Civil Protection: When the Sirens Sound on Thursday

Sirens will sound, warning messages will appear and mobile phones will shriek across Germany on Thursday as authorities test the country's emergency alert systems. Thuringia will take part in the sixth nationwide warning day, the Interior Ministry said.

The annual exercise allows the federal government, states and municipalities to check how well their warning systems work in real emergencies, including fires and severe storms. The nationwide warning day was first held on Sept. 10, 2020, and usually takes place on the second Thursday of September.

At 11 a.m., the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance will issue test warnings through the Modular Warning System. Connected channels, including mobile apps and broadcasters, will relay the alerts to televisions, radios and smartphones. Cell Broadcast is expected to trigger a sharp sound on most switched-on phones that are not in flight mode, even without a warning app or when the device is set to silent.

States, districts and municipalities can also issue local test alerts. These may include sirens, loudspeaker vehicles and digital city information boards. Authorities plan to issue the all-clear at about 11:45 a.m. The warning system will remain ready for use throughout the exercise, so officials can still alert the public if a real emergency occurs.

Last year, Thuringia activated 1,211 sirens, including 475 digital systems. Many residents also received warnings on their smartphones, while loudspeaker announcements took place in Jena and Erfurt. Not every digital information board worked, and some DAB+ radios could not be reached because the function was not available everywhere in the state.

The Interior Ministry says the siren network continues to expand and modernize. This year, the state approved about 1.23 million euros and the federal government around 229,800 euros for upgrading or building sirens.