Chronicle
Today around 8,300 sirens are wailing throughout Austria – there are 180 siren locations in Vienna alone. These are checked, and the population should also be made familiar with the signals.
As always on the first Saturday in October, the civil protection test alarm takes place throughout Austria. The 45-minute test starts at 12:00 p.m. Unlike in the rest of the country, there is no weekly test alarm in Vienna during the year. According to the Vienna City Administration, the civil defense alarm has never been triggered outside of the annual rehearsal in recent decades.
Three civil defense signals are tested
It begins with the 15-second siren test signal, following which the three civil defense signals are tested: warning, alarm and all-clear.
- A continuous tone that lasts for three minutes means a warning. The corresponding instruction of the civil protection association is: “Approaching danger! Observe the behavioral measures communicated via radio, TV sets or on the Internet.”
- The alarm signal is a long, ebb and flow howl lasting one minute. That means: “Danger! Go to protective areas or premises; Follow behavioral measures communicated via radio, TV sets or on the Internet.”
- A long, constant tone lasting one minute means the all clear. Here the instruction is: “End of danger! Pay attention to further information via radio, TV sets or on the Internet.” The population is to be made familiar with these signals at the annual nationwide test alarm.
Report problems online or by phone
In addition to spreading the meaning of the signals, the aim is to ensure that no sirens are defective. Last year, for example, a siren in Vienna didn’t work. The audibility of the signal on October 1st can be reported by the end of October using the online form. The siren phone will also receive reports on 1 October from 11:00 a.m. to around 2:00 p.m. regarding sirens that are not working, are too quiet or are too loud.
The KATWARN Österreich/Austria warning system will also be used as a test on Saturday. This sends location and event-related warnings to mobile devices such as smartphones, thus supplementing the other warning options such as sirens, loudspeakers and media. You have to have the app installed or activate the service via SMS. The technology for KATWARN has been tested in Germany for years. The advantage cited is that affected groups of people can be reached in a targeted manner on the way.
Austria with a nationwide warning system
The warning system is operated by the Ministry of the Interior together with the offices of the state governments. Austria is one of the few countries that has a nationwide siren warning. Depending on the dangerous situation, the alarm is triggered by the federal warning center in the situation center of the Ministry of the Interior, by the state warning centers of the individual federal states or by the district warning centers.
