Severe Alert from the UK Government

[londonteacher]

Severe Alert just issued by the Government. First time I have actually received one.

Basically people shouldn’t do BBQs or anything that could cause a fire to spread.

The text is as follows:

Severe Alert


Issued by the UK Government


There is a very high risk of wildfires nationally.


Residents, landowners and visitors should not undertake any activity that could start a fire, including disposable barbecues, firepits, garden incinerators or fireworks. Even a small flame can rapidly develop into a major wildfire placing lives, homes, businesses and emergency responders at risk.


Follow official updates and report signs of fire immediately by calling 999. Search gov.uk/ alerts for more information.

 

[Dr Day]

Received on train in Wales and only in Welsh. Whole train frantically trying to find google translate!

 

[londonteacher]

Received on train in Wales and only in Welsh. Whole train frantically trying to find google translate!

Haha that made me giggle!

I would have thought it would have been in both English and Welsh.

 

[Yew]

I thought this was supposed to be the "we are at imminent risk of Nuclear annihilation" alert - not the "please don't have a BBQ" messaging system.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I got a new phone earlier this year and forgot the settings for these wouldn't carry across.

I think I've done it now...?

Screenshot below showing what I hope are all the necessary settings to disable the alerts on my new phone.

 

[gg1]

A misuse of the system IMO.

It should be reserved for something as serious as "there's a wildfire approaching your home, get out now"

Using it for general warnings like this will just trigger lots of people googling how to disable the alerts.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Received in English here (Greater Manchester). For some reason, the ability to cut and paste the text seems to have been disabled.

 

[londonteacher]

I thought this was supposed to be the "we are at imminent risk of Nuclear annihilation" alert - not the "please don't have a BBQ" messaging system.

A misuse of the system IMO.

It should be reserved for something as serious as "there's a wildfire approaching your home, get out now"

Using it for general warnings like this will just trigger lots of people googling how to disable the alerts.

Agreed but it definitely is an effective way to get a message across to the masses.

But, it does have unintended consequences for domestic violence victims among others.

 

[Yew]

Agreed but it definitely is an effective way to get a message across to the masses.

There are also other effective ways too, press conferences would have it plastered all over the news, tv, radio, papers, and online. And that feels much more appropriate for the level of severity.

 

[sor]

But, it does have unintended consequences for domestic violence victims among others.

The alerts can be disabled for that specific reason. The UK implementation of emergency alerts intentionally doesn't use the highest severity level (sometimes called "presidential alert") so that you can do this.

I do wonder why this was necessary to send out as a "severe" alert though, as the standard has a number of lower priority alert levels that would probably be better for this kind of info. "severe" should be for instances where there's a wildfire near you.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I've turned them off now, they don't get to disturb me because the grass is a bit dry

 

[greatkingrat]

It isn't something you have to know right this second. Sending a normal text message that you could read at your convenience would be sufficient.

 

[londonteacher]

It isn't something you have to know right this second. Sending a normal text message that you could read at your convenience would be sufficient.

There are also other effective ways too, press conferences would have it plastered all over the news, tv, radio, papers, and online. And that feels much more appropriate for the level of severity.

Again, agreed but it has got everyone talking about it which I suspect was the intended purpose!

 

[StoneRoad]

New phone, and that racket made me jump half out of my skin.

What could be far better would be to completely ban the sale & use of disposable BBQs, smoking outdoors, and garden bonfires for the duration of the drought / heatwaves.

e2a - and fireworks !
[having had to put out fires from that source some years ago]

 

[ainsworth74]

I thought this was supposed to be the "we are at imminent risk of Nuclear annihilation" alert - not the "please don't have a BBQ" messaging system.

Quite. This is a misuse of the system in my view and I speak as someone who thinks its very important that we have some manner of national alert system.

It should be reserved for something as serious as "there's a wildfire approaching your home, get out now"

Absolutely. The horrible situation in Stourbridge last night would seem to be exactly the sort of situation where it should be sent to anyone nearby. But this? This is something that you can distribute via the media.

Turns out all the people who claimed it would be abused were right and I apologise for castigating them. What a stupid thing for the Government to have done.

 

[sor]

New phone, and that racket made me jump half out of my skin.

What could be far better would be to completely ban the sale & use of disposable BBQs, smoking outdoors, and garden bonfires for the duration of the drought / heatwaves.

