An annual TEST Alert and Warning message was sent to ALL of Pennington County’s available alert and warning methods on Wednesday, March 11th, at 1:30PM Mountain Time. The 5th annual test is expected to take place in March of 2027. 

 
The test message will be sent by Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) to cell phones (WEA test messages must be enabled), to the Emergency Alert System (EAS) seen on television and radio, heard on Weather Radios - All Hazards, heard outside on Pennington County Outdoor Alert Sirens, and to all Public Warning Messages subscribers.

The goal of this test is to have the best possible saturation of Pennington County residents and businesses, using all of our emergency alert and warning capabilities. We want to communicate to the public about the emergency messaging dissemination methods that exist in Pennington County and how the community can receive alerts and warnings issued by public alerting authorities during emergencies.

How will the Annual TEST message be disseminated to the public?:

  • Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) – WEA is a public safety system that allows enabled mobile devices to receive geographically targeted, text-like messages alerting them of imminent threats to safety in their area, with a unique sound and vibration. Check your device settings to ensure it is enabled to receive a WEA TEST message. Seek out your mobile phone manufacturer or wireless provider for specific instructions to access hidden menus or functions where the WEA Test alerts can be enabled.
How to ENABLE test messages for iPhones and AndroidWEAtest-iphone-android

  • Emergency Alert System (EAS) – The Emergency Alert System is a national public warning system that requires TV and radio broadcasters, cable television systems, wireless cable systems, satellite digital audio radio service providers, direct broadcast satellite service providers, and wireline video service providers to offer to deliver important emergency information from the President or AMBER (missing children) alerts and emergency weather information targeted to a specific area. If you turn on your television to a local broadcast station at the time of the test, you should see the message.
  • Weather Radio All-Hazard – A NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards broadcasts official Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts, and other hazard information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You must have a NOAA weather radio tuned into our SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) code to receive the test message. Find the code for your area in Pennington County at this LINK. 
  • Outdoor Alert Sirens – Anytime an outdoor siren activates in Pennington County it will be a steady, constant tone, and can be heard if you are outdoors and near a siren location when it is activated for a test or an actual event.
  • Public Warning Messages – Businesses and residents listed in the Pennington County 911 database (landlines) have been automatically added to receive alerts by landline phone, but citizens can self-register and provide additional contact information paths—such as a cell phone, text, home phone, or other methods—to ensure you receive the test message and other life-saving messages that may be sent through this system. Sign Up to receive these messages HERE.
During a rapidly evolving incident in Pennington County, we will use all available and appropriate warning tools to alert the community of any life-threatening, all-risk, all-hazard emergency from natural threats or human-caused threats. Learn more about each of the Emergency Warning methods used in Pennington County

How To Enable WEA Test Messages

Pennington County Emergency Management (as part of the annual Coordinated Alert and Warning Drill) will send a WEA (Wireless Emergency Alert) test to ensure that this notification system will reliably deliver an alert and warning to the public. This test message will contain TEST, EXERCISE, DRILL or similar wording. The 2027 annual Alert and Warning Drill is expected to occur on a Wednesday in March. To receive this message on your device, be sure "test" messages are enabled. 

Mobile phones ship from the manufacturer with the test alerts option "DISABLED." The consumer or user of the device must enable this option to receive WEA test messages. Most iPhones and Android phones have a test feature that can be enabled. Some older mobile phones do not include a test option and cannot receive tests.

Enabling or disabling tests does not affect reception of an actual emergency alert. Phones are enabled to an “ON” status when they are shipped to a user by the manufacturer.

To ENABLE the WEA test messages on your device, change these settings:

WEAtest-iphone-android

Double-check this feature annually, ahead of the drill to ensure that your device updates have not changed this setting to be "off" through regular updates.