Alaska EAS Test, Called Success, May Help With Nationwide Version
Alaska’s second statewide test of its emergency alert systems through radio and TV stations and cable operators last week -- following one a year ago that had major problems -- was a success, participants told us. The lessons from those tests, and exercises across other states, may help prepare broadcasters, cable operators, government officials and others for a nationwide emergency alert test, industry officials said. The national test could come late this year (CD Feb 2 p3), under draft FCC rules that some commissioners have already approved, agency officials said.
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This time around, cable operators in Alaska properly received the test from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and passed it to subscribers, said cable and broadcast industry representatives. A January 2010 test didn’t properly trigger cable alerts, they said. “Testing our communications tools and warning systems is a critical step toward ensuring that we, as a nation are prepared for emergencies,” said Damon Penn, a FEMA assistant administrator, in a news release last week. “It is not a pass/fail test, but an exercise which allows us to establish, assess, and validate a baseline for our national-level EAS and future testing."
Testing EAS as in Alaska “helps us improve and establish a strong baseline for future tests,” and 2010 was the first time that happened in a manner simulating a national test but in one state, a FEMA spokesman told us. “During the test in 2010, some individualized and localized technical malfunctions were noted.” Between the January 2010 and January 2011 tests, FEMA and federal, state and local government and industry test partners “worked together to address the problems and as a result, this year’s test resolved many of those issues,” the spokesman added. “We continue to assess further improvements we can make.” Audio levels, duplication of emergency alert notification messages and other issues were addressed this time, he said. It was hard for some listeners to hear EAS warnings on some Alaskan radio stations, though not abnormally so for any test, said industry officials in the state.
"It was a little more low-key this year, because the broadcasters had gone through this before, so they knew what to expect,” said Dennis Bookey, general manager of Morris Communications’ seven Alaska radio stations and co-chairman of the state’s emergency communications committee. “There were no issues, there was no panic” among viewers and listeners when the test was run, he said. Cable operators and broadcasters aired public service announcements and other advisories about the test in the days leading up to it, and earlier that day, said Chris Brandt, an engineer at GCI, Alaska’s largest cable operator, and co-chairman of the emergency committee. “Overall it went well, we were able to relay it in all of our major markets,” he said. “We really tried to drill home this will be on, don’t panic,” he said of the PSAs.
"The tests are long tests, so they really exercise the system differently than what everyone is used to” doing in monthly tests, Brandt said. The Alaska test was three minutes, triple the length of the monthly ones, he said. “You end up finding out that your stuff isn’t quite configured properly” during such exercises, he said. “Maybe a couple more strategic tests in certain areas” would help before holding a national exam, Brandt said. “To see more tests really wouldn’t hurt, to really nail her down.” Alaska’s remoteness from other states means that tests there can’t be viewed or listened to in states where audiences aren’t expecting a test, unlike in states in the continental U.S., Brandt said.
Even the latest test had shortcomings, Alaskan industry officials said. Some communities didn’t get the simulated warnings, in some cases because a backup link went down, they said. Barrow, Dillingham, Galena, Kotzebue and Sand Point didn’t get the messages, said Bookey. “In the most populated areas, everything went really good,” he said. “You discover issues, you go correct them, but there’s always something out there,” he said. “It is a complex, intricate system.” FCC staffers who work in the state monitored the exercise, and FEMA sent officials from Washington, Bookey said.
"We've learned from all” statewide EAS simulations, said President Pat Roberts of the Florida Association of Broadcasters. “If we're ever going to test it, now’s the time to do it,” to “see most importantly if the president can use it” and whether state and municipal officials can as well, he said. “We've come a long ways,” with many more states having plans in place and with the formation of the FCC Public Safety Bureau, Roberts said. The bureau drafted the order now on circulation, which would require annual national simulations, agency officials said.
"It’s a learning experience for all of the parties involved, both the government” and the broadcasting and cable industries, said lawyer Frank Jazzo of Fletcher & Heald, representing Alaska’s broadcast association. “It pointed to where there may be some weaknesses in the chain of communication, and I think that’s why the second test went better than the first.” The broadcast associations in Illinois, Missouri and Wyoming have done statewide EAS tests with the National Weather Service, said lawyer Scott Flick of Pillsbury Winthrop, which represents many state broadcast groups. “It’s the test that goes badly that you of course learn the most out of,” he said. “It’s reassuring” that Alaska’s exercise went well. “I think a lot of the states would be interested in learning if their equipment is up to standards right now.”