2021 was a challenging year

Created: 01/03/2022, 08:07 AM

The helpers from the district of Dachau in the Ahr valley were on duty for four weeks in a row and helped where they could.

fot0: THW © Photo: THW

Dachau - Not only the corona pandemic challenged the Dachau THWler in 2021 - the heavy rain deployment in western Germany also employed the THW volunteers.

Now the technical relief organization drew an annual balance.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, the volunteers of the Technical Relief Organization have been and are in "permanent pandemic operations". From the construction of test and vaccination centers, an auxiliary hospital in Dachau to the transport and delivery of protective equipment and vaccines, the past year was again characterized by Corona. Restrictions in day-to-day training or social contacts were also inevitable - fortunately, the THW Dachau's readiness for action was always fully guaranteed.

The corona pandemic was overshadowed by the heavy rain in the Ahr valley. Exactly four weeks were, in addition to thousands of helpers from the Federal Armed Forces, fire brigade, emergency services and others, over 50 THW helpers in the Ahr valley. Every week, the Dachau volunteers exchanged ideas in the area, pumped over 1.2 million liters of heating oil from destroyed houses, cleared them and helped where necessary - every day for 12 to 16 hours. “The TV pictures or photos that we initially saw from the damaged area did not in any way reflect the reality on site. We have never seen such damage on such a scale - and we have already seen some bad things, "emphasizes press spokesman Sven Langer, who speaks of the" greatest effort in the history of the THW Dachau ".

It remained relatively "quiet" for the Dachau THW workers in the Dachau district.

Nevertheless: With around 110 missions, the Dachau THW local association is and remains one of the most active THW units in Bavaria.

"The most important thing for me is that all of our people have come back healthy from the missions, and I wish that for 2022", says THW boss Christian Weber.  

Last year the THW helpers did over 31,500 volunteer hours - a more remarkable achievement.

The two THW youth groups could not meet at all or only to a limited extent in 2021, "but hope to be able to get started again in the coming year, because it is important for the kids to meet again," says THW youth leader Mathis Basenach.

The first responder (on-site helpers) unit, which has been completely separate from THW operations for over 17 years and has been staffed on a voluntary basis every day, was alerted to "more missions than ever before!", Says Julian Steinhardt, who Head of the HVO unit. The volunteer paramedics went on over 300 missions, from a pinched finger, a febrile seizure, broken leg or heart attack to a stroke.

“This year it became clear once again how important voluntary work is, regardless of whether it is the fire brigade, rescue service or the THW - without such a strong voluntary work as we have in Germany, Bavaria and of course in the Dachau district, there would be a lot did not go the way it went.

So it is of course also important to say thank you, especially to the volunteers, but also to their families and employers, who often have to do without ”, says press spokesman Sven Langer.

dn