On the first nationwide warning day in September 2020, there were a number of breakdowns, and everything should go smoothly on the second edition on Thursday, December 8th.
Not all Würmtal communities are taking part in the campaign, in which warnings are also being sent to mobile phones via cell broadcast for the first time.
Würmtal
- They still exist, the good old sirens on fire stations or other public buildings - even if not as many as before.
They should howl when the second nationwide warning day takes place on Thursday, December 8th at 11 a.m. sharp.
The federal, state and local governments are testing various warning devices such as radio, warning apps and individual sirens, which can be used to alert the population in an emergency.
For the first time this year, a test warning message will also be sent via “Cell Broadcast”: an automatic warning message that is intended to reach around half of all mobile devices in Germany directly.
"The test alarm is an important building block to ensure the population warning," explains Starnberg District Administrator Stefan Frey.
“On the one hand, to test the functionality of the sirens.
But it is much more important that people recognize this one-minute, rising and falling howling sound as a warning signal for the population and know what to do then.
But the other warning channels via mobile devices are also more important than ever.”
siren systems
Not all sirens are technically equipped for this special warning tone.
The siren on the Kraillinger fire station, for example, cannot generate it, so it remains silent.
To do this, the Krailling fire department is trying out their newly acquired mobile warning system, which is triggered manually.
"But we won't be able to cover all of Krailling with one device," says Commander Marco Zickler.
Incidentally, the fire brigade used the warning day 2020 for a model test for the mobile system.
In the municipality of Gauting, two sirens are to be heard in Gauting (town hall, mobile system on Frühlingstraße) and one each in the districts of Stockdorf, Buchendorf, Unterbrunn, Oberbrunn and Hausen.
There are two sirens in Neuried, on the old town hall and on the fire station.
When the test alarm is triggered, "they will howl," says community spokeswoman Inke Franzen.
In Planegg, the sirens were abolished decades ago, as Martin Heizer, commander of the fire brigade, says.
When it became superfluous for the fire brigade alarm, it was no longer considered necessary for civil protection.
The flood disaster in the Ahr valley last summer led to a rethink.
Five siren locations, three in Planegg and two in Martinsried, are being considered, but approval by the government of Upper Bavaria is still pending.
There are no sirens in Gräfelfing either.
In the town hall there, it is important to educate citizens about the warning day in order to allay fears.
Shortly before 11 a.m. on Thursday, the action should be pointed out again on all social media channels.
Where the sirens will wail tomorrow, there will be a one-minute ebb and flow of howls.
"In the event of serious dangers to public safety, such as natural hazards, pollutant emissions or similar, the howling tone is intended to prompt the population to switch on their radios, call up messages from the Nina warning app and possibly listen to loudspeaker announcements from the local emergency services," explains Stefan Diebl, spokesman of the Starnberg District Office.
warning apps
On this day, the federal government also sends a warning text to the various warning apps that anyone can download onto their smartphone free of charge, such as Katwarn or Nina.
"cell broadcast"
For the first time on Thursday, the warning path via "Cell Broadcast" will also be tested.
"Cell broadcast is a warning message that is sent directly to the cell phone," explains the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance on its website.
"We can't reach more people with any other means of warning." "The transmission of warning messages via cell broadcast is an anonymous method that uses the readiness to receive of the mobile radio terminal device in a radio cell of the mobile radio network," explains Stefan Diebl.
"In this way, mobile radio devices located in a potentially dangerous area can be radioed with a warning message without prior registration or disclosure of personal data being necessary."
No app is necessary for this.
However, in order for the mobile phone to be able to receive "Cell Broadcast" messages without further ado, it needs current updates.
And: "In order for you to receive the message, your cell phone must be switched on on December 8, 2022 and must not be in flight mode." It is not entirely clear which older devices the system works with.
The warning day should also provide information about this.
There were technical problems on the first nationwide warning day in 2020 because the warning apps were triggered too late due to computer problems.
The warning day was canceled in 2021.