarm going off in my flats, terrified me! all to tell me not to use a disposable barbecue… I’m not quite sure how many more times I can keep explaining this if people just don’t get it and why I reacted as I did…

We were on a campsite, there had already been a fire very close by. People were still wandering around smoking.

It was quite alarming as everyones phones went off (we were in a social area) and it really upset one of my family members (autistic, and ither issues).

People can over exaggerate for effect.
Or say things or write things to gain sympathy and have people onside.

And all a result of social media. Peoples language becomes over stated. So you get raging, terrified, screaming etc when it really seems OTT to use such a word.

Yes I understand that. But what time should the government have sent it if not 7pm when most people are awake?
However the alarm system needs to be loud enough to wake people up because while this alarm wasn't an immediate danger alarm the next one could be.

True, but we have had emergency alert tests before and warnings were put out for people with hidden phones to turn them off or disable the alerts.

I am in wales, it didn’t cause any great panic and I think it was 4 or 5 mins later the English version came through

might be a significant amount of time in a nuclear attack but if that happens im hoping it’ll land on my head anyway 💁🏼‍♀️

It really sent my 12 yo into a panic, they are a bit of a panicker generally though.
I don’t think it should have been used in this instance. It ought to be reserved for genuine emergencies not common sense reminders.

But if you hadn't been ill and asleep at 7pm and were just doing whatever normal things you do at 7pm would you have still been terrified?
It's annoying (for you) that it woke you up - especially when you were unwell but 7pm seemed a fairly sensible time to send this type of message.

Mine is off anyway for the public information (severe) alerts, they are on the news almost immediately so I can read them on there if I need, glad it worked and it didn't come through on my phone.

I will preface this by saying I am supportive of the emergency alerts.

I was actually driving when it happened. Car was plugged into Apple CarPlay and the alert came onto the car screen with a very loud alert sound. Scared the crap out of me and knee jerk reaction put my foot sharply on the brake. Saw another car on the other side of the road do the same thing. Luckily nothing was travelling close behind either of us but in that split second moment when it happens and you’re driving it occurred to me that it could be quite dangerous.

It was a stupid message but the hand wringing has been wild

I understand there’s another mass phone alert coming from this government.

They say the police have asked them to tell everyone that pressing the brake on your car will help you to slow down when approaching busy junctions.

Utterly pathetic. Instead of people thinking about community and the wider country everyone is out for themselves.

Surely that's a design fault of the car?
The alarm needs to go off - just not so loud.
This is the type of things the government and car manufacturers need to discuss.

I agree. It was an important message, but I think better delivered as a normal text message/on the news etc. The alarm should be reserved for imminent threat: action needed.

Had a system that was meant for imminent threats to live not been used for a general warning they wouldn’t have had to die would they :)

A general warning would have been better sent using the social media channels the Government already makes use of. An unintended consequence of using the emergency alert system was an increase in deliberately set fires. Of course, as in COVID, questioning disproportionate actions or rules is always misunderstood by many ;)

Me too. We were discussing the circumstances of one specific poster, who has said she was asleep at the time. I think understandbly it hit different if you were asleep when it came through! It's quite a harsh wake-up call!

Just when you think the lack of resilience is the worst it can be…

We have GOT to teach our kids to roll with it, to breathe and THINK. Same goes for adults.

Grow up and be adults ffs.

terrified, not slept, screaming?

ffs. We lived thorough the nuclear arms race, we had the messages about a 3 minute warning. The Raymond Briggs cartoon etc.

this is just a message to tell people clearly the walking brain dead NOT to burn things in the open.

it’s bloody obvious to many, but with this ridiculous response and swathes of people “too anxious to watch the news” sadly it’s a message that needs to be conveyed.

at 7pm.

and in terms of awareness, it worked, right?

It also seems to have led to several fire service regions imploring people not to ring 999 to report their neighbours having a bbq!

Honestly, the handwringing about the alert has just been ridiculous. Even the people concerned about those with secret phones tbh - I understand the concern, but we've had several tests, each time making it clear in advance how people can turn the alerts off if they are in that situation - I just don't see how much more information can be given to people. Nobody can expect to be alerted in advance of an alert - it completely defeats the purpose! I've seen people criticising how awful this has been for people with anxiety, how dangerous it was for people driving/walking down stairs/carrying babies - the list is just endless. I just cannot imagine how people get through life if they jump three foot in the air/crash their car every time they hear a loud noise.

As someone who's dealing with the aftermath of several fires and works alongside organisations which have been dealing with daily fires for weeks (not emergency services) this was needed.

We have been asking nicely, sharing info etc yet it continues with the fires getting bigger and more destructive as the dry spell continues.

What should have been done?

One colleague putting out a barbecue a family had set up on a wildlife site was told they didn't pay any attention to the news as it is all made up.

It isn't about barbecues is is about people being intentionally ignorant to avoid taking responsibility. Now they can't pretend they didn't know.

I just wish they had done it 2 weeks ago.

I don't think the government should use the emergency alert system outside of emergencies requiring immediate action. I think this message would have been better received via a normal text message and alerts on the news/radio etc.

I think you sum it up in your last sentence...it wasn't an immediate danger alarm...so don't use the system for immediate danger!