Sirens and Alertswiss will be tested on February 5, 2025
The annual siren test will take place throughout Switzerland on Wednesday, February 5, 2025. The test involves periodically checking around 5,000 sirens to ensure that they provide a reliable alert in the event of an incident. The test also includes notifications via the Alertswiss app. The FOCP recommends that the public also check their personal precautions during the test.
On the first Wednesday of every February, sirens are tested throughout Switzerland to ensure they are ready for operation. The population does not have to take any action.
In 2025, the siren test will be carried out on February 5. The siren test will take place between 13:30 and 16:30.
The sirens sound the general alarm at 1.30 p.m., a regular ascending and descending wailing tone lasting one minute. If necessary, the siren test can be extended until 2.00 pm.
The water alarm is tested from 2 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. at the latest in the near zones below dams. The signal consists of twelve low continuous tones of 20 seconds each at intervals of 10 seconds.
Message via Alertswiss app
Parallel to the triggering of the general siren alarm, each canton and the Principality of Liechtenstein will trigger an information-level message via the Alertswiss app on February 5, 2025. This procedure will check the delivery of a very large number of push messages; at the same time, the information message is intended to ensure that the siren test is not mistaken for a real alarm.
The Information level message triggers none Siren sound on the smartphone. Triggering the alarm sound on the cell phone is reserved for real alarms.
What applies in the event of a real siren alarm?
If the general alarm sounds outside of an announced siren test, this means that there is a risk to the population. In this case, the population is requested to inform themselves via the Alertswiss app or website (www.alert.swiss) or listen to the radio, follow the instructions of the authorities and inform their neighbors.
The water alarm means that there is an immediate danger downstream of a dam. In this case, the population is requested to leave the endangered area immediately.
Further advice and recommendations on how to behave can be found on the FOCP website, on the Alertswiss website and in the teletext of the SRG broadcasters, pages 680 and 681.
The Alertswiss app is available free of charge for Android and iOS systems. It can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
Check your personal provision
The FOCP recommends that the public take the siren test as an opportunity to review their personal precautions. Simple precautionary measures are:
- Installing the Alertswiss app on all your mobile devices so that you can receive relevant notifications from the authorities in the event of an incident.
- Completing or reviewing an emergency plan for yourself and/or your family (emergency plan available on the Alertswiss website or app).
- Create or check your own emergency stockpile, for example with the BWL's emergency stockpile calculator (www.notvorratsrechner.bwl.admin.ch) and the accompanying brochure, which will be available in revised form in the BBL store from mid-February.
- For people living within a radius of 50 km of the nuclear power plants (area available at www.jodtabletten.ch): Check whether the iodine tablets last issued by the authorities in fall 2023 are still available in the household. If they are lost, contact the iodine tablets office: office@jdmt.ch.
For people living outside a radius of 50 km around nuclear power plants, iodine tablets are stored by the cantons and distributed in an emergency.
New siren test spot
In 2025, a new television commercial will be used for the first time to provide advance information on the siren test. SRG and private TV providers are legally obliged to broadcast the corresponding commercial several times in the run-up to the test. The new spot replaces the "Sirenschaf" spot and was already presented to the public in January.
Source: FOCP
