Why some West Hartford residents didn’t receive wireless emergency alerts – We-Ha

The West Hartford Emergency Management Agency provides details on wireless emergency alerts.

By Ronni Newton

Just before 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 22, 2024, cell phones in West Hartford began to ring out—a loud alarm sounded, followed by an audio message about a tornado warning for the area. The verbal message was also accompanied by a text warning.

Tornado warnings are unusual in the West Hartford area, but amid very unstable air and strong thunderstorms, the scenario repeated itself on Sunday, June 23, at around 5:50 p.m.

West Hartford Emergency Management Assistant Director Bob McCue said Monday that the emergency management office had received several calls asking why the warnings had not been received, so he was investigating.

“The National Weather Service sends out Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) during extreme weather conditions,” McCue said in an email. “A WEA is an emergency alert sent by authorized government agencies through wireless carriers. No registration is required as these are automatically sent to WEA-enabled cell phones. These alerts are sent to cell towers in the area where the emergency occurs and all cell phones in that area receive them.”

One important point to note is that the alerts are sent out via the cell towers, so if you live in West Hartford but are outside the area covered by a tornado warning, you would not have received the alert. Those who are not from the area but are in West Hartford (or another city in the warning area) and have the WEA feature turned on would have received an alert on Saturday or Sunday.

“Most phones built after 2012 are (WEA) capable,” McCue said, but flip phones are not. Some phones have the WEA alert “off” by default, so it’s a good idea to check this in your notification settings. You can also make sure AMBER alerts, public safety alerts and test alerts are “on.”

McCue said that in addition to the WEA warnings being disabled, there could be the following reasons why a resident did not receive the tornado warning:

• They were not physically in West Hartford.

• You have a telephone that is not equipped to receive WEA warning messages.

• You have made a phone call (the notification does not overwrite a conversation)

• The phone was set to “Do Not Disturb” setting.

Emergency alerts override other phone apps you have open — even if you’re listening to music or watching a video. National alerts, McCue says, override all settings and you’ll get them even if alerts are turned off.

For more information about Wireless Emergency Alerts, visit ready.gov.

McCue also noted the importance of being able to receive more than just wireless emergency alerts, which are separate from the State of Connecticut’s “CT Alert” system and West Hartford’s Community Advisory Notification System. He urged residents to sign up for state alerts by clicking here and for local alerts here.

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