There is a temporary ban on disposable BBQ sales in England, Scotland and Wales as of today - which is probably what has prompted the alert

Statutory Guidelines On Disposable BBQs

In response to the current droughts and heatwave, the Government has introduced statutory guidelines in relation to the supply of disposable BBQs.

www.gov.uk

Disposable barbecues have been the cause of a number of serious wildfires across the country over the summer months.


During the current drought and heatwave conditions, the government considers that the supply and subsequent foreseeable use of disposable barbecues poses a significant risk to the public, and the environment, and therefore cannot be considered a safe product. They should not be made available for supply either in store or online at the current time. These guidelines will be kept under review, and will be withdrawn in consultation with relevant departments and agencies, as weather conditions change sufficiently to significantly reduce the risks.

 

[joncombe]

I've turned them off now, they don't get to disturb me because the grass is a bit dry

I had it turned off on my phone, but still got one of the "presidential" alerts that can't be turned off when in Ibiza a year or so ago (heavy rain/thunderstorms). However I did get this alert and found the setting was turned back on again. I didn't do it, so is this something that gets turned back on automatically after updates or something? (My phone did update a few weeks ago), a bit like how Microsoft always turns back on stuff to do with bing/Edge/Copilot on every update.

 

[GusB]

It doesn't seem to have gone out UK-wide because I didn't receive anything. Having said that, the temperatures here haven't been nearly as bad and we had a fair downpour early this morning. Was it England and Wales only?

 

[JB_B]

The only time i’ve had one of these in earnest was in Romania ( “Bear on the streets - protect your family and livestock !”)

Has this really gone across EWS or is it more targeted? No sign of it here in SE England.

 

[sor]

It doesn't seem to have gone out UK-wide because I didn't receive anything. Having said that, the temperatures here haven't been nearly as bad and we had a fair downpour early this morning. Was it England and Wales only?

a genuinely good thing about the UK system is that the alerts are made available on gov.uk, including when and where. Seems like its England and Wales only, with Wales additionally getting a Welsh language version

https://www.gov.uk/alerts/current-alerts

 

[gazthomas]

Received in Welsh first then about 10 minutes later in English.

About 4 weeks too late. Was Royal Mail responsible for delivery?

They should have a "don't go buying from dodgy vape shops or Turkish barbers" too

 

[pokemonsuper9]

The horrible situation in Stourbridge last night would seem to be exactly the sort of situation where it should be sent to anyone nearby.

Looking up what you mean by Stourbridge (how have I not heard about that!) yes absolutely an alert should've gone out to people in the area there to warn them they may need to be evacuated and to be cautious of the fire.
The whole country did not need to be disturbed by a couple barbeques

 

[brad465]

I think the alert was sent with good intentions, but was not the best way to communicate the issue.

 

[gg1]

Received in Welsh first then about 10 minutes later in English.

About 4 weeks too late. Was Royal Mail responsible for delivery?

In pretty much every other circumstance I have no objection to Welsh being first on bilingual announcements or signage, but a (supposedly) emergency alert system should be an exception.

 

[londonteacher]

And it just happened again.

 

[gg1]

And it just happened again.

Not for me

 

[AlterEgo]

I thought this was supposed to be the "we are at imminent risk of Nuclear annihilation" alert - not the "please don't have a BBQ" messaging system.

Agreed. This seems like a misuse of the system to me.

 

[gazthomas]

In pretty much every other circumstance I have no objection to Welsh being first on bilingual announcements or signage, but a (supposedly) emergency alert system should be an exception.

I know enough Welsh to decipher it but I completely agree with you

But Paul's point on it being a misuse of the system is an interesting point

 

[Purple Train]

Yes, my heart rate is still returning to normal. I'd rather they erred on the side of caution and I was disturbed rather than fried but it was still pretty disturbing to hear the noise (from multiple phones too - I'm at a group, and typically we received random messages at random times). My Australian better half is completely used to wildfire alerts and is calling me soft, not sure what she'd make of all the people calling the whole thing "nanny state"

Although I do agree it would be more suited to situations like Stourbridge - I was following that news quite closely as I was born in the area and initially thought that similar was happening in my area.

 

[londonteacher]

Photo shows the message received again at 19:38.