The FCC granted Minnesota a waiver to conduct an end-to-end Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) test using the Imminent Threat message category. Specifically, the state wants to conduct a WEA test simulating a derailed train carrying hazardous materials.
The FCC’s rules prohibit the use of the WEA attention signal except during actual emergencies, authorized tests and certain public service announcements. That’s to avoid confusing the public.
Minnesota asked for a waiver to allow participating carriers to take part in the test on August 26, between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Central Daylight Time (CDT). The state plans to direct the WEA test message to the City of Ranier, MN, which sits along the border between the U.S. and Ontario, Canada.
The test is part of a six-year effort to design a proficiency exercise for a diverse group of emergency personnel to simulate an incident like the one that occurred in 2015, when a wooden rail bridge in Koochiching County burned and collapsed overnight. The bridge collapse sent three rail cars into a river. They were carrying potash, a chemical agricultural fertilizer. The accident crippled the train route from Canada to Chicago, reported Minnesota Public Radio.
Ranier is near International Falls, MN, one of the top five gateways for U.S.-Canada imports and exports in terms of numbers of truck or rail containers, according to the Commission.
Minnesota has made preparation for hazardous material emergency response a priority. It wants to simulate a day-long hazardous material incident on August 26, during which U.S. federal, state, and county personnel, plus some Canadian representatives, will practice assessing and remediating a simulated incident of a derailed train carrying hazardous materials.
The state told the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau the test is important and unique because Ranier receives cell signals from the U.S. and Canada. “Ranier wireless subscribers may be on a Canadian wireless network in one location and a United States network in another location across the street in close proximity,” the state told the agency.
The alerting exercise would help emergency personnel collect data and determine the extent to which a WEA issued on the U.S. networks only would reach those in the Ranier area, or would reach only some residents sporadically, depending on their location in Ranier.
Minnesota would issue two messages, one consisting of 90 characters and another using 360 characters. The 360-character message would read: “This is a Test of the Wireless Emergency Alert system. This test is brought to you by Koochiching County Please take the survey and answer a few questions. No Actual Emergency is in progress, this is just a drill.”
The 90-character message would read: “This is a test of the Koochiching Cnty WEA System. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LQ7R73P.”
Minnesota says it conducted multi-media outreach to the public in Ranier and surrounding counties about the WEA test, including Canadian media.
The agency decided the test the Minnesota Department of Public Safety proposes to conduct tomorrow is in the public interest. It said Minnesota submitted “compelling details” supporting the waiver request, including the 2015 rail accident and rail bridge fire, the significant traffic over the International Falls bridge, the increased risk of a hazardous materials emergency incidents given the high volume of traffic in the area, and the need for more precise data on WEA delivery created by overlapping U.S. and Canadian wireless networks.
In its approval, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau said: “We agree that conducting the end-to-end WEA test as proposed by Minnesota would allow the public, city officials, and alert originators to gather more precise data on WEA delivery, determine geographic reach, receive public feedback, and gauge the effectiveness of internal policies.”
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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