[sbe-eas] National WEA and EAS test performance

[Sean Donelan]

Someone's job duty assignment needs to include warning the public. Its 
still not that common in the US. Government agencies and officials you 
think would warn the public sometimes don't believe they have the 
authority or duty to warn the public.

For example, until Congress recently passed a law, FEMA did not believe it 
was their job to warn the public itself, which surprised many of state 
and local emergency managers. Before 2018, I heard the same thing from 
several PIOs when I asked them who was responsible for wildfire warnings.
It was someone else's job, not them, but no one knew whose job it was.


1,636 entities have IPAWS alerting authority.


How does that compare to various levels of government and public safety 
entities?

About 3,243 counties and county-equivalents in the United States & 
territories.

About 89,000 local government entities in the US (according to the Census 
bureau).

About 19,500 incorporated cities, towns and villages in the US.

About 18,000 police agencies in the US (less than 50% are full-time).

About 29,700 fire departments in the US (only 34% are career 
firefighters, the rest are volunteer and on-call firefighters).

About 5,700 public safety answering points (9-1-1) in the US.

About 4,000 emergency management agencies in the US (estimate from FEMA 
roster, may be duplicate with public safety/law enforcement/other above).