Wilfried Graefling

State fire director Wilfried Gräfling during an interview (2008)

Wilfried Gräfling (born July 3, 1955 in Gelsenkirchen ) is a German graduate electrical engineer , economist and former fire brigade officer . From 2006 to 2018 he was regional fire director and head of the Berlin fire department .

Career

Wilfried Gräfling joined the Westerholt Volunteer Fire Brigade ( North Rhine-Westphalia ) at the age of 18 .

After high school he studied from 1976 General electrical engineering and economics at the University of Bochum and began his burnt clerkship in the following professional fire Leverkusen .

Career in the fire department

After completing his preparatory service for the higher service , Gräfling switched to the Berlin fire brigade as a fire adviser in 1983.

In the agency he held numerous key positions at management level. He worked as a department head and department head in the fields of telecommunications and information and communication technology .

From October 1992 to January 1994, Gräfling was seconded to the Berlin police as project manager , where he was responsible for the implementation of the new police operations control center. He then applied his experience to the construction of the new IGNIS fire brigade control center. In 1998 he also supported the then state residents' office in questions of information technology.

As early as January 1997, Gräfling played a leading role in the implementation of the administrative reform of the Berlin fire brigade and from 1998 set up the new Northern Directorate, of which he became the first head in June 1999.

In January 2001, Gräfling, who has since been promoted to Chief Fire Director, was appointed permanent representative of State Fire Director Albrecht Broemme .

State Fire Director (2006-2018)

In May 2006, the previous fire brigade chief Broemme was surprisingly adopted and appointed President of the Federal Agency for Technical Relief by Federal Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble .

Berlin's Senator for the Interior Ehrhard Körting, in turn, commissioned Gräfling to take on the duties of the state fire director on June 1, 2006, before he was finally officially appointed the new head of the Berlin fire brigade on November 7, 2006 and introduced into his office.

Gräfling moved to the top of the oldest and largest professional fire brigade in Germany, which had a staff of 3800 law enforcement officers , 400 other employees and 1300 members of the volunteer fire brigade and had to deal with around 275,000 missions in 2006.

At the time of his assumption of office, Gräfling was not only confronted with a new EU regulation that stipulated a maximum weekly working time of 48 hours for fire fighters and which was already massively exceeded in Berlin due to the shift models at the time.

In addition, the Berlin fire brigade faced massive savings constraints, which was due to a difficult budget situation.

Due to the constantly increasing number of deployments, he introduced a modern query modality, which was not previously practiced in Berlin, when an emergency call was received and also had the number of posts for fire-brigade doctors in the control center increased, who accurately assessed incoming emergency calls in a professional and appropriate manner. The mediation of the ambulance, which was previously integrated in the emergency handling system, the theater security guard and the hydrant tests were also removed from the area of ​​responsibility of the enforcement officers, which created tangible capacities. In addition, new duty roster models were created.

Above all, Gräfling acted as the initiator of a completely new operational control system as well as a new, contemporary occupational health and safety system .

He also had new protective clothing procured for Berlin's firefighters. These included the sand-colored polybenzimidazole that are still worn today for fire fighting and technical assistance , as well as modern rescue service clothing.

During his term of office , the Emergency Paramedic Act came into force , which led the Berlin fire brigade with the additional training time and the creation of further higher-quality posts into personnel difficulties because it was hardly possible to fill the ambulance in accordance with the law at short notice.

Finally, the fire brigade hit the wave of refugees in 2015, which again steered the authority towards very special challenges. Here Gräfling increasingly relied on the volunteer fire brigade.

During his tenure with the Senate, Wilfried Gräfling called for additional construction work for new rescue stations and the creation of additional posts, some of which were also fulfilled. In the last annual report he presented , he finally looked back on an annual number of deployments of now 500,000 alarms and other activities, with hardly any relevant improvements in the workforce.

As part of the fire brigade experience day on July 1, 2018, a major annual event of the Berlin fire brigade, Gräfling was officially bid farewell by Interior Senator Andreas Geisel . After 35 years of service, he finally retired as state fire director at the end of July 31, 2018 .

Karsten Homrighausen , who took office on August 1, 2018, was appointed his successor .

Within the Working Group of Heads of Professional Fire Brigades in the Federal Republic of Germany (AGBF), a subordinate organization of the German Association of Cities , Graefling was one of the deputy federal chairmen and chairman of the Berlin regional association until his retirement .

Along with Wolfgang Scholz, Manfred Schäfer (eastern part of the city) and Albrecht Broemme, Wilfried Gräfling is one of the four former heads of the Berlin fire brigade who are still alive.

research

Gräfling also made a name for himself because of his many years of involvement in fire service research. During his tenure as state fire director, he was particularly involved in the “STEMO” project for the early detection and treatment of strokes and in the “AlphaKomm” project for fail-safe situation information for appropriate communication in the event of a crisis.

