Between 12 noon and 12.45 pm, the three civil defense signals “Warning”, “Alarm” and “All-clear” were broadcast after the “Siren test” signal. The annual test is used to check the technical equipment. At the same time, the population should be made familiar with the signals that can be emitted by around 8,200 fire brigade sirens.

APA / EXPA

Why Disaster Preparedness is Important

Tomorrow, Saturday at 12 noon, the sirens wail all over Austria: The reason for this is the annual civil defense test alarm. Various warning signals are tested, the meaning of these …

This year, a total of 8,328 sirens were tested for functionality, with 99.38 percent (8,276 sirens) functioning properly, as the Ministry of the Interior announced in a broadcast. The detailed results of the individual federal states:

• Tyrol: 100%, all 1,025 sirens work,
• Burgenland: 100%, all 319 sirens work,
• Vorarlberg: 100%, all 227 sirens work,
• Upper Austria: 99.93%, one failure at 1,460 sirens,
• Lower Austria: 99.63%, nine failures with 2,450 sirens,
• Vienna: 99.44%, one failure with 180 sirens,
• Carinthia: 99.43%, five failures with 876 sirens,
• Salzburg: 99.42%, three failures with 513 sirens,
• Styria: 97.42%, 33 failures with 1,278 sirens.

In general, the failures in the federal states were 0.62 percent (52 sirens; 2020 0.39 percent and 32 sirens).

What the signals mean

The meaning of the signals:

• “Siren test” (15 seconds)
• “Warning” (three minutes unchanged continuous tone) – approaching danger! Switch on the radio, TV or the Internet, observe the rules of conduct
• “Alarm” (one minute increasing and decreasing howling sound) – danger! Go to protective areas or rooms, follow the behavioral measures given on the radio, television or on the Internet
• “All-clear” (one minute unchanged continuous tone) – end of danger! Observe further information on radio, television or the Internet.

(Source: SALZBURG24 / APA)