DC HSEMA Readies Public for Thursday WEA Test

in a Friday interview. The District will join 19 other nearby jurisdictions in a test from 10 to 11 a.m. (see 1803280055). “Our job as homeland security professionals is to provide lifesaving information to the public in an actual emergency,” he said. “We take that responsibility and that duty very seriously, and we need to practice that capability, because the last thing we want to do is in a real emergency be using this capability for the first time.” Users in the District will get an alert saying it’s a WEA test and no further action is required, he said. “We’re not going to do the Hawaii thing,” said Rodriguez, referring to the false alarm about a missile headed for the Pacific island state (see 1803160042). The District has about six or seven layers of review before a message is sent, he said. “No one person can send out a wireless emergency alert,” but the process still takes under a minute, he said. “We want to make sure that when the public hears from us, the public knows that it’s an emergency.” While HSEMA tests WEA every month internally, Thursday will be “the first coordinated regional test” of WEA to the general public, Rodriguez said. Success will be to “very quickly disseminate wireless emergency alerts to the public,” he said. Alerts will go out in phases over a half-hour period, with each jurisdiction taking turns hitting "send" about every 15 seconds, Rodriguez said. Alerts will go to anyone with a phone in the area, including out-of-town visitors, because WEA is based on proximity rather than area code, he said. HSEMA is coordinating with Destination D.C. to help get word out about the upcoming test through hotels and tourism organizations, a HSEMA spokeswoman added. Some users may get multiple alerts because the 20 jurisdictions overlap in some places, the director said. After the test, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments will gauge public reaction with an online survey, he said.