Who has two turntable ladders?
The Graefelfinger fire brigade.
And she knows how to stage this luxury.
The resulting photo adorns advent calendars throughout Germany this year.
Graefelfing
- Julia Fuchs is happy with herself.
The 30-year-old managed to stage a sensational photo motif and make her Graefelfinger fire brigade really big.
Four comrades, two turntable ladders, 100 meter chain of lights, red lanterns, lots of foam, her mother's wedding dress and the Lochham lay-farmer's stage helped her.
Now the picture has been supplemented by 24 doors: The photo is the motif of this year's Advent calendar of the fire department magazine.
Before Christmas it will be found in numerous living rooms and children's rooms across Germany.
New ladder was delivered when the old one had not yet been picked up
Not every fire brigade has two turntable ladders, not even the one in Graefelfing. But there was a time last year when it was different. The old turntable ladder had become obsolete after 23 years and should be donated to the non-profit organization Orienthelfer. The new turntable ladder was delivered even before it was handed over - and two turntable ladders were already in place in the courtyard of the fire brigade. You have to do something with that, said Julia Fuchs. She is responsible for the public relations work of the Graefelfingen fire brigade and takes care of their appearance on Facebook and Instagram.
She always comes up with something on special days like Nicholas, Christmas or New Year's Eve.
So she started tinkering.
In October last year, she had the brilliant idea: She wanted to shape a Christmas tree out of the turntable ladders.
She initiated four comrades, together they calculated how many meters of fairy lights are needed, how many red lanterns it takes to give the Christmas tree enough baubles, and how to open the whole thing without neglecting the fire brigade's operational readiness.
It quickly became clear: an angel was needed for the top of the Christmas tree.
A doll was out of the question.
“We wanted to make it perfect,” says Fuchs.
Wings and wig borrowed from the Lochhamer lay-farmer's stage
She borrowed wings and a wig from Lochham's lay-farmer's stage, covered both with fairy lights, slipped into her mother's wedding dress, put fairy lights underneath, got a fall protection device and rejoiced at dizzying heights.
The communication went - how could it be otherwise with the fire brigade - via radio.
The snow that the picture shows was foam.
As Fuchs says: "If we put in the effort, we'll do it smart." On Christmas Eve 2020, Fuchs then sent the picture to the members and quietly to the fire brigade magazine for the competition for the advent calendar photo .
The photo shoot lasted several hours
It took until February until it became clear that the Graefelfinger motif was the best. Good things take time. Fuchs already knew that from photo shoots. It took four to five hours to set up everything so that it could be photographed. An alarm did not go off during this time. Lucky, otherwise they would have had to start all over again. But there has been an alarm since the announcement that Graefelfing's fire brigade adorns the Advent calendar. "We now have more followers on Instagram," says Fuchs. After all, the fire brigade magazine is read by many fire brigade members across Germany. What will the marketing expert, who at some point turned her hobby into a profession, think of next? Fuchs says she doesn't want to top it. But then she continues: "I have a little idea."
Now Graefelfing's fire brigade has ordered 200 advent calendars so that all members and their children can be provided with them.
Fuchs has heard that some people want to get the chocolate hidden behind the door out from behind so as not to destroy the picture.
Such feedback makes her happy: "The work was definitely worth it."
