At noon on the first Monday of every month, emergency sirens across the Netherlands undergo a test to make sure they are working properly. But during the most recent test in March, some sirens in the northern provinces failed to go off.
According to the Safety Region, a collaboration among emergency services in every Dutch province, a power issue meant that the clocks connected to the sirens were no longer synchronized. The clocks have now been fixed remotely, but the underlying issue has yet to be solved.
Safety Region Friesland plans to conduct additional siren testing, but residents will not notice: the tests will be silent.
