Don’t be alarmed: BC will test its Emergency Alert system tomorrow & here’s when

If you get a sudden alert on your phone, don’t be alarmed. Canada’s Emergency Alert System will be tested across certain provinces this week and next – starting with BC on Wednesday, May 10th. 

At about 1:55 pm PDT on May 10th, your phones will blare, and radios and TVs will sound an emergency alert tone in BC to test the Alert Ready system for when it’s necessary. Don’t worry, this is definitely a drill!

“A test message may be issued for either public awareness or technical testing purposes,” according to the system.

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According to Alert Ready, the emergency system is used in specific circumstances such as fire, biological, hazardous, environmental, natural, national security, civil emergencies, and admin which just so happens to be the test.

For the full description of warnings and what each category includes, click here.

Last year, BC issued 7 alerts in 2022, including 3 civil emergencies, 2 wildfire alerts, and 2 AMBER alerts. So far in 2023, 3 wildfire alerts have been issued.

The next alert test is anticipated sometime in November 2023.