Tests of the Emergency Alert System occur often at the local level but for the first time ever, the federal government will conduct the nationwide evaluation of the system on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, said the test will last about 30 seconds and will be broadcasted on television and radio stations across the country, which will allow emergency personnel to assess and improve their alerting capabilities in the event of a crisis in the future.

Craig Fugate, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, said that we may not see the familiar test banner crawling across our screen but it is indeed a test.

“Because of the system design not all of you will see the crawl that says this is a test, it will say this is an emergency alert, but we want you to understand, this is a test,” said Fugate.

“It’s our opportunity to check and make sure that our systems are working across the country if we have a national emergency,” said Fugate.

Watch Fugate below as he discusses plans for the Emergency Alert System test.