Bornholm residents concerned as emergency siren remains silent for fifth year

Residents of Nexø on the Danish island of Bornholm have again been left without a functioning emergency siren, as the annual nationwide test on the first Wednesday of May passed without sound for the fifth consecutive year, DR reports.

The missing siren, previously mounted on a now-demolished silo at Nexø Harbour, has left locals uneasy about how they would be warned in emergencies such as fires, gas leaks, or other critical situations. “They are anxious about how we would alert them in an incident,” said Klaus Rønne Jensen, deputy director of emergency preparedness for Bornholm’s fire service. While he acknowledged the concern, he stressed that alternative warning systems—such as mobile alerts, which reach 91 percent of adults—remain operational.

The issue carries symbolic weight due to Bornholm’s proximity to Russia, noted Nina Blom Andersen, a researcher in crisis communication at Copenhagen Professionshøjskole. “It sends a poor signal to the people of Nexø, given Bornholm’s unique security position compared to the rest of Denmark,” she said, though she added that multiple alert methods mitigate the risk.

Local reactions were mixed. Pensioner Jytte Kure called the non-functional siren “a societal problem,” pointing out that elderly residents without mobile phones could be left uninformed. Others, like shop worker Magnus Stegmann, said they had grown accustomed to relying on phone alerts instead.

Authorities confirmed efforts to relocate the siren are underway, but no timeline has been set. The Danish Emergency Management Agency attributed occasional outages to maintenance, though it acknowledged the historical sensitivity on Bornholm, which faced heavy bombing during World War II.

Denmark’s nationwide siren network, comprising over 1,000 units, is designed to warn of acute threats like fires, flooding, or conflict. The annual test consists of a rising-and-falling tone at noon, followed by an all-clear signal. While most systems functioned as planned, 50 sirens—including Nexø’s—remained silent.