The sirens located throughout the BVI form part of the Territory's Early Warning System.  Sirens are designed for outdoor use, therefore they are largely heard by persons who are outdoors when they sounded.  The national Siren System and National Emergency Brodcast System are tested at 2:00 p.m. on the fourth Friday of every month.  As a part of the test, the public is asked to tune into ZBVI, ZROD, ZKING or ZCCR for test messages from the Department of Disaster Management.

The public is not expected to react once the siren is sounded, as this is only a test.  However, some schools routinely use the opportunity to conduct their emergency drills with students evacuating school premises as they woukd in the event of an actual hazard event.

It is easy to differentiate between the testing of the siren and when they are sounded for an actual emergency,  For the monthly test, the sirens emit short audio burst but in real emergency, the sound would be continuous.