Markus Kuisl was commander of the Tutzing volunteer fire brigade for 24 years.
Nobody in the maritime community had held this position for so long before him.
Tutzing
- Some families are downright pillars of the fire brigades, and that for generations.
The Kuisl family in Tutzing is such an example.
Markus Kuisl (60) recently resigned from his position as fire brigade commander after 24 years, and Christoph Knobloch (28) was elected as his successor.
No one else had held this post before him as long as Kuisl.
His father Alfons Kuisl was deputy commander from 1964 to 1979, then commander until 1990 and then chairman of the fire brigade association for six years.
Something like that shapes.
“I grew up with the fire service,” says Markus Kuisl.
“The fire station was my playground.” For the native Wartaweiler, the future path of life was mapped out, even if his job led him to BMW.
After graduating from high school in 1980, he completed an apprenticeship at the car company.
Since then, he has also been able to pursue a passion with this company: motorcycling.
He works for BMW Motorrad; in his private life he especially loves classic machines.
But when the equipment manager of the Tutzing fire brigade stopped 25 years ago, Kuisl decided to make a radical change: he became the new equipment manager and converted his job at BMW into part-time.
Kuisl remembers the worst of a traffic accident near Garatshausen in 1977, in which four Tutzing high school students were killed.
He was only 17 years old at the time.
On average, the fire brigade goes out on around 150 missions a year, he says.
“Classic fires” are rather rare.
Boat huts have also burned.
A rescue boat from the district is in the Tutzing fire house.
That shows the breadth of the spectrum.
Ships have also hit sea walls or jetties.
A bicycle burned once on Heinrich-Vogl-Strasse.
Improvisation is often necessary.
Many of those affected are always amazed at how well most firefighters know their craft.
They rarely get ahead on their own.
Once a cat reached a height of 15 meters in a tree, it no longer dared go down, says Kuisl - and the fire brigade could not approach despite its long turntable ladder.
She called in an arborist who freed the animal.
The firefighters can also gain access to buildings in spite of all safety precautions during operations.
“I don't know of any cases where we didn't get in,” says Kuisl.
And then there is a completely different category of operations: At the historic fishermen's weddings, the fire brigade was always there with 25 or 30 people, and when setting up the maypole, there were even around 40 helpers.
The fire brigade used to organize sea festivals themselves.
Two years ago, Markus Kuisl received the Fire Brigade Decoration Cross, the highest Bavarian award in this field.
Another honor is almost even more important to him: the silver club badge of the Traubingen fire brigade, of which he is a sponsoring member.
Nobody doubts that the popular Tutzinger will remain closely connected to the fire brigade.
The day after the election of his successor, a Saturday, he was back in the fire house.
But now he also wants to spend a lot of time with his family.
He has been married to his wife Kerstin since 1991.
Daughter Anna (27) turned to biotechnology, son Anton (23) turned to electronic systems.
Last but not least, the passion for motorcycling will certainly come into its own.