Pneumatic sirens are replaced
The alarm system must also be state of the art. That is why the pneumatic sirens are being gradually replaced.
After 35 years on the roof of the old village school building in Stallikon (ZH), one of Switzerland's last sirens powered by compressed air has been dismantled. The siren complements an existing air-raid siren from the World War II era in the collection of the Museum of Communication in Bern. Sirens are historically part of a series of communication devices. Since the Middle Ages, the call "Fürio", the storm bell and the fire horn have summoned firefighters to the assembly point and warned the population of disaster. The wailing of sirens has been familiar to the Swiss population at least since the Cold War.
Replace 95 pneumatic sirens
Switzerland has a dense network of 5,000 stationary sirens and 2,200 mobile sirens. This almost complete coverage, coupled with radio messages, now forms the backbone of the system for alerting and informing the population in the event of disasters and emergencies, according to the Federal Office for Civil Protection (BABS) writes. The federal office, in cooperation with the cantons, municipalities and operators of dams, ensures that the alarm systems are state-of-the-art and kept operational at all times. To this end, the old pneumatic sirens are being replaced by modern electronic models. These are cheaper to maintain and less susceptible to faults, according to the FOCP. According to the federal office, the 95 remaining pneumatic sirens will be replaced over the next five years.
New digital alarm systems
A year ago, Civil Protection, together with the cantons, launched new electronic services to alert the population in the event of disasters and emergencies. Alerts and warnings are sent as a push message to smartphones and as an online publication on the Alertswiss-website disseminated. Since the further development of the alerting and information system with the Alertswiss channels, it has been possible to alert and inform the population directly about various events such as fires, drinking water contamination and severe weather.
Source: FOCP
