Deployed throughout the national territory since the end of June 2022, FR-Alert is experiencing its real baptism of fire with storm Ciaran. On November 1, residents of Finistère, Côtes d’Armor and La Manche received a notification on their smartphone reminding them that their department was placed on red alert from midnight. The message was accompanied by instructions such as limiting travel to absolute emergencies only or staying away from waterways and the coastline.
Triggered by the prefectures, FR-Alert allows anyone with a mobile phone to be warned in real time of the imminent danger in the area where they are located. The notification is accompanied by a specific sound signal even if the device is in silent mode. It does not require the prior installation of a dedicated application.
The alert map posted online on the government website gives an overview of the nature of the danger reported. The risk can be of natural origin – flood, storm, fire, tsunami, etc. – biological or chemical – pollution, gas leak, nuclear incident, etc. – health – pandemic, agri-food incident, etc. – technological – serious accident on the road, rail or air network, industrial incident, etc.
In addition to existing systems
The FR-Alert system completes the population alert and information system (SAIP) which includes more than 2,000 sirens connected to remote triggering software, the broadcasting of messages on TV and radio and the mobilization of institutional accounts on alert and information social networks. It makes it possible to inform the population concerned about the nature of the risk, the geographical area concerned – establishment, neighborhood, municipality, urban area, department – and the behaviors to adopt – staying at home, evacuating the area, etc.
It is the mobile telephone operators who broadcast the alert via their relay antennas located in the danger zone. “ Depending on the brand of the mobile phone, the operator and the location in which you are when the alert is sent, different reception times for notifications may be observed. », Specifies FR-Alert.
In the future, geolocalized SMS
The device combines two technologies. Available since June 2022, Cell Broadcast allows you to push a notification to the phone screen in a few seconds, even if it is locked. However, the alert notification will not appear on phones that are turned off or in airplane mode.
The alert can be broadcast in several languages, when it concerns areas known for their tourist numbers. The message may be accompanied by a sound alert and vibration to “ assert your critical nature “. Cell broadcast works on 4G and in the future 5G.
The other technology, geolocated SMS (LB-SMS or Location-Based SMS), will be deployed later. This time, it will involve sending SMS messages to all mobile phones present in the territory concerned by the alert, as long as they are connected to the mobile network. This technology will work in 4G/5G but also in 2G and 3G. On the other hand, “ delivering large volumes of SMS messages may take longer », Specifies the government website.