The corona pandemic also presented the Peitingen fire brigade with major challenges last year: This is evident from the annual report that has now been published.
Peiting
- The Peiting fire brigade will be 150 years old in 2020.
An anniversary that one would have liked to have celebrated in a big way.
Everything was already planned, but then Corona destroyed all the work of the volunteers.
The disappointment still resonates today when Commander Klaus Straub talks about the bitter experience of the past year.
"We had hoped for a long time that it would somehow work."
The other events of the fire brigade association fared like the anniversary celebration.
Because of Corona, there was no way to maintain camaraderie, says board member Wolfgang Biehl.
A great loss, after all, the association's work lives from the meeting of active and passive members, the common togetherness.
The Peiting fire brigade deployed 115 times in 2020
Last year, due to the pandemic, this was limited to business missions.
The Peitingen firefighters deployed 115 times, which was significantly fewer than in the previous two years (2019: 134, 2018: 144).
The operating hours also fell accordingly from 2700 in 2019 to 2036 in 2020. "You can see the Corona kink there," says Straub.
In the spring and autumn of last year in particular, fewer people were on the road because of the lockdown, which, among other things, had an impact on the number of traffic accidents.
The statistics show 19 missions of this type for 2020, only the consequences of the hurricane lows in February required the fire fighters more often.
In February alone, the Peitingen emergency services were alerted 25 times to repair storm damage such as fallen trees.
Due to fires, the weir moved out 17 times last year.
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The storms in spring 2020 ensured that the Peitinger fire brigade was deployed many times.
© Hans-Helmut Herold (archive)
Peiting fire brigade: pandemic makes training difficult
Even if there were fewer missions to cope with overall in 2020: The challenges for the Peitinger Wehr due to the corona pandemic were much higher than in previous years.
This was particularly true for the training of the emergency services.
In March and April and from the end of October until the end of the year, the practice had to be completely stopped because of the infection situation, says Straub.
In the rest of the time, the training was only possible in small groups, with a mask and distance.
“We missed the big exercises in particular,” states the commander.
With corresponding effects.
"Then there is no routine in action."
The course for respiratory protection wearers was canceled, as were the courses at the state fire brigade schools.
Performance and squad leader tests could not take place either.
The start of the new youth group planned for autumn also had to be postponed.
"We hope now that we can get started after Pentecost."
Peiting fire brigade: A lot of administrative effort due to Corona
While the practice hours decreased due to the pandemic, the administrative burden increased at the same time. Much additional work brought Straub and his colleagues to the creation of hygiene concepts and the documentation for infection tracking. The same applied to personnel planning. Because the corona virus did not stop at the fire brigade, it was anything but easy to maintain operational readiness in the past year due to sick or quarantined members of the military, says Straub. "It was thanks to everyone involved that it worked well and without accidents," says the commander, thanking his colleagues.
Straub also wants to express this personally on June 19.
Then the annual meeting of the fire brigade, which was canceled in March, will be rescheduled.
Provided that Corona does not throw a spanner in the works this time.
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