The "CHARLY BOS" project, which has been running at the Berlin fire brigade since October 2017 and deals with the development of an interactive training platform for emergency services to prevent post-traumatic stress disorders, also goes back to an initiative by Graefling.

In recognition of his achievements in research, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit in 2019 . Federal Research Minister Anja Karliczek presented the medal at a ceremony.

Special missions

Wilfried Gräfling was involved in a leading position in the following outstanding operations of the Berlin fire brigade (selection):

• On July 8, 2000, an underground train was in full fire at the Deutsche Oper underground station . In the accident , 31 people were injured, some seriously.
• On April 2, 2004, two firefighters were caught in the flames in an apartment fire in the Berlin district of Moabit , so that they could only save themselves by jumping out of the window. Both men survived seriously injured.
• On August 10, 2004, a fire broke out in an S-Bahn wagon at Berlin's Anhalter Bahnhof S-Bahn station . Numerous people were injured in the fire.
• On July 23, 2005, a pilot with his microlight plane crashed with intent to kill himself in front of the Berlin Reichstag building . The man died.
• On August 8, 2005, a playing child caused a fire in a residential building in the Moabit district. Nine residents tried to escape from the flames, but died from smoke gas intoxication . There were also several children among the dead.
• On May 26, 2006, after the opening of Berlin Central Station , a youngster stabbed numerous people with a knife at random. 28 people were injured, some seriously. Wilfried Gräfling was personally on site at this point, happened to be an eye-witness himself and initiated the fire brigade's first measures.
• On December 19, 2016, the Islamist terrorist Anis Amri raced into a crowd with a tractor-trailer during the Christmas market on Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz, killing eleven people. This mission was directed by the fire brigade Gräfling.

criticism

Amigo Suspicion (2013)

In May 2013, after being discovered by the State Audit Office , Gräfling came under suspicion of having concluded an overpriced contract with AMD TÜV GmbH, the company responsible for the occupational medical area of ​​the Berlin fire brigade, for which his partner at the time was a company doctor.

The Senate Interior Administration had already pointed out the critical constellation in 2007 and urged that the partner should no longer be used in the area of ​​responsibility of the fire brigade.

Despite the assurance, the doctor was reassigned to her old department from 2010, whereupon the Senate Interior Administration initiated disciplinary proceedings against Counting .

In October 2015, he was fined 5000 euros , against which he defended himself legally.

Consultancy (2018-2019)

Immediately after leaving the office of state fire director, Gräfling signed a six-month fee contract with the state of Berlin . In the role of a senior expert, he is supposed to support the new fire department chief Karsten Homrighausen in his tasks and instruct him in work areas.

The consultancy contract, which provides for 4 hours of work per week, met with massive criticism from various parties represented in the Berlin House of Representatives .

The Senate Interior Administration defended the approach and pointed out that the activity primarily served to pass on knowledge, but also to support the creation of written documentation and the introduction to important structures and processes, and was remunerated according to the usual hourly rates for independent coaches and trainers.

Private

Wilfried Gräfling is married and has three children. After his retirement he continues to live in Berlin and for a few months of the year in Florida .

Gräfling is a passionate sailor and has already successfully participated in regattas several times .

In February 2018, he made a cancer public, but is now tumor-free by his own account.

Honors

• German Fire Brigade Cross of Honor in Gold (2015)
• Decoration of Honor of the State Fire Brigade Association Berlin in gold (2016)
• DIN badge of honor (2017)
• Honorary member of the State Fire Brigade Association Berlin (2018)
• Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2019)

Web links

• Wilfried Gräfling on the Berlin fire brigade website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wilfried Gräfling new chief fire department in Berlin. In: world. November 7, 2006, accessed October 8, 2018 . 
2. ^ Fire brigade chief Wilfried Gräfling says goodbye. In: Berliner Morgenpost. July 2, 2018, accessed October 8, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Research projects at the Berlin fire brigade. In: Internet site of the Berlin fire brigade. Retrieved May 11, 2019 . 
4. ↑ State fire director a. D. Wilfried Gräfling receives the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Internet site of the Berlin fire brigade. Berlin Fire Brigade, May 10, 2019, accessed on May 11, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Amigo suspicion against fire chief. In: BZ. May 31, 2013, accessed October 8, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Ex-fire chief is now chief advisor to the fire chief. In: BZ. August 16, 2018, accessed October 8, 2018 . 
7. ↑ DIN honors state fire director Wilfried Gräfling. In: Berlin fire brigade. April 20, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2018 . 
8. ↑ Honorary Members. In: Landesfeuerwehrverband Berlin. Retrieved February 9, 2019 .