France – For those who plan to party until the end of the night on New Year's Eve, don't worry, you will not be woken up by the warning sirens on Wednesday January 1st. Usually, the population alert and information system (SAIP) is tested for 1 minute and 41 seconds every first Wednesday of the month. But this first Wednesday of January 2025 being the New Year's holiday, the warning sirens will not sound.
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Several prefectures, such as those of Val-de-Marne, Var, Seine-Maritime and Yvelines have announced the postponement of the monthly test of the national alert signal from this Wednesday, January 1. This week's test is therefore postponed to Wednesday January 8, at the usual time, which can vary between 11:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. depending on the municipality.
These sirens are triggered by the Ministry of the Interior, via the prefects, by the town hall, by the departmental fire and rescue services, or by firefighters. 2,133 sirens are distributed across France, deployed in “ alert areas identified as priority ».
As state services specify, no specific measures are requested from residents during these tests. If a real alert took place, signaling a danger such as a natural or industrial disaster, or a terrorist attack, it would be composed of three sequences of 1 min and 41 seconds separated by silence, followed by a continuous sound of 30 seconds to signal the end of the alert.
Not the first postponement
This is far from the first time that the authorities have made this decision. On May 2, 2024, the warning sirens sounded instead of Wednesday, May 1, Labor Day. The same thing happened in November 2023, Wednesday November 1 was also a public holiday.
During the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer, similar measures were taken. In several departments, notably in Île-de-France, the exercise of the population alert and information system (SAIP) had been canceled so as not to disturb foreign tourists present to attend the events, and not having knowledge of how French alerts work.
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