Receive information about civil protection

Duty bearers are

• the municipalities for fire protection and general assistance,
• the counties for supralocal fire protection and supralocal general assistance,
• the counties and independent cities for civil protection and
• the state for the central tasks of fire protection, general assistance and disaster control as well as for the tasks of preventive hazard protection. To fulfill its central tasks, the state has set up a "Fire and Disaster Protection" department at the Supervisory and Service Directorate in Trier and maintains the Fire and Disaster Protection School in Koblenz for training purposes.

Furthermore, in addition to the fire departments, the aid organizations and the Technical Relief Agency (state association of Hesse/Rhineland/Saarland) in particular are deployed in disaster control as supporting specialist units. Basic and advanced training in disaster control builds on the specialized training provided by the Rhineland-Palatinate fire departments and aid organizations. The state has established the Fire Brigade and Disaster Control School in Koblenz as a central training facility.

In the future, all non-police requests for assistance will be received and coordinated by eight integrated control centers. The integrated control centers thus form a uniform reporting head.

EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS

Early warning systems serve as a tool to detect emerging hazards such as fires, severe storms or other unexpected hazardous situations at an early stage. Those at risk can thus be informed about them as quickly as possible. Apps that citizens can install on their cell phones are available as early warning systems for this purpose.

KATWARN

KATWARN forwards official warnings and recommendations for action to the people affected. Authorized authorities and security organizations alone decide on the content, timing and scope.

KATWARN exclusively reports official warning information from responsible authorities, facilities and control centers. Since the responsibility for warnings in Germany is distributed among different institutions depending on the hazard situation, the use of KATWARN may differ regionally.

NINA

The federal emergency information and messaging app, or NINA warning app for short, allows you to receive important civil protection warnings for various hazardous situations, such as the spread of hazardous substances or a major fire. It is being tested alongside other warning tools as part of the nationwide warning day. The nationwide warning day will take place for the first time on September 10, 2020, and from then on will be held annually on every second Thursday in September.

• KATWARN warning system
• Emergency information and message app of the federal government (warning app NINA in the Playstore)
• Federal emergency information and messaging app (warning app NINA in the Apple Store).
• Information from the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) on the warning day