The focus of alerts and warnings have primarily centered on natural, technological, biological, and human induced hazards that are threats to the population. WEA, however, is also used to alert local communities about more than just community-wide threats. It is also used to ask people to help law enforcement to engage in various community-based activities. Those who observe pbs.warn on a regular basis will see that notifications are frequently issued requesting help from t

Message consistency is a concept that is frequently discussed when considering multiple parties communicating about a single event. We see problems arise when, for example, messages from broadcasters do not match public safety officials. Generally, inconsistency in these cases can found in the use of colors and graphics, but sometimes it is also the use of words to describe the risk or severity of the threat, and the certainty of impacts. When messages are inconsistent, th

Law enforcement messages with instructions to lockdown are HARD to write. Especially when you have limited time and need people to take action immediately. This message was issued as both a 90 and 360 character WEA, leaving out a lot of relevant information that message receivers needed to prevent delayed action. Included here is the hazard (law enforcement activity), the action (lockdown), and the location (Bay Point). Without additional information, it could be difficult

Wildfires and fire weather are arguably some of the most difficult events to communicate about and to effectively guide people to safely. As winds shift directions and new (and old) populations are put at risk, new messages must be issued quickly, with complete and actionable information. On February 27, 2024, wildfires were sweeping across two states - Texas and Oklahoma - devouring acres of land and putting many people on high alert to evacuate at a moment's notice. We've

On February 20, 2024, a resident of the city of Plymouth, London, UK was digging in their garden and found an unexploded ordinance (UXO) from WWII.  In the hours and days that followed this discovery, the City of Plymouth jumped into action construct a plan for the removal of the UXO in a manner that was safe and effective.  They also used this opportunity to issue their first Wireless Emergency Alert. You can read about the event in a story posted by the BBC here. On the Sun

We frequently get questions about 'what conditions warrant a follow-up WEA' and 'what content should those messages include'? In general, if the initial message says "more information to follow" or "until further notice," a follow-up WEA is necessary because it has set the expectation that more information will be coming to the population that received the initial alert. This is especially true for persons who are asked to shelter in place (letting them know they can come

Some hazards, like hurricanes, wildfires, and atmospheric rivers, offer risk communicators the gift of time to prepare their constituents for what may be coming to their area and how they can get themselves ready to respond. Wireless Emergency Alerts have been used primarily for events that are certain, specific, and imminent. In the case of an atmospheric river that will certainly affect narrow geographical areas in particular ways, it makes a great deal of sense to use WE

When we poll emergency managers and other public safety risk communicators about the threats that create the greatest anxiety for messaging, active shooters rank at the very top. They are fast moving, uncertain situations. Organizational leadership will have an opinion on the extent to which details about the event can be released, making it likely that a message will be vague about the hazard while increasing concerns among message receivers. This makes the task of devel

The December 2022 winter storm in New York affected more than just Erie County and the city of Buffalo. While Erie and Buffalo bore the majority of the impacts, there were clear opportunities for improvement across the entire state especially in terms of risk communication. This could be seen in high traffic areas on heavily traveled roadways where motorists could be stranded, requiring resources for rescue or blocking essential services such as plows or other heavy equipme

In 2022, Erie County and the city of Buffalo experienced a catastrophic winter storm at the height of the Christmas holiday, resulting in days long power outages, stranded drivers, and dozens of deaths. Multiple reports and analyses commented on the lack of direct communication to the public, especially using the one tool that reaches all cell phones without the need to opt in: Wireless Emergency Alerts (in full transparency, the editor of The Warn Room, Jeannette Sutton, PhD

It may come as little surprise that WEA is frequently used by law enforcement to issue alerts for missing and endangered persons (MEP). Outside of the messages sent by the National Weather Service for severe weather events, these types of messages are seen most often (along with road closures). Setting aside concerns about perceptions of over-alerting, a few changes can be made to improve MEP messaging in order to make them more understandable and actionable. Drawing from r

There has been a long and ongoing discussion about how "scary" a message should be to motivate behavior. Some argue that people need to be frightened to get them to act; others argue that the media is filled with too many scary sounding messages; still others are concerned that scary language will make people desensitized and less likely to act. But what is the sweet spot in our messaging? Risk communication researchers have determined that a primary motivation to act is th

We routinely see messages for roads that are closed using WEA. This is primarily within the states of Texas and Georgia and they are generally incomplete, lacking information about the sender and the time of the event while using a LOT of abbreviations. In other words, they are not 5-Star warnings based upon the Warning Response Model. In this image, we find a good enough message. It is complete - containing all 5 contents that are necessary for motivating protective actio

Before posting this WEA to the Warning Gallery, the editors tried to revise the message, but were stumped. Without significant effort to figure out WHY this message had been issued to residents of these areas, we were forced to simply BELIEVE that there must be some sort of problem with the water. What kind of problem, we don't know. But it sure sounds like it could be dangerous to injest, wear, or wash with. What could it be?! This is the problem with sending messages th

Messages delivered in ALL CAPS have a problem. Writing in ALL CAPS may seem like a reasonable strategy to get people's attention (because when you're yelling, you can be louder than all the noise around you), but it has some drawnbacks. FIRST - messages written in ALL CAPS seem like they're yelling an entired message. No variation, no intonation, just straight out shouting. SECOND - and related to the first - they're hard to read. The uniformity of rectangular shapes means

2023 has included a number if significant chemical releases associated with train derailments. While the East Palenstine, OH event received significant national attention, a more recent multicar train derailment in Rockcastle County, KY led to a chemical spill and fire, prompting evacuations across the city of Livingston. A Wireless Emergency Alert was quickly issued to recommend that persons in the city of Livingston and surrounding areas evacuate. Law Enforcement also went

When we look across the country today, we find there are a LOT of named alerts for missing persons. Each one represents a different sector of the population, addressing a particular age, race, or mental or physical disability. With a few exceptions, each named alert is localized to the state in which it was passed as a law to protect that population. This presents an interesting problem for alerting authorities in individual states and for publics who may be unfamiliar wit

When WEA was first initiated, messages addressed imminent and actionable threats, requiring public response to increase the safety of a broad population. Law enforcement notifications about an escaped, potentially dangerous person can fit into this alerting category, such as a recent event in Pennsylvania when a prisoner escaped and was not recaptured for two weeks. Increasing awareness of potentially dangerous individuals can help to keep a population safe and also aid law

Burn bans are issued when there is an increased risk of wildfire. In an analysis of all wildfire WEAs sent from January 2020- April 2022, language about burn bans in effect was found in only three of the 642 messages issued as 360-character WEAs. In the case of this message sent in November 2023, the burn ban was applied to all open-air fires (applied to specific types of materials) and fireworks and would be enforced through the application of fines. Given Sevier county's

The National Weather Service has done quite a bit of research on the use of the terms "watch", "warning", and "advisory", demonstrating that members of the public do not find the words to be easily understood in terms of their escalating risk/impacts, nor for their call to action. They are part of jargon used by experts and carry some statutory athority when combined with words like "voluntary" and "mandatory" and their limited value to the public has caused NWS to simplify