Siegen supplements warning infrastructure with digital warning channels from Ströer

Official warning messages should be distributed in as many ways as possible in order to reach a large part of the population as quickly as possible. To ensure this, official warning messages are now no longer only sent to radio and television stations and smartphones in the Siegen city area in the event of a serious threat to life or health but are also displayed on Ströer's digital media in Siegen.

Ströer has a contract with the Federal Office of Civil Protection (BBK) and is thus an official warning multiplier. "Urgent information or notices from the police, fire brigade and authorities should reach the population as quickly as possible and in a targeted manner - also, or above all, in public spaces. We are pleased that we have now been able to create the conditions for this in Siegen and that our digital media will now be a useful addition to the warning media mix," explains Alexander Stotz, CEO of Ströer Media Deutschland GmbH. During the Corona pandemic, the company also supported the Federal Ministry of Health and many local authorities with the necessary communication.

This cooperation makes it possible to display appropriate warning messages in the event of an incident through interfaces to the modular warning system (MoWaS). The aim of MoWaS is to trigger all warning means and warning multipliers of one's own area of responsibility and to send warnings on all available channels at the touch of a button.

The MoWaS warning system distinguishes between three danger levels: Danger information (lowest level, e.g. a bomb defusing with a few days' notice), danger (medium level, e.g. heavy rain in critical quantities) and extreme danger (highest danger level, e.g. major fire with acute danger to life).

Depending on the danger level, radio and television stations are required to interrupt their programming for the warning or to include the warning in their regular news. Similarly, the agreement between the Siegen district control centre and Ströer provides for interrupting the content loop or including the warning in the regular loop, depending on the danger level.

The digital media can be found throughout the city of Siegen, especially at high-frequency traffic intersections such as road junctions, at railway stations and in pedestrian zones. A total of 15 digital and thus ad-hoc playable installations were connected to the MoWas system through the cooperation with Ströer due to the particularly high degree of perception.