Receive information about civil protection

The responsible bodies are

• the municipalities for fire protection and general assistance,
• the districts for supra-local fire protection and supra-local general assistance,
• the districts 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.

In addition to the fire departments, the aid organizations and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (Hesse/Rhineland/Saarland state association) are also deployed in disaster control as supporting specialist units. The basic and advanced training in disaster control builds on the specialist training of the Rhineland-Palatinate fire departments and aid organizations. The state has set up the fire department and disaster control school in Koblenz as a central training center.

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

EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS

Early warning systems serve as a tool for the early detection of emerging hazards such as fires, severe storms or other unexpected hazardous situations. People at risk can thus be informed as quickly as possible. To this end, citizens can install early warning apps on their cell phones.

KATWARN

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

KATWARN only reports official warning information from responsible authorities, institutions and control centers. As responsibility for warnings in Germany is distributed among different institutions depending on the hazard situation, the use of KATWARN may vary from region to region.

NINA

With the federal emergency information and messaging app, or NINA for short, you can receive important civil protection alerts 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 will be held every second Thursday in September from then on.

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