Everything cleared, everyone saved: large-scale exercise by mountain rescue services and fire brigades on the Blomberg

140 emergency services from five mountain rescue teams and four fire departments rehearsed the emergency on Thursday evening.

An explosion in the Blomberghaus was assumed - but that was not the only place of action.

Wackersberg / Bad Tölz - The house alarm has been shrill deafening for minutes.

Rauch slowly fills the basement of the Blomberghaus.

But in front of the door everything is still very relaxed.

“The victims could go out onto the balcony,” shouts one.

This is actually necessary, because the large-scale exercise on the Blomberg will begin in a few minutes, in which around 140 active members from five mountain rescue services and four fire departments are involved.

The Wackersberg fire brigade does not even need 15 minutes to climb the mountain

The alarm is given at 7:03 p.m. “Exercise, exercise, exercise”, this is how the radio message from the Oberland Integrated Control Center begins and ends. In between there is a brief description. The Blomberghaus is on fire. There is a risk of spreading to the adjacent forest. The number of people affected is unclear, but it is assumed that there are more than ten. The emergency services are moving out in the valley. Even the journey to the mountain inn at an altitude of 1203 meters is a challenge with the large fire trucks. But less than 15 minutes later, the forces from the Wackersberg fire brigade arrive on site, almost simultaneously with their colleagues from Bad Heilbrunn. Only district fire chief Georg Lettner was faster. "He's now taking over the command of operations and the first preliminary reconnaissance," explains Josef Bail from the district fire inspection.who looks after the media that evening.

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The mountain guards looked after the "injured" on the meadow next to the Blomberghaus.

© Krinner

The first people are rescued with ladders from the balcony

The further procedure is discussed.

In the meantime, the Oberfischbach and Bad Tölz fire brigades have also arrived.

Tasks are distributed.

Respirators penetrate into the smoky areas of the house to look for injuries, and the fire-fighting work begins.

Outside, rescuers put a ladder on the balcony to rescue the two people who are calling for help there.

“Of course it's just an exercise, but you can see how much dynamic there is behind it.

Everyone wants to do their thing well, ”says Bail.

Terrible scenes behind the house: Impal injury when jumping from the balcony

Terrible scenes are going on behind the house.

A young woman is lying on the floor and screaming.

“Now finally do something,” she moans.

She jumped from the balcony, she describes.

According to the exercise scenario, she landed on a pipe protruding from the ground and staked herself in the process.

Until the emergency doctor arrives, “the two firefighters stay with her,” explains Bail.

Mountain rescue services must prioritize patients: red stands for danger to life

The mountain rescue emergency doctors are currently still on the front of the house.

The first "injured" people who were rescued from the building by the fire brigade also arrive there.

They are handed over at a predetermined point.

"We are not allowed to go into the direct danger zone," explains Dr.

Tobias Reploh.

The mountain rescue emergency doctor is on site as an observer that evening.

On the neighboring meadow, the mountain rescuers are currently setting up the area in which the injured are being treated.

With so many patients, one cannot take care of all of them immediately.

First of all, it needs to be prioritized, says Reploh.

It works with colors: red means danger to life, treatment is necessary immediately.

Yellow stands for seriously injured, green for able to walk.

“That doesn't mean he's unharmed,” says Reploh.

The fire brigade and mountain rescuer work hand in hand

"We urgently need an emergency doctor on the east side," says one rescuer.

There lies the young woman with the impaling injury.

Her vital signs, which she would have if she were really badly injured, are noted on a piece of paper.

The treatment is based on these.

"The boss in the ring is always the ambulance and the one who is at the patient's head," explains Bail.

“The top of the pipe must be cut as far as it will go,” the emergency doctor instructs the fire brigade.

The patient is then carefully rolled onto her side so that the tube at the other end can also be cut.

Then the transport takes place.

"She would now be flown safely to the Murnau Clinic by helicopter," says Bail.

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Not only fires were simulated, but also an accident involving a mountain rescue vehicle and a cyclist

© Krinner

"We just threw a smoke grenade": That changes the situation

Firemen around the corner are trying to prevent the fire from spreading to the forest.

You will have to step up your efforts significantly in a few minutes.

"Change of situation," says Bail.

“We just threw a smoke grenade.” In the exercise scenario that means: Now the forest is on fire!

And there is also a cry for help from below the Blomberghaus.

There, the practitioners have to assume that a mountain rescue vehicle ran over a cyclist and the woman was trapped under the car.

The mountain rescue ambulance and fire brigade work hand in hand here to free and care for the injured.

Rescued eleven people from the house and handed them over to the mountain rescue service

The first briefing takes place at 8:25 p.m. "All radios off," it says at the beginning. District fire chief Marc Vopelius from the local operations manager support group summarizes the key points, but also provides data on weather and wind. District fire chief Erich Zengerle von Lettner has now taken over the management of operations. Zengerle was already on the mountain at the beginning of the exercise. In an emergency, however, he would have to make the journey from Egling behind him first. He hands it over directly to the section head. Lettner reports on the fire brigade operations. Eleven people were found and handed over to the mountain rescue service. The forest fire has been extinguished. Johannes Kuntze-Fechner, deputy on-call manager of the Bad Tölz mountain rescue service, summarizes the situation from a mountain rescue service's point of view.Another person was found on the north side in the forest. Among the twelve patients, five are red, two are yellow and five are green. "Everything fits during the removal."

At 9 p.m. the "overall situation is relaxed"

Then the last tasks are processed.

“The overall situation is relaxed,” says Vopelius at the meeting at 9 p.m.

“Everything has been processed by the fire brigade,” explains Zengerle.

“There is only one patient left on the premises,” reports Kuntze-Fechner.

Its removal is already underway.

Satisfied nod, brief applause.

That's it.

The debriefing will show whether everything went well or whether there is room for improvement.

The following were involved:

the Bad Heilbrunn, Bad Tölz, Oberfischbach and Wackersberg fire brigades, the district fire inspection, the local operations manager support group, the Bad Tölz, Benediktbeuern, Lenggries, Penzberg and Wolfratshausen mountain rescue services and the BRK.

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