The volunteer fire brigade in Forstinning is 150 years old.
Officially.
Unofficially, it is assumed, even a few years older.
Forstinning – Only recently, on a Monday: around 9.23 a.m., the local fire brigade in Forstinning was alerted to a traffic accident.
On the connecting road between Forstinning and state road 23 32, a car drove into the adjacent embankment near the Wagmühle for reasons that were not yet known, according to a quick report, and came to a standstill on the road, with the car being massively damaged.
Together with the comrades from Pastetten, the road was closed off on both sides, car parts and branches were removed and the accident vehicle was pushed to the side so that traffic was not further obstructed until the towing service arrived.
A very ordinary, now unfortunately almost everyday occurrence, which the Forstinning fire brigade describes almost verbatim a few hours later in a separate entry on the Internet platform Facebook.
These have long been events that local fire brigades - like the one in Forstinning - make public as part of their very own public relations work.
Photos included.
Accidents occur almost every day in the district
Of course it wasn't always like that.
The men had anything but public relations in mind when they set up a local fire brigade in Forstinning exactly 150 years ago.
It is now considered certain that structures similar to those of a fire brigade must have existed in the village for years.
As early as 1861, the municipality purchased a fire extinguisher at its own expense, manufactured by the Baumair bell foundries in Erding and bought for 700 guilders.
At least that's what it says in a 48-page chronicle that those responsible for Forstinningen completed in time for the anniversary weekend on July 1st.
There it also says: "It can be assumed that those who fought back in 1871/72 got used to discipline, order and cooperation,
came together in a tightly managed volunteer fire brigade.
This is also proven by the rather military-sounding designations (batches) such as captain, adjutant, ensign, bugler, prop master.”
From that point on, a clear distinction was made between compulsory and voluntary fire brigades.
In 1872, exactly 72 of the approximately 400 male residents of the town belonged to the fire brigade.
However, it can no longer be determined whether the 16 founding members of the voluntary fire brigade are included in this number or whether they have to be added.
An excerpt from the community chronicle shows how thoroughly the "Red Rooster" cleaned up the village at that time:
1873: Kirchmeierbauer cremated.
All animals burned.
1874: Oberweindl burned down.
1877: Corbinian Herzog, Aitersteinering and Lechner cremated in Sempt.
1880: Farmer Widmann, mountain burned down
1882: Kistler, Aitersteinering burned down, only a few pieces of clothing were saved.
Hörgstetter estate completely burned down.
Neighboring houses in danger.
Weirs from Anzing and Swabia help out.
Even then it became apparent that a powerful team was needed to tackle all the tasks that needed to be tackled.
The new chronicle, hot off the press, also knows a lot about this.
Quote: "Honorary commander Kaspar Bartl remembers: In the past, there was real drill, and when the fire brigade marched up, a whole company would come along."
Even then it was a big hit
Somehow logical: As early as 1877, a plot of land was bought for the purpose of building the fire station.
The great hurricane of 1894 demanded the full commitment of the fire brigade.
The church chronicle states this explicitly.
Let's turn to the new chronicle for the 150th anniversary, which can be purchased on the festive days for a nominal fee: "In the period between 1880 and 1900, the list of volunteer fire brigades often says: returned to duty.
This happened when a member was absent from exercises more often, was no longer able or willing to pay his fee, or was excluded for other reasons.
Only those who could afford to pay higher contributions to the voluntary fire brigade did not have to join the compulsory fire brigade.
This regulation essentially remained in effect until after the First World War.” Documents from this period have been completely lost, although they were still available at the time of the 60th anniversary in 1932.
The years between 1930 and 1937 are marked by a waning enthusiasm after the flag consecration days.
As early as 1931, Board Member Anton Stimmer had to make a sharp appeal to young people to remember the duties of the volunteer fire brigade, and in 1935 the payment of 5 RM was threatened as a fine for missed exercises whose attendance was described as miserable.”
Half of the festival week starts next Friday
The new commemorative publication provides an amazing number of other little stories about the fire brigade up to the present, with a large part of the chronicle being taken from the chronicle that was created in 1972 for the 100-year anniversary.
The author remains unknown, they say.
In 1997 Josef Polz updated the fire brigade chronicle.
He writes: “The visible highlight of the positive development was the fire station built in 1980/81 with a lot of work by the fire brigade.
Today, the sparkling clean fire station is a testament to the high technical standard and the positive motivation of all members, especially the young firefighters who are moving up.
In 2008, the FFW house received an extension that added a new vehicle hall for a multi-purpose vehicle and a training room in the basement.
A partnership with the fire brigade Deutsch- Jahrndorf from Austria is established under the commander Stefan John and mayor Arnold Schmidt.
International contacts also developed with the Hungarian comrades from the twin town of Dunasziget.
There are mutual visits.
In the meantime, however, these connections have fallen asleep.
New chronicle is also available
In March 2020, the corona pandemic reached the volunteer fire brigades.
The chroniclers note: “Within a very short time, all practice operations and club life are shut down.
After a few months, you start practicing in small groups, which had to be briefly interrupted again in spring 2021.” During this time, the number of deployments fell noticeably, but the fire brigade remained fully operational at all times.
The planning of the upcoming festival was also subject to political decisions and measures for a long time, which meant that until a few months before the founding anniversary it was not clear whether this could actually take place as planned.
It was only in March that the decision was made that the celebration should take place in July 2022.
You can read more news from the Ebersberg region here.
By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Ebersberg newsletter
