Painted thanks to the former mayor

The Hechendorf volunteer fire brigade honored and promoted numerous comrades at its annual general meeting.

Special thanks went to former mayor Wolfram Gum.

Hechendorf

- You have come through the pandemic well so far, the comrades of the Hechendorf volunteer fire brigade. With 63 active members, the number was almost constant over the past year. But for many months something was still missing: the camaraderie, the togetherness, the exchange beyond the missions. How big the pent-up demand is was shown at the annual general meeting for 2020 and 2021 on Thursday. The firefighters sat together in the tool shed and chatted until well after the official end and until well after midnight. “When was this the last time?” Says chairman Alexander von Dehn in an interview with Starnberg Mercury.

Von Dehn had previously submitted his biennial report. The visit to the 150th anniversary of the Oberalting-Seefeld fire brigade, the camaraderie evening at the Wehr in Drößling, the training trip to the BMW works fire brigade in Munich followed by a visit to the Allianz Arena, and the popular Christmas tree sale were highlights in club life before Corona.

Commander Benni Grütze disclosed the number of operations in his report: The comrades had completed 68 technical assistance, 18 fire operations and ten security measures in 2019 and 2020. That was noticeably less than in previous years, when the Hechendorfer were alerted about 60 times a year on average. 36 firefighters took part in various courses. Currently, the Wehr counts 16 group leaders, 21 respiratory protection wearers and eleven machinists among the 63 active members. According to Grützes, the average age is around 32 years - which is also due to the good youth work in Hechendorf. According to youth warden Thomas Kukuk, the youth fire brigade had eleven boys and five girls last year - the bottom line was six members less than the year before,However, this can only be justified with the takeover into active service.

"We are still happy about the high number of young people," says Chairman von Dehn. "But without the Corona requirements, youth advertising would have been pushed forward." With the new tool shed on Oberfeld, the fire brigade has a new attraction for this, emphasized von Dehn. Speaking of the fire station: Von Dehn wanted to thank former mayor Wolfram Gum for this and generally for his support during his 30 years of service. For “the good and constructive cooperation” he presented the former mayor with a painting of Hechendorf with the fire station, maypole and the Zugspitze in the background, made by Monika Palla from Sterzing in South Tyrol.

Deputy Mayor Thomas Zimmermann praised the firefighters' initiative and announced an inauguration party, but without giving a date. Fire brigade officer Christian Wagner, the chairman of the district fire brigade association, Michael Polednik, and Martin Wastian from the district fire inspection also expressed praise and thanks.

The honors were Beate Blecha, Lukas Ruhdorfer (each ten years of active service), Josef Lorenz (20 years), Martin Hiltl, Marcus Wegner (each 25 years, fire service badge in silver), Eduard Ginder (30 years) and Uli Blecha (40 years, Badge of Honor in Gold). Peter Hillen received the Fire Brigade Medal of Honor from the District Fire Brigade Association in silver. Patrik Herrmann was promoted to fire department candidate, Erik Bassermann, Kilian Botz, Benedikt Dimbath, Andreas Kleinholz, Christopher Horsch, Leo Kukuk, Elena Lehner, Maxime Salcher and Hans Kriechhammer to fire fighter, Maximilian von Dehn, Florian Ruhdorfer and Florian Mayr to main fire fighters as well Beate Blecha and Ariane Blecha as chief fire fighters.