It was almost exactly 100 years ago that the Gröbenzell fire brigade had its first mission. A log house was blazing. The equipment could not be compared to today's standards. Amusing for today's rescuers: Back then, the fire station looked like a better double garage.
Gröbenzell - Compared to the current population (around 20,000), there were few people in 1920 in the settlement on Gröbenbach. An estimated 800 women, men and children lived there. But the place had grown so big that an important question had to be settled: who will come when there is a fire?
Problem with fires
This emerges from the words of Albert Meyer, then chairman of the interest group, in 1931 in the first chronicle of the place. Fire protection was a problem. Because if there had been a fire in the settlement, the fire departments from the surrounding communities of Olching, Puchheim, Lochhausen or Graßlfing would have had to come.
The founder
It was questionable whether there would have been anything to erase for them - at the distance. Therefore, Groebenzell got its own fire department on January 11, 1920. Alois Böhmer was elected chairman, the first commander was Hans Schricker. The municipality of Olching, to which the Gröbenzell settlement belonged at the time, provided a suction and pressure pump with hoses.
A little later, on May 20, the Florians had to move out for their first assignment: a log house was on fire. The fire department extinguished and further missions followed. When three fires broke out within a short space of time five years later, the desire for an engine syringe became loud. A year later this came true.
First motor syringe
Performance test: "A" stands for attack troop, "S" for hose troop and "W" for water troop
This gave the settlement on Gröbenbach, which only became a municipality in 1952, the first motor injection far and wide. The device was used for the first time on March 3, 1926. In 1928, the weir received a massive fire station next to the old school from the municipality of Olching. The fire brigade was at home on the site of today's social center until the mid-1970s.
"A better double garage", as the current chairman of the fire brigade association, Konrad Maier, remembers. Without water, without sanitary facilities, without heating, due to the low height, not all vehicles were accommodated in it. In 1976 the firefighters then moved to the building on Wildmoosstrasse, which they still use today.
Fire station today
Today there are 89 firefighters active, including 20 young people and only five women. The fire brigade association has 199 members. Eight vehicles are available to the emergency services. It is currently unclear whether they will stay here permanently. The local council recently commissioned a feasibility study to investigate whether the fire station is being renovated, expanded or newly built.
In order to become active in the fire service, training in first aid and a basic course lasting several weeks are required. There is also a mandatory exercise twice a month, plus numerous special courses.
200 operations a year
"Learning doesn't stop with a firefighter," emphasizes today's commander Christian Weirauch. His team is deployed about 200 times a year. However, only a third of them are caused by fires, mostly technical assistance: traffic accidents, water damage, environmental damage or animal rescues.
Such a thing happened once in December 2015 - an operation that is particularly remembered. A crocodile had been spotted in Ascherbach, it was said. The supposed amphibian was quickly discovered - and turned out to be a plastic animal. As a reminder, however, this has been given a place of honor: in the parlor of the Florian disciples. (sus)
The 100th birthday
should actually be celebrated as part of a week long festival week with other clubs in May. But because of the corona pandemic, the festival week was canceled.