Anyone who has to do with the fire brigade in Eichenau has not been able to ignore him for decades: Josef Spiess.
Now, after almost half a century, he has retired from the service.
Many memories will stay with him forever.
Eichenau -
On the table is an illustrated book that his comrades from the fire brigade put together for him as an official farewell after 47 years of service.
Josef Spiess is just leafing through it.
Again and again he stops, remembers, even at stations and events long ago, almost as if they had only happened yesterday.
There were the bad floods in 2013, the new fire brigade equipment house, the many sociable moments and his first days at the Eichenau fire brigade.
Parents' house very close to the fire brigade
Exactly on May 27, 1974, the now 65-year-old became official.
Long before that, he had, as it were, eye contact: Spiess's parents' house was in sight of the fire brigade, who at that time still had their home on Emmeringer Strasse.
Spiess often watched the so-called performance tests.
Friends kept asking him whether he would like to become a member of the fire department.
The father only said to his son, who had just turned 18, “It is a good decision.
But you have to know yourself what you are getting yourself into. "
Fire department advisor for 30 years
He knew it.
He wanted to go to the fire department.
He had obtained the appropriate driver's license for the German Armed Forces, so that at the age of 19 he was able to complete his first assignments in the fire service as a driver.
And that was just the beginning.
In 1979 Spiess was elected treasurer of the fire brigade association - an office he held until 2002.
This was followed by twelve years as first chairman and six as second chairman.
Spiess was a member of the district fire brigade association for a dozen years, where he was also involved in the vehicle and equipment working group for a time.
But it didn't stop with volunteering: Spiess worked for the Munich fire brigade.
There, too, he gathered extensive knowledge.
So he was soon on local political committees, Spiess is a CSU member, subscribed to this topic: “30 years as a fire service officer, I'm very proud of that.” In any case, he doesn't know anyone in the district who has done this for longer.
He is now Vice Mayor and advisor for building issues.
A large part of his work as a fire department advisor was characterized by the planning and construction of the new fire department equipment house on Tannenstrasse.
Eichenau's fire brigade dealt with this for the first time in 1992, in 2004 the green light for the planning was given, and in October 2010 the move into the new building followed.
In this context, Spiess remembers a very curious incident.
There was a citizen of Eichenau who worked in shifts and who initially lived on Emmeringer Strasse, by the old fire station.
There he had been woken up again and again by the missions.
Finally he moved.
Pandemic makes volunteering difficult
The punch line: “He moved to Tannenstrasse and shortly afterwards found out that we were going there too.” But the citizen took it sportily.
The image of the fire brigade and volunteering in public - that is also what drives Josef Spiess.
“The pandemic is not good for volunteer work.” Once it has started, only what is absolutely necessary is done to maintain operational readiness.
These are now only very small groups that split up immediately after their work is done.
The social is important, especially after stressful or stressful assignments.
"Praised what makes you tough has long ceased to apply," says Spiess.
In particularly difficult to process cases, the crisis intervention team does an excellent job.
There are some things you can never put up with well
Nevertheless, you come home at some point and have to deal with the pictures yourself.
If a person from the community or even from the neighborhood is affected: “You can't shake that off so easily.” Especially when it comes to children, Spiess adds.
He always tried to burden his own family as little as possible.
"However, she already notices that something has happened."
But for Spiess the fire brigade was and still is of enormous importance.
The safety of the people is one of their compulsory tasks - and that on a voluntary basis.
"I would wish that one or the other local council would be better informed about the necessity of a purchase."
Even if he has retired from active service in the fire brigade, Spiess will remain a warning in the municipal council - even if he has given up the office of fire department officer since last year. Exactly 46 years, nine months, a week and a day on active service are a wealth of experience that cannot be ignored.