Fire brigade in Thuringia

	Fire Department of ; the Free State of Thuringia
	Emergency number : 112
	staff
Active; (without youth):	34,762
Volunteer rate:	97.89%
Quota for women:	9.48%
Youth fire brigade :	12,855
bases
Total number:	1,726
division
Company fire departments	10
Professional fire departments	8th
Calls
Total number:	34,557
Distribution according to organizational form
Plant fire brigade	1.12%
Distribution according to type of use
Fire operations	4,994
Technical operations	23,522
Other uses	6,041
State of the data	2018

The fire service in Thuringia is regulated by the Free State of Thuringia due to its legislative competence .

Tasks and organization

Type and number of fire departments

In Thuringia there are 782 volunteer fire brigades in 821 cities and municipalities each with 1,609 local fire brigades , 81 base fire brigades , 10 professional fire brigades and 6 officially recognized plant fire brigades with a total of 59,557 fire brigade members as well as 12,855 youth fire fighters and 11,940 members in the senior and honorary departments.

Base fire brigade

According to the Thuringian law on fire protection, general aid and disaster control (ThürBRK), a base fire brigade is planned by the district. The Thuringian Fire Brigade Organization Ordinance stipulates that such a fire brigade can occupy the technology provided by the state in the district at any time and use it in a supra-local deployment area. This release area comprises the area that can be reached within 20 minutes.

Professional fire brigade

Map of the BF locations

In Thuringia there are a total of 10 professional fire departments, including one in each independent city and in some district towns in the districts. The oldest professional fire brigade in Thuringia was founded in 1910, the youngest not until 2019. Some professional fire brigades also take on other tasks in addition to the fire-fighting service, such as the rescue service. For example in Erfurt, Weimar, Gera and Jena. The following professional fire departments are available in the Free State:

Altenburg ( Altenburg Fire Department )
Eisenach ( Eisenach Fire Department )
Erfurt ( Erfurt Fire Brigade )
Gera ( fire brigade Gera )
Gotha ( Gotha Fire Brigade )
Jena ( Jena Fire Brigade )
Nordhausen ( fire brigade Nordhausen )
Weimar ( Weimar Fire Department )
Mühlhausen ( Mühlhausen fire department )
Suhl ( fire brigade Suhl )

Responsibilities

According to the Thuringian Law on Fire Protection, General Aid and Disaster Protection (ThürBRK), the municipalities themselves are responsible for fire protection and general help within the communities. The districts are responsible for supra-local fire protection and general support, for central tasks of the Fire protection and the general assistance of the Free State and for disaster control the districts, independent cities and the Free State are responsible.

Municipalities and rural districts only fulfill their obligations for their own or assigned sphere of activity and must involve the authorities and other bodies in their respective areas whose interests are affected. In return, the state undertakes to provide any assistance that “the responsible authorities have to support in the preparation and implementation of measures to avert dangers within the scope of their possibilities, unless the fulfillment of their own urgent tasks is a priority”. The communities are encouraged to provide mutual assistance as long as their security is not endangered. The Free State can also order this mutual aid.

Associations

To represent all fire brigade matters in Thuringia, there are several associations at different levels that support the members of all fire brigades in Thuringia.

State level

The Thuringian umbrella association of fire brigades is the " Thuringian Fire Brigade Association eV " (ThFV eV) based in Erfurt . In addition to the “Werkfeuerwehrverband Thüringen eV”, the “ Working Group of Heads of Professional Fire Brigades Thuringia” (AGBF Thüringen) and the “Working Group of District Fire Inspectors”, the existing 19 district and five city fire brigade associations are members. The Thuringian youth fire brigade is the umbrella organization of youth fire brigades integrated into the ThFV . The Thuringian Fire Brigade Association is a state fire brigade association member of the German Fire Brigade Association (DFV).

District level

There are 19 district and five city fire brigade associations in Thuringia to represent the fire services of a district or a city . They are composed of an executive board consisting of the chairman , two deputy chairmen, the treasurer and the secretary . The district fire brigade associations represent the fire brigades of a district or a city that have joined as members, events meet the women's or senior and honorary fellowships , hold competitions and training courses and also take care of training within the district or the city.

