Augsburg fire brigade

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Augsburg fire brigade
Coat of arms of Augsburg Office of the City of Augsburg
Main fire station
Main fire station
Professional fire brigade
Founding year: 1899
Locations: 2
Employee: 214
Volunteer firefighter
Founding year: 1849
Departments: 8th
Active members: 524
www.feuerwehr-augsburg.de

The Augsburg fire brigade is organized in the Office for Fire and Disaster Protection of the City of Augsburg and consists of the professional fire brigade with two guards in the city area, eight volunteer fire brigades from different parts of the city and seven company fire brigades . With almost 900 active members, they ensure fire protection and general help in the city of Augsburg .

In contrast to most other cities, the company fire brigades are not only responsible for protecting their company, but also take part in operations outside of the respective factory premises with their special vehicles. All fire brigades are members of the Augsburg City Fire Brigade Association.

History of the Augsburg fire brigade

The Augsburg fire brigade was founded in 1849 as the first of its kind in Bavaria . After initial teething problems, thanks to active voluntary participation, it experienced rapid expansion and progress, which was also reflected in the increase in social acceptance.

In the following time it became clear that only full-time firefighters could guarantee fire protection in the fast-growing city in the long term . Between the founding of the volunteers and the professional fire brigade, Augsburg's population doubled from around 40,000 to over 80,000. That is why the Augsburg professional fire brigade was founded in July 1899. As expected, she did not recruit her staff from the ranks of the volunteer fire brigades, but from the ranks of the city's fire and tower guards .

In the course of industrialization , large companies emerged within the urban area that set up their own fire brigades. Its members were trained for their own machines and had shorter approach times due to their proximity to operations. This system has proven itself to this day, especially in large plants.

A further increase in membership resulted in Augsburg becoming one of the largest fire brigades in Germany with 1,837 active firefighters (50 in the professional, 924 in a volunteer and 863 in a plant fire brigade) .

The Second World War also brought about considerable changes in the fire service. In preparation for potential bombing by the Allies , the requirements for fire protection changed. There were vehicles purchased to replace the existing teams of horses and carried out organizational restructuring which the Augsburg Fire Department of the regular police assumed.

After the end of the war, the American military administration founded the “Augsburg City Fire Brigade” and forbade the re-establishment of volunteer fire brigades in the city. So it took until 1972 when Bergheim , Göggingen , Haunstetten and Inningen were incorporated into the municipality as part of the municipal reform - and with it their volunteer fire departments. The combined work of professional and volunteer fire brigades was completed in 1975 with the establishment of the fire brigades in Kriegshaber , Oberhausen and Pfersee . In the same year the main fire station on Berliner Allee was inaugurated, giving the professional fire brigade adequate space, which until then had been housed in the historic Augsburg armory .

Vehicle with the uniform stickers of all Augsburg fire departments

In recent years, the changes have been limited primarily to the technical equipment of the individual fire stations , which now all meet a certain minimum standard (all fire services have a multi-purpose vehicle and a fire engine) and their members are well trained. In addition to the basic elements for fire fighting, the Augsburg fire brigade also has special vehicles (e.g. a truck crane or decontamination vehicles) and special units (e.g. rescue divers or a height rescue group).

In cooperation with the Faculty of Design at the Augsburg University of Applied Sciences , a competition was organized in 1997 to find a uniform design for all Augsburg fire engines. In addition to the graphic aspect, the focus was also on the improved visibility of the vehicles. The winning design provided for today's characteristic blue all-round line and a logo with a suggested dial and was gradually introduced for all vehicles in the years that followed. The combination of the individual graphic elements enjoys design protection .

Due to the increasing population in Augsburg, the establishment of a second station of the professional fire brigade became inevitable, which found its fulfillment in 1999 with the inauguration of the south fire station on Alten Postweg. Since then, the city has been protected by two guards 24 hours a day by full-time firefighters and at all times by volunteer firefighters.

Professional fire brigade

View into the vehicle hall of the main guard of the professional fire brigade

The professional fire brigade, founded in July 1899, handles a large part of the annual missions and approaches almost all emergency calls, at least with vehicles in front. The 214 full-time fire brigade members are currently stationed on two guards: the main fire station located on Berliner Allee and the south fire station located on Alten Postweg. The main fire station in Berliner Allee was moved into in 1975, before the professional fire brigade was located in the historic Augsburg armory , which was no longer able to cope with the growing demands on a larger vehicle pool and modern hardware and software.

The spectrum of use ranges from small alarms (e.g. door openings) to technical assistance (e.g. traffic accidents ) and fire fighting to special operations with various special units (e.g. height rescue ). For this purpose, the professional fire brigade is equipped with almost all vehicles and equipment that are intended for fire service. Furthermore, both guards each have an ambulance and a reserve vehicle, which are primarily intended for self-protection, but also act as first responders if necessary , whereby the Augsburg professional fire brigade does not have a permit for the transport of patients and is not part of the public rescue service. The ambulances are not regularly manned as ambulances in accordance with the Bavarian Rescue Service Act. Officially, the vehicles equipped as ambulances are run as measuring vehicles and are also equipped with additional equipment.

The integrated control center is housed in the building of the professional fire brigade, which coordinates not only the fire brigade but also the emergency service radio communications for the entire Augsburg area ( city and district of Augsburg as well as for the districts of Aichach-Friedberg , Dillingen and Donau-Ries ).

Voluntary fire brigades

Vehicle fleet of the Haunstetten volunteer fire brigade

The Augsburg volunteer fire brigade was founded in 1847, making it the oldest fire brigade in Bavaria . Today she has eight guards in the districts of Bergheim , Göggingen , Haunstetten , Inningen , Kriegshaber , Oberhausen and Pfersee . These are all historically created, with a concentration on the west and south of the urban area. Another group was founded in Lechhausen in 2014 and has now been recognized by the city of Augsburg.

The volunteer fire brigades are called to work in their district and can take on at least elementary tasks thanks to their minimum equipment with multi-purpose and fire fighting vehicles, whereby they are usually supported by units of the professional fire brigade. Above all, the fire brigades in the larger city districts can also be used individually: For example, the Haunstetter fire protection officers have a fleet of nine vehicles, which also includes its own turntable ladder.

For certain deployment indications, individual volunteer fire brigades have been specially equipped so that they can also be deployed to support the professional fire brigade in remote parts of the city:

Volunteer firefighter indication
Bergheim Water supply
Göggingen "Local Operations Management" support group
Haunstetten Radiation protection, turntable ladder, mass casualties
Innings Water supply
Warlords Support group "Hazardous materials", decontamination
Oberhausen Mass casualty
Pfersee Water supply

literature

  • Josef Korschinsky, Frank Habermeier, Reinhard Springer, Dr. Matthias Nölke: Augsburg fire brigade - 150 years of the Augsburg volunteer fire brigade, 100 years of the Augsburg professional fire brigade ; Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-89604-631-4
  • Fire Brigade Augsburg - annual edition 2005 (number 10) , published by the Stadtfeuerwehrverband Augsburg e. V.
  • District Fire Brigade Association Augsburg District e. V. - Annual edition 2006 (number 12) , published by the district fire brigade association Landkreis Augsburg e. V.

Web links

Coordinates: 48 ° 22 ′ 26.8 "  N , 10 ° 54 ′ 55.3"  E