Submitted 2 hours ago by thehatfox@lemmy.world to unitedkingdom@feddit.uk
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Nearly jumped out my skin a few minutes ago when sirens started blaring. The emergency alert system just triggered, with this generic message about wildfires.
Not any actual impending ones about to burn my house down. Just the general possibility. Because of a heatwave nobody has apparently noticed.
Thought the bomb was about to drop for a second. Has nobody in our government heard the story about the boy who cried wolf?
Sorry if this is venting but this rather caught me by surprise.
This is such a weird use of this system. Months of wildfires and Labours first action is to send a phone alert that amounts to ‘only you can stop wildfires.’
They only brought in a ban on disposal BBQs today after dithering about it for ages.
A reluctance to do anything practical but they are very trigger happy in abusing an emergency alert system.
Felt like an underlining of their new policy to ban adjust the guidelines to voluntarily stop the use of disposable BBQs. They are under a lot of pressure to actually do some mitigation since water is running low and crops are failed but apparently this was the actual action, banning BBQs and alerting everyone to that new guideline!!!
Well, anyone with a secret phone they're e.g. hiding from an abusive spouse has had that blown, haven't they? But at least they now know portable barbecues and fireworks are a Not Very Good Idea when the country is basically a tinderbox. So, there's that.
There were months of warning about the emergency alert system when it was introduced for exactly that reason, including widely-publicised instructions on how to turn them off.
However it does seem people still aren’t getting that.
Well, if that’s what it’s going to be used for then I’ve switched it off. Stupid use of the system.
On android search emergency alerts in your settings.
Thanks, I didn’t realise there was an option to disable it.
You’d think they’d save this klaxon style alert for imminent danger, not “don’t use barbecues”. What the hell.
All mine are swtched off.
They still come through in BC Canada. Doesn’t care about the settings; they all play anyway.
Amber Alerts, Emergency Warnings, Tests, all of them play regardless.
There’s been 6 here, since May this year. 2 of those were between 12am and 1am.
At that point, I would just switch it off at night.
This proved they will just use it for announcing their latest damp squid policies so zero point keeping it on, they are only going to abuse it.
went through the same emotion range. from oh shit it’s going down to “you interrupted me for that?”
The dullness of bureaucracy will smooth out even the sharpest of minds.
The tea time alert will be next.
Yeah this proper shit me up! Is it the first time this system has been used in anger?
I am in Northern Ireland, so out of scope of it - yet I heard it come through on BBC Radio 4
ThePyroPython@lemmy.world 37 minutes ago
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