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LAX Officials Might Text You This Morning
An American Airlines plane takes off from Los Angeles International Airport (DANIEL SLIM/AFP/Getty Images)
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Anyone in the vicinity of Los Angeles International Airport at 10 a.m. today can expect a text from LAX officials. But it's not about the jet fuel that was emergency dumped onto a playground yesterday. It's not about anything. It's a test.
The text will read: "This is a test of the LAX Wireless Emergency Alert system. No action is required."
The mass message marks the launch of an airport-wide test of LAX's newest tool to alert passengers and workers of an emergency.
Think of it as a smaller scale Amber Alert, an extreme weather warning, or the recently-revamped ShakeAlertLA.
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Keith Wilschetz, the Deputy Executive Director of Operations and Emergency Management at Los Angeles World Airports, told KPCC/LAist that the system will increase communication with those who need it immediately.
"It gives us one more opportunity to make sure that people are informed and particularly, in the case of an extreme emergency, which is what this will be used for, it is very important that we reach people as quickly as possible," he said.
Part of what officials hope to learn from today's test text is exactly how far the message will go. Wilschetv said that people as far as El Segundo, Westchester or Inglewood might receive the alert.
"That's one of the reasons we're doing the test, is to find out how far away from the airport boundaries the test might go," he said. "Don't be alarmed. It's just something that we're doing to find out how good the test is... if you have a chance, let us know what your experience was with it."
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