Other organizations

Fire brigade museums

The following fire brigade museums or fire brigade history collections exist in Thuringia:

Fire Brigade Museum Ellrich Spritzenhaus
Mühlhausen Fire Brigade Museum

Fire Department History City of Römhild

Accident insurance

To cover physical or material damage and accidents within the fire brigade or when the fire brigade is deployed, there is a fire brigade accident insurance fund, known as the fire brigade accident insurance fund . The fire department-Unfallkasse Mitte is the responsible accident insurance for the fire brigades in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt , with offices in Erfurt and Magdeburg .

Firefighters

education

Basic training at district and city level

As part of the basic training , the basic or basic training and supplementary courses take place in the individual district or city fire brigade associations. In each of these organizations there are to a course plan , which every year is renewed and offers numerous dates for training. The training is mainly carried out on the weekends and directly at the fire brigade and may only be given by specially trained district trainers who have previously qualified for it at the Thuringian state fire brigade and disaster control school.

The following courses are offered at district or city level:

State fire brigade school

The Thuringian State Fire Brigade and Disaster Protection School in Bad Köstritz has existed in Thuringia since May 13, 1991 for training more demanding tasks .

The school is particularly committed to the following tasks:

Management training: Training and further qualification of management and management staff, management support staff and trainers for the volunteer fire brigades.
Technical training: training of machinists for fire fighting vehicles. Further qualification of equipment maintenance personnel as well as special forces for the CBRN hazard prevention and technical assistance.
Advanced training: advanced and advanced training for trainers, equipment maintenance personnel as well as management and emergency services for special situations and tasks.
Career training: career course for the middle fire service with a career examination. Ability to lead a group, a squadron or a squad as an independent tactical unit as well as to lead an operation with units up to the strength of a group.

In addition to classrooms for theoretical lessons, the following training facilities are available for practical training:

Exercise house 1: Training for the areas of responsibility: basic tactics, leadership, tactics and technology for rescuing people, tactics and technology for fire fighting, structural and civil engineering accidents, as well as structural assistance.
Training house 2 (fire simulation system): Training for the task areas "hot training" as part of the troop leader training of the districts and urban districts and the basic courses of the professional fire brigades, basic tactics in fire operations, tactics and technology for rescuing people, as well as tactics and technology for fire fighting.
Exercise area 3: Training for the task areas tactics and technology, accidents involving hazardous substances, road traffic accidents, railway accidents, civil engineering accidents, water hazards, fire-fighting water pumping, climbing rocks for rescue at heights.
Solid fire container: fire and extinguishing equipment, operational principles, respiratory protection, exercise under operating conditions, operational training, tactical behavior in fire rooms, search and rescue of people in fire objects, underground systems, tactical extinguishing exercises in solid fire containers (flash-over containers) under real fire conditions.

Ranks and awards

Awards

Fire service members can be awarded the fire protection badge , the rescue medal on the ribbon and the commemorative symbol for rescue from danger .

Children and youth fire brigade

Age and honor departments

Technical resources

vehicles

Vehicles of the fire brigades in Thuringia

KLF Thuringia

Typical equipment trolley measurement technology for the Suhl fire brigade

Equipment vehicle respiratory protection of the Suhl fire brigade

The Thuringian fire brigades have plenty of fire fighting vehicles built according to DIN specifications. In some cases, however, the fire brigades also use older vehicles that no longer comply with DIN standards, which originate from early GDR times. These vehicles from the GDR era include z. B. Models from Robur and the German Vehicle Construction Association (IFA) .

After the " Wende " and the merger of the former GDR with the areas of the FRG to form the Federal Republic of Germany, a lot changed for the fire services in Thuringia as well. There were many fire brigades, especially in rural areas, which had no or only inadequate vehicle technology. In order to provide these fire brigades with an inexpensive vehicle, they felt compelled to order a small fire engine on the chassis of a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter -314 from various manufacturers in aluminum box body white. To save costs, the so-called KLF-Th (small fire truck Thuringia) has no water tank and only offers five emergency services (1/4) space. The vehicle is therefore more comparable to a portable pump vehicle .

