LONDON, Aug. 16 -- Millions of phones in England and Wales received the same message simultaneously on Friday afternoon. The government's emergency alert system, which exists for flooding, terrorism, and national disasters, was being used for something it had never been pressed into service for before: wildfire.

The message warned that even a small flame could rapidly become a major wildfire, placing lives, homes, businesses, and emergency responders at risk. The alert went out because, in the twenty-four hours before it did, fire services across England declared eleven major incidents. Phil Garrigan, the chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council, said demand for firefighting resources had already "outstripped the capability" of the serv...