Pai Says FCC Working to Improve WEA

The Public Safety Bureau April report on the Hawaii incident blamed “a combination of human error and inadequate safeguards” (see 1804110064). The false warning was also the subject of a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing in April (see 1804050055). The FCC is looking at imposing new requirements for WEAs. The bureau is seeking to update the record (see 1803280029) on the feasibility of carriers including multimedia content in alerts. In January, commissioners approved an order imposing a Nov. 30, 2019, deadline for carriers to more accurately “geo-target” WEAs.

WEAs have been effective as the Big Island of Hawaii is hit by ongoing volcanic eruptions, Pai said. One positive takeaway from the false message is it proved consumers look to WEAs when disaster strikes, he said. The public’s reaction was “remarkable when you think the system has been only around for about six years,” he said. Pai noted the FCC recently updated WEA rules to make “functionalities even more useful for people in real time.”

Everyone needs to work together to strengthen alerting systems, said bureau Chief Lisa Fowlkes. “None of us can do it alone, so let’s come together, roll up our sleeves and get to work." Fowlkes said all of the discussion will be included in the record as the FCC looks to update WEA and emergency alert system rules.

The WEA system worked in January, but Hawaii didn’t have the capacity at that time to immediately tell the public the warning was false, said Ryan Hirae with the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. Hirae said his state still sees lots of problems on reaching all of the public through alerts. The four national carriers are active in the state, he said. “We can have five household members, same carrier… and two get [the alert] three don’t,” he said. “We have police officers in the field reporting they got 30 flash flood warnings on one phone and eight on the other.” Hawaii wants to figure out “why the alerts are so sporadic” and get through only 50-75 percent of the time, he said. “The system works, but we want to improve it.”

WEA isn’t a guaranteed delivery, “it’s a best-effort delivery,” said John Davis with Sprint. “It's nothing like text messaging. … When you get one of these WEAs delivered to your phone, that’s it, [the alert] goes out, there’s no response back from your handset.” Sprint has tried to make WEA work better, but there are always messages that won’t be delivered, he said. “When people don’t get an alert, it comes down to how strong your RF signal is,” he said. “Your RF signal can vary on your phone for a myriad of reasons. It could be the room that you’re in in your house, it could be the building.” Davis cited driving a car through a tunnel -- subscribers sometimes won’t get a signal.

Alerting is a complex and difficult issue in a state like Alaska, said Dennis Bookey, with the Alaska State Emergency Communications Committee. “We had an actual tsunami alert in January,” Bookey said. “It was the real deal and some stuff went great. Others went OK. We didn't have any areas that weren't warned, but not all the warnings went through.” Alaska doesn’t have a system for addressing false alerts like the one in Hawaii, but officials there agree they need one, Bookey said.

One big problem remains over alerting, especially from the National Weather Service, said CEO Pat Roberts of the Florida Association of Broadcasters, who said the NWS needs to be brought into the alerting discussion. “We get more complaints about alerts they set off than anybody,” Roberts said. “Not that they are wrong, but they are doing a thunderstorm for Tampa Bay and set off nine counties.” Everyone needs to work together, he said. All disasters are local, he said. In the days before a hurricane, everyone is tuned to local stations because they don’t trust the national networks, he said.

A recent WEA test by the Washington Metro Council of Governments (COG) worked well, generating about 20,000 replies, said D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency acting Director Chris Rodriguez (see 1804050053). Most of the concerns raised were that some didn’t get alerts and that there was a problem with the carrier, he said. “In the overwhelming majority of the responses, they appreciated the test.”

Control of alerts should remain at the local level, said Holly Crawford with the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services. “It’s something that we will do best,” she said. “There are circumstances on the ground that just can’t be accounted for at either a state or federal level, except for an incoming ballistic missile.” Crawford said the FCC should require that carriers are able to send out multimedia alerts. In 2007, the county saw seven fires and 515,000 people evacuated, she said. “Trying to describe the boundaries of seven different fires and where people can go is very difficult with text,” she said. “Having an image of the fire perimeters … would be absolutely critical.”

Hank O’Neill of the California Office of Emergency Services urged the FCC to act on changes to WEA as quickly as possible. Also important is making sure all emergency agencies are kept up to speed on the latest best practices, he said. Making WEAs more accurate is critical, said Patrick Sheehan with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. “FCC, emergency management, broadcasters, we cannot be afraid of making mistakes,” he said. As long the same mistakes aren’t made repeatedly, “in the long term our credibility is improved” as long as “we’re doing the right thing,” he said.