Emergencies: Mobile Phones
The question
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if she will outline the reasons for sending the wildfire emergency alert on Friday 14th August to phones across England and Wales, rather than only in high-risk areas.
Answered by Cabinet Office
The request to issue the Emergency Alert came from the National Fire Chiefs Council, and the Alert content and broadcast area was coordinated between government and responding public bodies.
The decision to send the Alert across England and Wales was taken in the context of severe risk of further wildfires, over large swathes of the UK. On the date of the Alert, there were 43 active fires and 11 major incidents nationwide. Mutual aid was in play, with fire and rescue services across the country supporting each other. In south Wales, the military had been deployed to tackle major wildfires.
As the Prime Minister rightly noted, the country was a tinderbox. One additional wildfire in any part of the country would have had devastating effects not only on the fire and rescue services, but on the environment, and most importantly, people’s lives.
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