Warsaw Fire Brigade
| Warsaw Fire Brigade | |
|---|---|
 Warsaw City Office
|
|
| Full-time employees | |
| Founding year: | 1836 |
| Locations: | 17th |
| Employee: | 1094 |
| Volunteer firefighter | |
| Departments: | 3 |
| warszawa-straz.pl | |
The Warsaw Fire Brigade (Polish name Warszawska Straż Pozarna (WSP) ) consists of a professional fire brigade (BF) with 17 locations and three volunteer fire brigades (FF). It is the oldest and largest fire brigade in Poland .
The Warsaw Fire Brigade must, within the framework of the applicable Polish laws, take the measures required by its due discretion in order to prevent the general public, individuals or animals from the threat to life and health caused by fires , explosions , accidents or other emergencies, in particular by damaging natural events to avert natural livelihoods or things.
history
Founding period
On January 1, 1836, the Warsaw professional fire brigade was founded by the decision of the Board of Directors of the Kingdom of Poland approved by the Tsar of Russia with a strength of 413 men. The initiator was Jan Rudnicki, who was in charge of the founding project . At the beginning, the fire brigade also had 96 horses, 20 different larger fire engines , ten of them with four wheels, four ladders with two or three wheels, 96 metal buckets for filling barrels, 33 four-wheeled barrels, 30 two-wheeled barrels, four buses for passenger transport and five " Prop trolley ”. The still missing radio technology was bridged with whistles and hand signals. The first in command was Jan Robosz, who was in command for seven years. Fire department duties included putting out fires, cleaning chimneys, and cleaning the city streets. A division was divided into four groups, each of which received its color and horses of a breed. Five years later the task was added to maintain the 800 existing street lamps.
In 1864 the first steam-operated fire pump from the London company F. Shand, Mason & Co. was bought. The first fire brigade orchestra with a bandmaster and 26 fire brigade musicians was founded in 1887. The Warsaw Museum of Fire Fighting was set up in 1907 . The first motorized fire engine was put into service in 1914. During the First World War in 1915, Russian troops disbanded the Warsaw Fire Brigade, abducting more than 300 firefighters and transporting most of the fire fighting equipment away. At the end of the same year, the Warsaw Citizens' Committee rebuilt the fire brigade. The motorization of the Warsaw fire brigade was completed in 1928 and the last horses were taken out of service.
Second World War
Immediately after the German Wehrmacht marched in , the Warsaw fire brigade reorganized its units and had to temporarily leave Warsaw to defend the country. The city of Łódź (23 fire engines), the Poznań fire brigade (6 vehicles) and other fire brigade units helped with the war-related fire fighting in Warsaw.
On December 23, 1939, during an organizational meeting, the fire resistance movement "SKAŁA" was founded throughout occupied Poland. Despite strict restrictions, Warsaw firefighters fought underground against the occupying forces . The firefighters hid youth and adults involved in the underground activities in their fire stations, conducted military training, sought the release of those arrested and cooperated with underground forces. They used fire engines to transport people, medicines, food, weapons and explosives. They significantly supported the systematic aid provided by the Jewish community behind the walls of the ghetto.
On the eve of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, the Gestapo confiscated many fire engines. Firefighters were arrested and brought to Germany with their equipment. On September 13, 1944, a white and red flag was hoisted on the tower of the 5th Prague Department (Fire Department) to announce that the Warsaw Fire Department would serve the now free Poland. The first firefighters returned to the liberated left bank of the Vistula from Warsaw, where they began their service on January 18, 1945 in the ruins of the Fourth Division. They walked in civilian clothes and pulled a two-wheeled cart with very modest equipment. In July 1945 the Kolobrzeg battalions handed over the first vehicles to the fire brigade of the Polish People's Army ; a fire truck with a 400-liter tank and a 24-meter turntable ladder from Magirus .
During the People's Republic of Poland
The Fire Protection Act passed by the Sejm in 1950 changed the organizational structure of fire services. The headquarters of the Warsaw Fire Brigade was subordinate to the Presidium of the Capital City Council and, in technical terms, to the headquarters of the Fire Brigade. The official name Warszawska Straż Pozarna (WSP) was then used.
