Have you all received the wildfire national alert from UKG?

[Arlanymor]

I was quite impressed that mine came through in Welsh and then five minutes later in English. We've had lots of wildfires (although some that didn't start in the wild and were set by children which is really awful) so I think something like this is really sensible in terms of making people consider more carefully their actions. Also might make people flouting water restrictions to 'keep their gardens nice' think twice as well - that water might really be needed for something, it's not an infinite resource. I did... for one second... get a Covid flashback though!

Yes I did. Jumped out of my skin. Same as you Arlanymor Welsh first then English. I don’t live far from where there are fires raging daily in the Rhondda. Almost all the mountains have been burnt. Porth, Aberdare,Ferndale,Maerdy and more besides. I live close but not in the danger zone. People in Ferndale have lost their houses. Not to mention the wildlife and nature that’s been destroyed.Thank goodness no one have lost their lives…yet. It’s wicked it really is.

Thing is that it's not communicating an evacuation order or anything like that, it just gave advice on how not to start fires. I'm concerned that if this system gets overused then actual warnings to evacuate or to shelter in place will go unheeded.

I wouldn’t worry. A thread has started trending again from September 25 from hysterical posters promising that the test alert was the beginning of the end. A year later we get our first one 😂

It'll be absolutely lifesaving at work. Urban sprawl going into nature reserves (two of which were ablaze last summer heatwave, but fortunately about an hour after around 6000 children were in the process of travelling home along roads and publid transport that run through the middle of them, plus several areas that abutt directly onto housing).

Half the staff will know about a fire immediately, rather than have to wait for somebody to notice smoke and flames within a couple of hundred yards of the site or for the Fire Service to get around to sending some emails or make phone calls. This means that areas right up in the trees can be emptied and any children with breathing difficulties can be moved to areas with air filtration.

Of course, the downside of this will be hundreds of parents driving cars directly into the path of fires, but at least the kids won't be standing at bus stops actually on the edge of the woods as we'll make sure they don't leave.

We got it while walking along the Southbank in London and had to reassure some rather distressed tourists with limited English that it didn't mean there was a wild fire literally in London.

I still think on balance it was a good idea. Text mesaages reach those who do not read or watch the news and we all need to be really careful and take this risk seriously.

I’ve just received a second one with the same message.

We did , scared the daylights out of us …it needs saying though , some people are just not switched on to what could happen - we are in Worcestershire and things are quite intense. Multiple fire crews out here today in Malvern.

And about an hour after the alert we could smell a bonfire. Morons

It's communicating a state of emergency following a COBRA meeting.

It is a state of emergency requiring immediate action from the public.

The system is not being overused, if anything it should have been issued before the school holidays when wild fires peak.

The next alert could be to not return to your home or evacuate.

I would pay attention to this one before that happens even if it gives you some transient anxiety

I got it three times. This felt like overkill for something which anyone who hasn't been living under a rock the last few months would have been aware of.

(And I did read / click on them all, so not sure why I kept getting them)

I opted out ages ago

As a Welsh person but with basic Welsh, I was really annoyed it came through as Welsh first. I just hope that in a real emergency I.e. get to a place of safety now, that they put it in English first. Not a time to be messing around with the politics around language use!

Worried about people's critical thinking and dependence on our useless govt. Reminds me of lockdowns. I switched them off ages ago, I live in the North quite cool here, doubt people who start fires will take any notice, resent govt thinking we are all stupid when they're all total useless incompetents who've made the country much worse in the last 30 years. I saw a quote saying had it been a war, Pandemic or misgendering I wouldn't have minded so much. 😀

No. West Central Scotland

And already this morning numerous posts trying to circumvent the alert!

We're not trying to we are circumventing. You try we achieve.

No, because I live in Scotland, which is still “ national” as far as I’m aware !
The risk is lower here although not completely risk free - huge fire in the Cairngorms for example. Grass is generally green, and I don’t have a hosepipe ban for example.

LOL.