G7 summit: The helpers in the background
Created: 07/05/2022, 10:00 am
By: Andreas Seiler
Nice souvenir photo: emergency services from the Wallgau, Mittenwald and Partenkirchen fire brigades as well as the district fire inspection with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
© FFW GAP
District – The G7 summit was a tour de force.
Not only for the army of police officers (there were a total of 18,000 at the top), who made sure that the world politics meeting at the end of June at Schloss Elmau went smoothly and smoothly.
In the background, too, countless members of so-called non-police organizations worked around the clock during the "hot phase" and also made a valuable contribution - most of them also on a voluntary basis.
Estimates assume around 3500 helpers.
District – "Excellent work was done," attests District Administrator Anton Speer (free voters).
After the Bavarian Cross, which had already sent out its own press release, the Technical Relief Agency (THW), the fire brigade, the Bundeswehr and the mountain rescue service drew their conclusions yesterday at a joint press conference in the district office.
Tenor: It was a tough time, but fortunately everything went off without major incidents.
Technical aid organization:
The volunteer organization of the federal government had moved in with around 1,000 men and women.
They mainly provided technical and logistical support.
Among other things, more than 850 searchlights and spotlights were operated with 80 mobile high-performance units, which ensured good lighting conditions around the summit site and at other locations - including the bridge to the protest camp in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
In addition, the THW employees repaired paths and roads, operated the tank logistics and took over the repair of vehicles and equipment with a mobile workshop container.
Another task was to feed the emergency services.
THW President Gerd Friedsam is satisfied and emphasizes the good cooperation with the other institutions involved:
Fire department:
The figures that the volunteer fire brigade comes up with are impressive.
Accordingly, they provided about 600 volunteers.
On the summit days, they worked around 1,500 shifts with a total duration of almost 18,000 hours.
"This shows the enormous potential that the fire brigades in our district have," commented District Fire Councilor Johann Eitzenberger.
"We were prepared for everything." The focus was on securing the helipads.
That means: In the worst case, extinguishing and rescue work could have started immediately.
As a special recognition, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) posed for a group photo with some of the Florian disciples.
Remarkable: In order to be able to get to the conference hotel quickly in the event of a fire, a temporary rescue center was set up in the safety zone.
And the experts at the fire brigade school in Geretsried received precise instructions on what to do after an accident with an armored state limousine.
Eitzenberger assures: The usual equipment also works there - "if you know where".
mountain rescue:
The G7 summit was unusual for the mountain rescue team in the highland region, as it was for their colleagues from the fire brigade.
Because normally they only move out when an alarm is raised.
But this time they had to be constantly on standby – at ten guard posts.
The Schachen was also one of the locations.
280 mountain rescuers were deployed – with around 50 vehicles.
Central task: Quick help for people in need, regardless of whether they are police officers or demonstrators.
"As a mountain rescue service, we have lived up to our role of being there for everyone," sums up operations manager Heinz Neiber.
The concept worked – despite the short preparation time.
According to him, one challenge was the supervision of the star march.
Some participants took on a demanding route in rough terrain - and at around 30 degrees.
The mountain rescue workers therefore diligently distributed water bottles.
One protester was exhausted from the heat - and taken to hospital.
Bundeswehr:
The approximately 300 Bundeswehr soldiers were less visible to the public.
They worked in the medical service and contributed logistical support.
This consisted primarily of accommodating and feeding other task forces in the barracks.
In addition, selected journalists were flown to Elmau by helicopter from the media center on the local mountain.
And rescue helicopters were stationed in Mittenwald.
Matthias Stauch is the head of the Bavarian Zugspitzbahn full-time.
Now he had a very different function: as a lieutenant colonel in the reserve, he coordinated the G7 contribution of the force.
He was particularly impressed by the cooperation between the organizations: "We were very well integrated."
