Erich Giersberg

Erich Giersberg (born January 24, 1854 in Wesel , † May 24, 1905 in Berlin ) was a German firefighter and inventor . From October 1893 until his death he was the fourth head of the Berlin fire brigade and is also considered to be the inventor of the breathing apparatus and the modern hose coupling .

Career

Erich Giersberg initially worked for the Cologne fire brigade , before he took over the management of the Berlin fire brigade as fire director on October 1, 1893 as the successor to the late fire chief Alexander Stude and thus became the fourth chief of Germany's oldest professional fire brigade.

At this point in time, Berlin already had more than two million inhabitants , which posed a major challenge for the fire brigade in particular, as there was a massive lack of modern vehicles and guard buildings.

Giersberg put the fire fighting train together again and increasingly relied on steam spraying for fire fighting , so that by 1900 he was able to put together twelve steam spraying trains. In addition, the fire chief introduced modern gas spraying for the first attack, in which fire-fighting water by carbon dioxide or compressed air was pumped from the water tanks. In this way, the firefighters also managed to bridge the required heating-up time for the steam sprayers.

Giersberg came under criticism after several fires in which firefighters were also killed because the authority did not have a sufficient number of ladders. Giersberg then implemented the procurement of modern rotating tower ladders and also integrated them into the fire fighting trains that had already been set up.

Challenges of the 20th Century

On February 25, 1897, the Berlin fire brigade was alerted to a fire in the factory halls of the Schering company in the Berlin district of Wedding , in which poisonous hydrochloric and nitric acid had escaped.

At that time there was no breathing apparatus, as a result of which 60 firefighters sustained massive respiratory tract injuries , including Giersberg himself, who personally managed the operation on site and had health problems until the end of his life.

Giersberg, who had to mourn the death of a colleague the following day, was confronted with the effects of industrialization for the first time . From then on, he set in motion all means to counteract the new challenges.

The new century was a sign of progress for the fire service . After Giersberg introduced a new blue and black uniform in 1901, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Berlin fire brigade, whose helmets , as the only one in Prussia , now also had a badge in the form of the crown , he first turned to the motorization of his authority .

The operation of horses had been considered too expensive by the Berlin fire brigade for some time, but Giersberg initially struggled with the introduction of motorized technology . While other brigades in Germany already had modern vehicles in their inventory, the Berlin fire brigade was still experimenting with gasoline and steam engines and even relied on the procurement of pedal motors at times, which, however, soon proved to be unsuitable because the firefighters already arrived at the scene were completely exhausted. Ultimately, modern engines established themselves as drives for emergency vehicles.

Giersberg as an inventor

The experiences of the fire at the Schering company in February 1897 did not let Giersberg go. So he tried to develop a device that would enable firefighters to work in hazardous areas and at the same time provide them with sufficient breathing air .

After numerous attempts, he actually invented a device that consumed oxygen by soda regenerated.

He presented his plans to Dräger & Gerling, today's Drägerwerk , in Lübeck , which developed the Dräger injector from it, which was named "Giersberg 1901" under the name "Device for breathing in rooms filled with smoke or harmful gases" was patented. After all, this was produced in 1904 as the Dräger 1903 for the military and the fire service.

The basic function of the first oxygen generation device invented by Giersberg still corresponds today to the principle of modern respiratory protection devices used in fire brigades, the military and mining .

The hose coupling, which is also still used in the fire service, is also an invention by Giersberg, which replaced the outdated threaded coupling.

In the midst of the advancement of the fire service, Erich Giersberg suffered an unexpected stroke in February 1905 and died a few days later at the age of only 51. It could not be ruled out that the stroke was a result of his injuries sustained during his assignment at the Schering company.

In June 1905, fire director Maximilian Reichel was appointed the new head of the Berlin fire department, whose predecessors had all died in the meantime.

Appreciations

• The hose coupling invented by Erich Giersberg is also known as the Giersberg coupling in the fire service.

Web links

• Erich Giersberg on the Berlin fire brigade website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Prof. Dr. Peter Schmucker: The history of ventilation - analysis and reassessment using the example of the history of the "Pulmotor" emergency ventilation and resuscitation device from Lübeck's Drägerwerke . Lübeck 2011.
2. ↑ Leonberg Voluntary Fire Brigade (Ed.): 150 Years of the Leonberg Fire Brigade 1861-2011 . Leonberg 2011.