Fire watch

This article deals with the fire watch service after the fire-fighting work is finished; For the guard duty of the fire brigades at events, see fire safety guard .

The fire watch is an on-call service of the fire brigade after a fire has actually been extinguished or after the extinguishing work has been completed , in order to be able to intervene quickly if the fire flares again.

A fire watch must always be provided by the fire brigade if a flare-up of the fire cannot be ruled out. The chief of operations decides whether to set up a fire watch , it is part of the fire service. A renewed flare-up is mainly caused by embers that are kept inside the fire, such as a pile of straw or thick wooden beams. Due to the nature of the material, the extinguishing water often does not penetrate deep enough into the fire. The embers located here then spread over the course of time, often as a smoldering fire, unnoticed, until open flames re-form on the surface of the fire material and the corresponding oxygen supply. Weather conditions such as extreme heat or emerging wind can lead to a flare-up or at least influence it. A fire watch may be necessary over a period of several hours up to several days, depending on the size of the previous fire, the existing fire material and the weather.

During times of war, fire watch was also used to describe observation posts, which were supposed to sound the alarm quickly in the area assigned to them in the event of a fire caused by bombs in order to prevent greater damage. Fire guards were set up primarily at important traffic junctions (railway systems, ports, airports, etc.) as well as commercial and industrial facilities (refineries, armaments industry, communication facilities, gas, water and electricity works, etc.), whose loss or damage by fire has serious consequences for the Infrastructure, public order, or the military. The observation posts were often protected by splinter protection cells, which are themselves also referred to as fire watch when used appropriately.

In Switzerland, a permanently manned fire station is called a fire station.

See also

Wiktionary: Brandwache  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Fire station

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "" Fire out! "Does not mean" End of the mission! "" (PDF). (PDF; 743 kB) (No longer available online.) Neustadt District Fire Brigade Association, archived from the original on June 12, 2013 ; Retrieved November 19, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Peter Zbinden: "Deleted does not mean the end of the mission (PDF)". (No longer available online.) Swiss Fire Brigade Association, April 2011, archived from the original on February 22, 2014 ; Retrieved November 19, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: vergessene-geschichte.de )
4. ^ Website of the City of Zurich. Retrieved November 19, 2013 .