This Wednesday, May 21 at 10 a.m. alarms will sound in several localities of the Catalan territory, some of them in the province of Barcelona. The alarms are for chemical risk, and this Wednesday will be tested 16 of the 121 sirens that are distributed throughout Catalonia.
Civil Protection of the Generalitat will carry out the first test of chemical risk sirens in 11 municipalities spread between the sectors of Tordera, Aran, Bages, Berguedà, Anoia, La Selva and Girona.
In parallel, an emergency alert will be sent to cell phones located in the affected areas.
It is likely that the sound will be heard in towns such as Bordils, Castellbell i el Vilar, Santa Maria de Palautordera and Òdena, among others. The objective of this test is to perform a drill for the population in case of a chemical accident and to see that the protocols are working properly.
During the exercise, a dozen educational centers will be confined, with the participation of 3,801 people, including students and teaching staff, from the affected towns.
The residents of these municipalities will have to close doors and windows, turn off ventilation systems and remain indoors until they receive the warning of the end of the alert.
How do the sirens for chemical risk in Catalonia work?
Wednesday’s test will begin with the sending of a Civil Protection alert to cell phones within the coverage area. Subsequently, the sirens will be activated with the sound of confinement, an undulating tone similar to that of an ambulance.
This sound will be repeated three times, with five-second pauses between each one-minute signal. After fifteen minutes, the end-of-alert sound, a high-pitched, sustained tone, will be activated.
Distribution of sirens by sector
- La Tordera (Sant Celoni, Riells i Viabrea and Gualba): 6 sirens.
- Aran (Les): 1 siren
- Berguedà (Puig-reig): 1 siren
- La Selva (Fogars de la Selva and Massanes): 2 mermaids
- Girona (Celrà): 1 siren
- Anoia (Igualada): 1 siren
- Bages (Castellgalí and Sant Vicenç de Castellet): 4 mermaids
-
Source: Generalitat de Catalunya
Source: Generalitat de Catalunya
Civil Protection has enabled an anonymous survey for citizens to report whether they have correctly received the alert on their phones and have heard the sirens. It can be accessed through this link.
These facilities are part of the chemical emergency plans PLASEQTA (for Tarragona) and PLASEQCAT (for the rest of the territory). 1,855 posters and 9,175 information leaflets have been distributed in the participating municipalities to ensure maximum dissemination of the test, which will be evaluated by municipal technicians and Civil Protection volunteers.
Last May 10, 2025, a toxic cloud generated by a fire in a factory of chemical products for swimming pools in the company Clim Waterpool in Vilanova i la Geltrú forced to confine for 10 hours populations such as Sant Pere de Ribes, Cubelles or Cunit.
Months before, on January 21, 2025, an explosion in the port of Barcelona also forced to activate the protocol. One worker died in this accident.
In a first version of this article, “Barcelona” was mentioned without specifying whether it was the province or the city. The text has been corrected to provide greater geographical precision.