A number of fire stations and departments were established in the 1950s and 1960s. A subdivision for rescue at height was set up in 1983. In the same year the Warsaw Fire Brigade Museum, which was destroyed during acts of war, was reopened.
The longest term of office of the 36 fire chiefs was held by Zdzisław Zalewski, who was the Warsaw fire chief from 1966 to 1990. One of the most prominent personalities of the capital's fire brigade was Zygmunt Jarosz, who was in charge from April 1955 to June 1966. After that, from 1968 to 1981 he was the chief commander of the State Professional Fire Brigade in Poland. It was thanks to his management and organizational style that the Polish fire brigades were very well trained, equipped and more mobile. From 1974 to 1983 Jarosz was also Vice President of the World Fire Brigade Association CTIF.
In 1984, a computer system was implemented in the head office, which streamlined and accelerated the management of sub-units considerably and provided data on important objects in the Polish capital.
Fire Brigade World Championships 1989
Shortly before the fall of the Wall in Poland, from July 24th to 30th, 1989 in Warsaw's Gwardia Stadium, the IX. International fire brigade competitions organized by the World Fire Brigade Association CTIF ( Fire Brigade Olympiad ), in which the Warsaw Fire Brigade acted as the host. The program included Traditional International Fire Brigade Competitions, International Fire Brigade Sports Competitions and International Youth Fire Brigade Competitions.
During the Third Polish Republic
After the establishment of the state fire brigade in 1992 and the administrative reform in 1999, the structure and name were changed in many areas of the fire service. In the further course of 2002, the city headquarters of the state fire brigade of the capital Warsaw was established.
As a result of the constantly growing tasks of the Warsaw fire brigade, it became necessary in 2012 to divide the technical-chemical rescue specialization into two independently stationed specialized chemical-ecological and technical rescue groups.
Currently, the city headquarters of the State Fire Brigade of the capital Warsaw is 17 rescue and fire fighting units, including six specialized and seven departments that take care of the safety of residents of the capital of Poland.
Warsaw Fire Brigade today
The fire brigade in the Polish capital Warsaw has 17 professional fire brigade locations (ten on the left and seven on the right of the Vistula), as well as three fire stations for volunteer fire brigades. The youngest professional fire brigade station was built in 2005 in the southernmost part of the city, the oldest preserved and listed fire station is Wache 4. Of the 1,075 professional fire fighters, 948 emergency services work in a 24-hour three-shift system to ensure the security of Warsaw (as of 2015). A modern and substantial fleet of vehicles is available to them. All well-known European manufacturers are represented for chassis. The superstructures come almost exclusively from Polish production with the exception of the seven turntable ladders from Magirus (three DLK 37 and four DLK 30). A typical Warsaw Löschzug consists of a nowadays assistance delete vehicle Renault Midlum / Sc, an assistance Tanklöschfahrzeug MAN LE / Sc or TGM / Stolarczyk, a turntable ladder (DLK) Magirus or hydraulic platform Bronto and command car Ford Focus and Fiat Freemont. Head of the Warsaw Fire Brigade has been General Brigadier Leszek Smuniewski since April 1, 2017. The fire brigade's headquarters are located at ul. Polna 1 in Warsaw.
See also
literature
- W. Jabłonowski: Warszawska Straż Ogniowa 1836-1939. Warsaw 2001.
- E. Boss: Dzieje Warszawskiej Straży Ogniowej 1836-1936. Warsaw 1937.
- E. Burzyński: Z dziejów Warszawskiej STraży Pożarnej. 150 lat działalności. Warsaw 1989.
- A. Jaworski, J. Wilczur: Strażacka wierność. Warsaw 1988.
Web links
- Warsaw Fire Department website (Polish)
- National Fire Brigade Command website (Polish)
- Polish Fire Brigade Association website (Polish)
Individual evidence
- ^ History of the Warsaw Fire Brigade. Warsaw Fire Brigade, accessed December 12, 2018 (Polish).
- ^ Franz-Josef Sehr : CTIF World Championships in Warsaw . In: Florian Hessen 10/1989 . Munkelt Verlag, 1989, ISSN 0936-5370 , p. 32-33 .
- ↑ Norbert Klekotko: 180 years BF Warsaw . In: FEUERWEHR 12/2015 . Huss Medien, 2015, ISSN 0500-6260 , p. 58-61 .