This Thursday, around 12 p.m., more than 2000 sirens will sound, which could be surprising.
This Thursday, May 2, between 11:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m., sirens will sound in France. The exact time will vary depending on the municipality. Don’t panic, it’s simply the population alert and information system, usually heard every first Wednesday of the month.
However, the first Wednesday of May fell on the 1st, a public holiday for Labor Day. The operation was therefore simply postponed by one day as the Ministry of the Interior reported: “The monthly tests of the national alert signal planned for each first Wednesday of the month cannot be held on Wednesday May 1.” Established after the Second World War, these sirens aim to alert the population of “a civil security disaster, of natural or technological origin”, such as a natural disaster for example. In this case, residents are notably called upon to return, without delay, to a closed place.
These alert messages are important. Every first Wednesday of the month, these sirens are tested to check that they are working properly and to allow the French to recognize them on the day when danger is imminent. They have already been used during the fire at the Lubrizol factory in Rouen in 2019. They sound for 1 minute 41 minutes during tests, while in the event of a real alert, the siren is longer. They are triggered by the town hall, the departmental fire and rescue services or even the fire brigade. In France, 2,133 sirens are distributed across the territory according to the alert zones identified as priority. During tests, like this Thursday, no reaction from the population is therefore expected.
This scenario already happened a few months ago, with November 1st which also fell on a Wednesday. However, the impact had, at that time, been delayed by a week, thus resounding the following Wednesday. This year, this would not have been possible since Wednesday May 8 is also a public holiday.