WINDHAM, Maine (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- Even though the missile alert sent to Hawaiians was a mistake, the event that terrified people for thirty-eight minutes has opened the conversation here in Maine on what to do if there was ever a threat here.
A lot of you have asked, what do we do if we were the target of a nuclear blast in Maine? What would we do, where would we go? We set out to answer those questions and toured one of the state’s only underground command centers.
"Gets all us talking about communication and planning."
Joseph Chappell is the Deputy Director at Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency's underground bunker, one of only a few left in the state.
Like other fallout shelters in the state, it's no longer equipped to withstand a nuclear blast.
"It used to be a civil defense bunker and now it's an emergency management bunker," says James Budway, Director of Emergency Management for Cumberland County. "Not meant to be a fallout shelter or anything it just protects us from the outside elements, not from nuclear biological chemical like it did many years ago."
"Any disaster is a little more manageable if we know what we're going to do when the incident occurs," says Chappell.
Maine Emergency Management Agency calls it an all hazards approach: preparing for anything from a weather event to a nuclear blast.
When MEMA needs to alert us about a potential threat, Susan Faloon says they activate the integrated public alert warning system, sending the alert to FEMA for credentials.
"And that whole process takes about 3 minutes," says Susan Faloon, spokesperson for MEMA. "Once it's credentialed we got everything that meets the FEMA criteria, then that would actually go out. You would hear it on the radio, you would hear it on television, and then it also includes the wireless emergency alert which goes out to cellphones as well."
There are steps you can take right now to prepare at home and FEMA has an app to help.
It includes a guide for creating an emergency kit for you and your family, to last at least three days. It also lets you sign up for push notification alerts for up to five different places.
If we were to get a push notification like the one sent out in Hawaii Saturday, emergency officials say to take cover indoors, in a low place like a basement.
While the state's fallout shelters are no longer recommended, they still exist, providing a look into wartimes past.
Lessons learned to help emergency officials better prepare today.