Fire Department Kassel

Fire Department Kassel
Office of the City of Kassel
Professional fire brigade
Founding year:	1891
Locations:	2
Employee:	300 (as of 2020)
Volunteer firefighter
Founding year:	1860
Departments:	7th
Active members:	240 (as of 2020)
Youth fire brigade
Founding year:	1977
Groups:	3
Members:	126 (as of 2018)
Children's fire brigade
Founding year:	2009
Groups:	3
Members:	47 (as of 2018)
www.feuerwehr-kassel.eu

Fire service on the campus of the University of Kassel in August 2013, DLA (K) 23/12 and HLF 20/16

Fire service on the campus of the University of Kassel in August 2013, ELW 1 and HLF 16/12

The fire brigade Kassel is the public fire brigade of the city of Kassel according to the Hessian Fire and Disaster Protection Act (HBKG) and consists of a professional fire brigade with two locations and seven volunteer fire departments .

The records of an organized fire extinguishing system in Kassel go back to the 16th century, when fire fighting teams were formed by the city's residents.

history

The Kassel professional fire brigade was founded in 1891: Heinrich Schmidtkunz, originally from Berlin, was appointed its first head. The fire brigade was then on Mauerstrasse. In 1899 a second fire station was built in the old city barracks on Luisenstrasse . In 1907 the new main fire station in Westerburgstrasse was put into operation.

In 1914 the last horse-drawn vehicle was taken out of service and all vehicles were converted to automobiles. This made the Kassel professional fire brigade one of the most modern in the German Reich.

After the Second World War, the US military government demanded the re-establishment of an operational fire department. As a result, the fire station in Westerburgstrasse, which was destroyed in the night of the fire in Kassel, was rebuilt and new vehicles were purchased. In 1970, after six years of construction, fire station 1 on Wolfhager Strasse was inaugurated and put into operation. The Westerburgstrasse location was given up. In 1981, fire station 2 on Heinrich-Schütz-Allee was put into operation.

In 1991 the Kassel professional fire brigade celebrated its 100th anniversary.

In 2007, the Hessian Minister of the Interior, Volker Bouffier, inaugurated the new control station at fire station 1, which, as the joint control center of the city and district of Kassel, is responsible for the dispatching of operations in the district of Kassel in addition to the fire and rescue services of the city of Kassel.

In 1874 the 9th German Fire Brigade Day took place in Kassel.

Professional fire brigade

Fire station 1

The professional fire brigade of the city of Kassel performs its duty from two fire stations. Fire station 1 is located at Wolfhager Straße 25 in Kassel's city center. Fire station 2 is located on Heinrich-Schütz-Allee in Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, right next to the Hessian state fire brigade school.

Most of the workshops are located at fire station 1, and this is also where the Kassel control station is located, the new building of which was put into operation in 2007. Most special vehicles are also stationed at fire station 1, including a. the following roll-off containers : AB breathing protection, the AB dangerous goods, the AB San, the AB Strom and the AB armor. From November 2009 to July 2014, fundamental renovation work, extensions and modernizations were carried out.

The training department and the fire extinguisher workshop are located at fire station 2.

The Kassel fire brigade also provides four ambulances, two of which are stationed at each professional fire station. At both fire stations, one ambulance is manned by officials and one by rescue service personnel. The two ambulances manned by officials and the ambulance manned by employees at fire station 1 are manned for 24 hours. The ambulance of fire station 2, which is manned by employees, is manned on day duty. An emergency doctor vehicle has been operated from Fire Station 2 since January 1, 2011. Another ambulance vehicle on day duty has been moving from fire station 1 since June 2017. The personnel (paramedics) are provided by the professional fire brigade. The location at the Elisabeth Hospital has been staffed around the clock by ASB Kassel since then. The location at the clinic was given to the DRK Kassel.

The office management is currently formed by Tobias Winter and his deputies, Thomas Schmidt and Thomas Abel. Winter replaced Norbert Schmitz as head of office.

Voluntary fire brigades

Niederzwehren volunteer fire brigade

In addition to the professional fire service, there are volunteer fire services in Bettenhausen / Forstfeld, Harleshausen, Niederzwehren, Oberzwehren, Waldau, Nordshausen / Brasselsberg and Wolfsanger in Kassel.

The work in fire and disaster control is mainly performed by the professional fire brigade. However, depending on the key word, the volunteer fire brigade in the respective district is automatically alerted. The volunteer fire brigades are put on standby via radio receivers and telephone alarms. Furthermore, the volunteer fire brigades play an important role in the dangerous goods concept of the Kassel fire brigade. In the event of a dangerous goods operation, the volunteer fire brigades are also alerted in accordance with their function defined in the concept during the first march and thus supplement the forces of the professional fire brigade.

The volunteer fire brigades and the professional fire brigade also carry out the fire safety watch services in the Kassel meeting places. The professional fire brigade looks after the state theater, while the other events are shared among the volunteer fire brigades.

The voluntary fire brigade is managed by the city fire inspector Jörg Straßer.

Youth fire brigade

In the meantime, every volunteer fire brigade also has a youth fire brigade . Here, all interested girls and boys between the ages of ten and 17 can gain initial experience in fire protection and are thus extensively prepared for later work in the respective deployment departments. In addition to fire-fighting training, the focus is on youth work. Various activities such as football tournaments, tent camps, excursions and camaraderie evenings impart elementary qualities such as camaraderie and teamwork to the young people. Since the young people are heavily involved in the preparation of the services and other activities, they learn early on to take on responsibility and organize independently.

Since 2009, the Nordshausen-Brasselsberg volunteer fire brigade has been the first location in Kassel to have a children's fire brigade , in which children between the ages of six and ten should be tied to the fire brigade at an early stage in order to secure the next generation for the youth fire brigade.