In order to take account of the fire brigade's operations management and to give them a working space in the event of major damage, several companies developed a so-called management vehicle in Thuringia in a suitcase construction . This FüKw-TH is similar to an ELW 1 and was issued once for each district and each independent city. This vehicle is still actively used today in larger operations by the Thuringian fire brigades, but is being replaced more and more often by modern ELW 1 of the Free State of Thuringia or ELW 2 of the districts.

Protective clothing

Digital emergency radio

In the whole of Thuringia, the digital emergency radio for fire and rescue services is not yet available and is currently only being fully developed.

So far, only the Thuringian police have been using digital radio completely since 2014. The first trial run for fire brigades is currently taking place, but initially only for the fire brigades on the newly built ICE line through Thuringia, as they need the radio in the line's tunnels. Later, all fire and rescue services will gradually be equipped with digital radio technology, but the full commissioning of digital radio with all emergency organizations in Thuringia will probably not be completed until 2020.

Handheld radios of the Sepura brand will be used for the operation and implementation of digital radio at the Thuringian fire and rescue services .

Central control centers

In the whole of Thuringia there are currently thirteen control centers and a fire brigade operations center for fire and rescue services, all of which can be reached via the European emergency number 112 . Each of the control centers is responsible for at least one rescue service area, which in most cases includes the districts or cities that also support the central control centers. In most cases, these are districts and professional fire departments, only in one case a rescue service association .

Overview of the central control centers

Surname	operator	area to be looked after
Northern Thuringia
Central control center Eichsfeld	Eichsfeld district	Eichsfeld district
Central control center Nordhausen	Nordhausen district and Kyffhäuserkreis	Nordhausen district and Kyffhäuserkreis
Central control center Unstrut-Hainich	Unstrut-Hainich district	Unstrut-Hainich district
Central Thuringia
Central control center Erfurt	Professional fire brigade	City of Erfurt and the district of Sömmerda
Central control center Gotha	Districts of Gotha	District of Gotha
Central control center Ilm-Kreis	Ilm district	Ilm district
Central control center Weimarer Land	Weimarer Land district	Weimarer Land district
Southwest Thuringia
Central control center Schmalkalden-Meiningen	Schmalkalden-Meiningen district	Schmalkalden-Meiningen district
Central control center Suhl	Rescue Service Association South Thuringia	City of Suhl and the districts of Hildburghausen, Sonneberg
Central control center Wartburgkreis	Wartburg district	Wartburg district and the city of Eisenach
East Thuringia
Central control center Gera	Professional fire brigade	City of Gera and the districts of Greiz, Altenburger Land
Central control center Jena	Professional fire brigade	District of Saale-Holzland and cities of Jena, Weimar (the latter only rescue service)
Central control center in Saalfeld	District of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt and Saale-Orla	District of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt and Saale-Orla district
Weimar fire brigade operations center	Professional fire brigade	City of Weimar

Control center reports and changes

In 2019, the Thuringian Ministry of the Interior and Local Affairs (TMIK) presented the control center report prepared by a commission of experts, which examined the control centers for their performance. The expert opinion recommended the establishment of 4 regional control centers based on the existing regional planning regions . The state government also favored this solution and commissioned the regional authorities to deal with this report. Shortly after it was published, the report triggered several resistance, but by the end of 2019 most of the municipal bodies had discussions with their neighbors about a possible joint central control center. The results of this should be presented to the public on July 6, 2020.

