The district applied to the Free State for a large disaster control boat for Lake Starnberg, which would be stationed in Starnberg.
The fire brigades fear that if a steamboat catches fire, their boats will be lost.
EMS Berg doesn't make the situation any easier.
Starnberg
- District Administrator Stefan Frey has written to the Ministry of the Interior and the Home Office and requested the procurement of a large disaster control boat for Lake Starnberg. There are fire-fighting boats, including some from the district - but they are too small to fight fires, and some of them are difficult to get onto the maritime vessels. Experts from the state fire brigade school in Geretsried discovered this fact after a disaster control exercise in 2008 - a fire on a steamer, the "Bernried", was assumed. The situation has been made even more difficult by the commissioning of the largest electric passenger ship in Germany, the EMS Berg.
Starnberg's commander in charge, Markus Grasl, has been dealing with the capacities for some time - because of the fire brigade requirement plan for the city that is being worked on, the requirements are being analyzed, but also because of the B 2 tunnel or the Schorn industrial estate.
Fighting ship fires was not just a challenge.
The report on the 2008 exercise already states that there is no fire-fighting boat on the lake, says Grasl.
Main reason: The boats are rather small, but the sides of the steamers are high.
Grasl explains that there is a correspondingly large boat on Lake Chiemsee that you have also looked at.
In his opinion, there is no way around Lake Starnberg.
Electric ship is a headache for fire brigades
District fire chief Peter Bauch agrees with him. “We have to assume the greatest possible danger,” he says. According to the maximum number of passengers, Lake Starnberg has the largest fleet in Bavaria - there are more than 2500 on all ships. Although the safety concept allows steamers to call at the next jetty in the event of an emergency or fire or, in extreme cases, simply the next bank, this does not mean that everyone can be brought off board. If the drive fails completely, the steamer drifts on the lake. Then other passenger ships come to his aid, but also water rescuers and fire brigades. Belly also says that their boats are too small to be able to get on board quickly.
According to Grasl and Bauch, the new EMS Berg is a "floating high-voltage storage system" that cannot simply be extinguished in the event of a fire. “We have experience with rechargeable batteries,” says Bauch, meaningfully, referring to fires in electric boats in the past. An e-boat once burned in Percha, which had to be flooded for long-term cooling. Electric drives have the property of burning again and again under certain circumstances. Next point: The fire brigades only know EMS from pictures, there has never been an inspection by the rescuers, say Bauch and Grasl. This also applies to water rescuers like the DLRG, who would pick up passengers in an emergency. According to the shipping company, this is being worked on. So that the fire brigade knows what they need, says shipping manager Michael Grießer.
Maritime shipping generally takes a lot of protective measures on its ships, emphasizes Grießer - for example, with flame-retardant materials, separate engine rooms (so that the ships remain maneuverable) and more.
EMS Berg also has separate battery rooms so that the other can continue to be used in the event of an accident in one.
Interior Ministry is currently collecting applications
The district office confirmed the letter to the two ministries, whereby the commissioning of the EMS Berg also plays a role. The matter had reached the district administrator via the city and its mayor Patrick Janik. The letter was sent in mid-May. The Ministry of the Interior confirmed receipt upon request. A spokeswoman said: “The district of Starnberg has submitted a corresponding application for funding for a disaster control boat. The funding applications from the Bavarian Disaster Management 2030 investment program will initially be collected by the end of June and then evaluated and checked. "
Markus Grasl has specific ideas for the practical implementation. The fireboat would have to be housed in a boat shed at the shipyard in Starnberg, maintenance and operation should be financed by shipping - and thus by the Free State, because shipping on the lake belongs to him (like lake, by the way). The police boathouse is also located on the shipyard site. The crew of the boat would be provided by the Starnberg fire brigade, because on the basis of the recommendations of experts after the 2008 exercise, the so-called shock troop tactic, in which several fire-fighting troops fight the main danger, the fire and its smoke, at the same time, since the potentially large number of those affected is not all can be rescued at the same time (saving people through fire fighting) - in the event of a room fire, for example, it is usually only extinguishedwhen people are saved. The Starnberg Wehr has been practicing the raid troop tactics for some time because it is the method of choice for Grasl in the B 2 tunnel.
Whether and when such a boat will be used on Lake Starnberg is not foreseeable. In any case, Grasl sees no problem with the financing; if necessary, you would have to add a few security cents to the fare, he thinks.