Small Starnberg fire brigade dissolves: is that threatening others too?

Created: 01/04/2022, 3:00 PM

On the way to action: The Starnberg fire brigade (pictured in 2016 when approaching a fire on Wittelsbacherstraße) has staff concerns - the ones in some local brigades are larger and in many cases so large that they can only move out to a limited extent during the day.

© ike

With the Hanfeld fire brigade, one of the six smaller fire brigades in the city has decided to liquidate itself - the staff is simply not enough.

Does that threaten other defenses as well?

Starnberg - The self-dissolution of the Hanfeld Volunteer Fire Brigade at the end of last year could only have been the beginning: All local fire brigades are struggling to a greater or lesser extent with acute personnel problems, and the reasons are the same everywhere. It seems certain: Not all local fire brigades will remain as independent units in the long term and, like the Hanfeld fire fighting group, will become part of a different fire brigade. It is always about the emergency services, not the fire brigade associations, even if the two are closely related. The fire brigade requirement plan plays an important role in this, although contrary to earlier dates it is still not ready.

As early as when the active in Hanfeld decided to change status to the fire fighting group (the association continues to exist), Mayor Patrick Janik had indicated that this could also be imminent for other fighters. The fire brigade requirement plan, for which experts examined structures, personnel, equipment and potential dangers in the urban area, will make statements on this - which one is not yet known. The plan, said Janik on request, is not yet in the final version in the town hall. Among other things, there were delays due to the corona pandemic; At the moment he could not give a date when the more than 100-page work can be presented to the city council. Before this, it must be sent to the district fire inspection for comments. The city councils should receive the draft plan as early as possible.So it could be in the coming weeks. The fate of some defenses in the coming years depends on the content, the construction of tool sheds, but also the procurement needs for the city - and it therefore harbors explosives.

Some weirs in the urban area are not operational during the day

Some weirs in the urban area are not operational during the day in terms of the minimum strength (one group, nine active; six for smaller vehicles). The situation is much better at night and on weekends. The reason is obvious: very few work in their own places. The brigades are losing active people, but not because they are turning their backs on the fire brigade - especially young people cannot find affordable housing in the towns and are moving away. They are lost for the local defense, but often not for those of the new place of residence. As a rule of thumb, you need three times the number of emergency services to ensure that there are always enough people to raise the alarm. The fire brigade is responsible for organizing the fire brigade - he and the active forces have to decide whether they want to be part of a neighboring brigade as a fire fighting group.However, this rarely happens voluntarily; it is usually a necessity. There are few fire fighting groups in the district, for example in Aschering or Diemendorf.

Thomas Lang, who was in command of the Percha fire brigade until a few days ago, knows the problems only too well. His defense does not have sufficient staff, not even at night or on weekends. That is why a reduced crew for on-site operations is reported to the control center, which means that in the event of an alarm, other brigades are always alerted - Starnberg usually or Berg. Lang counts: In the past three years or so he has lost at least four active members because of moving, to Pöcking, Unterbrunn or further away. “There's nothing to be found in Percha,” he attests. The smaller a place, the less a suitable and affordable apartment is available. The situation is similar with the workplaces: Almost exactly two of the active members of the Perchaer Wehr also work in Percha - one of them is Lang himself.Two were last in the home office, which has improved the situation somewhat. Lang personally expects that his successor, who has not yet been determined, will have to deal with the question of “delete group or not”.

Working from home improves the situation, but is not a permanent solution

Home office, also thinks Wangen's commander Florian Feuerlein, has made the situation a little better, but it is not a permanent solution and certainly not predictable.

The fact that a comrade works at home does not mean that he is available at all times.

Feuerlein sees his defense as "relatively well positioned", a good 20 active people come regularly.

But Wangen does not have the target strength either, almost no weir in the district can do that.

Wangen is also losing members by moving away, "it's the same for everyone".

Feuerlein does not assume that Wangen will become an extinguishing group, but strongly advocates new models: “We need different deployment concepts,” he says, even across commune or district boundaries.

He can also imagine joint groups of several weirs.

The staff in Leutstetten is “quite stable”, reports commander Michael Rattelmüller.

"At the moment we are in a usable position. But that can change quickly," he says if, for example, several members move away in a short period of time.

This is not predictable, but the staffing levels at the Leutstetten fire brigade are also dwindling: in a few years, some active people will reach the age limit.

There are always new active participants, but “we could be more”.

The deletion group question does not arise there at the moment.

Problem: Fire fighters find it difficult to find apartments

Perchting is one of the smaller brigades, and there too, Commander Sven Vermehren has left because of relocation - one of them was in 2021. "Thank God, we have women who are being trained," he says. During the day, the staff cover is thin (the weir is logged off, is only alerted when deployments on site with other weir), at night and on the weekend not. Jobs have always been a problem, the boys work away from home, and older comrades on site have reached the age limit. Living room? “You don't get anything affordable here.” The Perchtinger Wehr does not see an increase on the way to the fire fighting group, the requirements are met and the need for training (including newcomers) is increasing.

The Hadorf fire brigade is not worried, as commander Florian Kraus says.

With two dozen active people, you have enough staff for your own vehicle, also because there are still farming families in Hadorf.

In the end, the defense has even grown, also because in Hadorf in the village it is, so to speak, good manners to be in the fire brigade.

“At the moment we're not at all afraid of becoming a fire fighting group,” says Kraus.

The city armed forces, as their commander Markus Grasl has repeatedly emphasized since taking office, has a significant shortfall in personnel.

As a rule, his calculations result in an additional requirement of more than 60 active persons in order to be able to cover the requirements - also with regard to the B 2 tunnel and other projects.

Starnberg has also temporarily deregistered vehicles due to staff shortages.