First Hours Count – how a Black – Out in Vienna would work

The big blackout in Spain also let many grow in Vienna: what if that happens to us? The shortest possible answer: it would probably be more glimpse than in Spain. The longer answer begins: hell would be going on in the beginning. And the failure of communication from mobile phone to computer would be the least care in the beginning.

In an emergency, information -posters of the printed matter of the town hall
The top priority of the helpers of Vienna would be physical safety: thousands would be trapped from a moment to the other in stranded subways in the tunnel and dark lifts between floors and should first be liberated. On the day one of a blackout, no other publications would ride, for a possible day there were two replacement traffic in buses.

Only citizens who have crank or at least battery radios at home, know what is going on: the ORF broadcaster Ö3 has the obligation to send all official information to the citizens in the case of a crisis, and also the technical requirements for this. However, there is even an emergency plan in the case of longer total power outputs: then the pressure company in the town hall, which is supplied with emergency growth generators, would print posters with information for the population without a break, which are then affected in the city.

Emergency plan for all of Vienna as a “electricity island”
In any case, all patients in the hospitals of Vienna would certainly be. They also have an emergency food through the bank. However, the chance of a long -term black -out is extremely unlikely: in an emergency Vienna can deliver as a “electricity island” by starting extra capacities of the power stations. This should succeed in almost every conceivable scenarios within 24 hours. The plans are focused on this.

A black -out does not stem from “too little electricity”, but due to abrupt changes in the diet, resulting in a chain reaction. The Viennese networks had the opportunity to practice on January 8, 2021: a fire in a Croatian substation could have leaded to a blackout in Vienna, but the emergency plans worked: within 63 seconds, large electricity buyers with whom the Viennese networks have held contractual agreements and the Blackout could be intercepted. After 60 minutes, the power network was again stabilized.

Everyone knows where to go in an emergency
In any case, those who are responsible in the federal and national governments know what to do: everyone knows where to go in an emergency. The federal government can be found in the collegial barracks, where there are work rooms and accommodations in a bunker.

As with the flood in the fall, the mayor would make his way to the “World Ball House” behind the town hall, where representatives of the military and flexor organizations and of the Vienna networks, Vienna Energie, Wiener Linien and the information service of the town hall in the rooms of the Magistrate Directorate. “We don’t have to say what to do, they know best,” says Kurt Wurscher, responsible for the crisis communication of the city. On the contrary, the crisis team is about the fact that everyone is always at the current level of information.

What can be done in specific crisis situations is unpredictable anyway, so there are no precise black -out plans at the Vienna Professional Fire Brigade. They should immediately be held in an emergency, it is said that the requirements are completely different, or a black -out can be obtained from a natural disaster or a cyber attack – depending on the other emergency scenarios. They are forced to “improvise” because it is always about helping they need the most.