Emergency? In Fairfax, There's a Text for That

Fairfax County is now part of a new system that automatically sends text messages to area phone users during the most dire of emergencies.

In the event of an emergency, the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system will be used to send out messages of 90 characters to mobile phone users in the vicinity of the event.

The text alerts will be accompanied by a loud sound similar to the beeping tone of an emergency broadcast on a television, said Sulayman Brown, manager of Fairfax County’s emergency operations center.

“Let’s say we have a hazardous material incident in Western Fairfax and we want to let people know to shelter in place,” Brown said. “We can go into it and have it send the alerts to phones in certain zip codes that might be affected by the event.”

Brown stressed residents didn’t need to sign up for the service and that alerts would be delivered automatically in case of emergencies.

If you receive an alert, that means you’re within the impacted area and need to carefully read the message and do what it tells you.

There are three types of alerts:

• Presidential Alerts issued by the President of the United States about matters of national security
• Imminent Danger Alerts issued for tornado warnings, civil danger, hazardous material warnings, evacuations and other local emergencies
• Amber Alerts issued about the disappearance of minors

Fairfax County is the first jurisdiction in the Commonwealth to have WEA technology, Brown said. The National Weather Service is also equipped with the system.

According to the county’s Emergency Information blog, some phones might not receive the alerts, even if they are within the targeted zip codes designated to get the message. This could be because your phone was receiving service from a cell tower outside of the alert zone.

But alerts will be broadcast multiple times to reach the highest number of people possible. And don’t worry, your phone won’t beep again once you receive the message.

Older phone models might not be able to receive the alerts, so if you aren’t sure, check with your provider.

AT&T, Cricket, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon all have information about the new alert system on their websites, according to the county blog.

Contact the Office of Emergency Management or your wireless service provider for more information, or visit the FEMA WEA Web page.

Especially in the wake of events like the tornado in Oklahoma, “if we’re talking about national security or danger, it’s better to get more information than not know,” Brown said.

What do you think of the new system? Tell us in the comments.

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