Upper Austria siren test finds only four failures

Only four of about 1,500 sirens failed during Saturday’s civil protection test in Upper Austria, ORF reported. The state ranked third nationally, behind Burgenland and Vorarlberg, where all tested sirens worked.

Across Austria, 8,399 sirens were tested with warning, alarm and all-clear signals. Fifty-six did not work, up from 37 last year.

The sirens are used to broadcast alerts and, in an actual emergency, are activated by the responsible federal, state or district warning centre, depending on the danger. The test was also sent to mobile phones nationwide via AT-Alert; network operators said it was successful.