So far, the efforts of the state government have been confirmed in some already planned but also almost completed control center mergers and newly planned control centers. The following changes are planned or implemented:

The previous Saalfeld control center will be dissolved for the beginning of 2021, the Saale-Orla district will be looked after by the Gera control center from December 2020 and the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district will in future be managed by the Jena control center
Planned amalgamation of the three districts of Ilm , Gotha and Wartburg to create a new control center in the coming years
The districts of Unstrut-Hainich , Eichsfeld and Weimarer Land reject mergers and want to keep their own control centers. The Unstrut-Hainich district and the Eichsfeld district focus on cooperation between the two control centers based on the Gera / Jena model
In future, the city of Weimar will be completely managed by the control center in Erfurt and its own fire department control center will be abolished
The district of Schmalkalden-Meiningen joins the Rescue Service Association of Southern Thuringia, which will create the Southern Thuringia rescue control center based in Zella-Mehlis

Web links

Thuringian Fire Brigade Association
Thuringian state fire brigade and disaster control school
Laws and ordinances valid for Thuringia on the website of the Thuringian State Fire Brigade and Disaster Protection School

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Thuringian Ministry of the Interior and Local Affairs: Fire and Disaster Protection Report 2018. In: www.thueringen.de. July 31, 2019, accessed June 15, 2020 .

↑ Thuringian law on fire protection, general aid and disaster control, tasks of the districts in fire protection, general aid and disaster control, Section 6 , version dated February 5, 2008

↑ Thuringian Fire Brigade Organization Ordinance, Section 5 , version of January 27, 2009

^ Thuringian Fire Brigade Association: Working group of the heads of professional fire departments in Thuringia. In: https://www.feuerwehr-thueringen.de . Retrieved June 17, 2020 .

↑ ^a ^b ^c State law TH § 2 ThürBKG | State standard Thuringia | - Transport authority | Thuringian law on fire protection, general aid and disaster control (Thuringian Fire and Disaster Protection Act - ThürBKG -) in the version published on February 5, 2008 | valid from: 01/01/2008. Retrieved June 19, 2020 .

^ Thuringian Fire Brigade Association: District & City Fire Brigade Associations . In: https://www.feuerwehr-thueringen.de . Retrieved June 17, 2020 .

↑ Board of Directors - District Fire Brigade Association Schmalkalden-Meiningen eV Accessed on June 17, 2020 .

↑ General Activities - District Fire Brigade Association Schmalkalden-Meiningen eV Accessed on June 17, 2020 .

^ Ellrich Fire Brigade Museum

^ Mühlhausen Fire Brigade Museum

^ Fire Department History City of Römhild

↑ Kreisausbildung - Kreisfeuerwehrverband Schmalkalden-Meiningen eV Accessed on June 19, 2020 .

^ Free State of Thuringia - Serviceportal: Decree on the foundation of a fire protection award from May 11, 1992 , accessed on October 12, 2019

↑ Jürgen Machui: Control center network and location concept. In: thueringen.de. accellonet GmbH, April 2018, accessed on March 27, 2020 .

↑ mdr.de: Nine rescue coordination centers in Thuringia possible in future | MDR.DE. Retrieved March 27, 2020 .
↑ ^a ^b Kai Mudra: In future only six rescue control centers in Thuringia. June 30, 2020, accessed on July 3, 2020 (German).
↑ Thomas Spanier: The quiet dying of the control center in Saalfeld. December 16, 2019, accessed on June 17, 2020 (German).
↑ West Thuringian districts are planning a joint control center. Retrieved June 17, 2020 .
↑ ^a ^b mdr.de: Merger of Thuringian rescue control centers can start in June | MDR.DE. Retrieved June 17, 2020 .
↑ Sabine Spitzer: Rescue coordination center: district council should seal cooperation. July 1, 2020, accessed on July 3, 2020 (German).

[Jahresbericht-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Thuringian Ministry of the Interior and Local Affairs: Fire and Disaster Protection Report 2018. In: www.thueringen.de. July 31, 2019, accessed June 15, 2020 .

[2] Thuringian law on fire protection, general aid and disaster control, tasks of the districts in fire protection, general aid and disaster control, Section 6 , version dated February 5, 2008

[3] Thuringian Fire Brigade Organization Ordinance, Section 5 , version of January 27, 2009