California fires: smart speakers and emergency alerts

Thu Jul 26 18:00:45 UTC 2018

On 7/26/18 9:59 AM, Naslund, Steve wrote:
> Almost everyone with a cell phone gets real time alerts too.  I am not sure how many more ways we can make people aware of things around them.  Seems like yet another government mandate to dictate what a device must do.
> 
>> People in tornado areas seem to be the most aware that alert radios
>> already exist. No internet access required.
> 

The next question would be, was the system used to alert for the 
wildfires? It already exists and has a code for fires.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_Area_Message_Encoding

If it wasn't activated for the fires, why not? If it was and people just 
don't have alert radios, maybe there should be some education to go buy 
one if you live in wildfire prone areas just like how people that live 
in tornado prone areas usually have one (or more). They come in portable 
or fixed, and some have alarms louder than any cell phone.