A drunk firefighter races through Soest in a fire truck with blue lights flashing for no reason

Created: 12/26/2022, 10:58 am

A drunk firefighter caused an accident in Soest.

(Symbol image/archive) © Lino Mirgeler/dpa

A drunk firefighter caused an accident in Soest with a fire engine.

He shouldn't even have driven the vehicle sober.

Soest – A very unusual accident happened on Boxing Day in Soest: early Monday morning (December 26), a drunk firefighter drove through Soest in a fire engine with a siren and blue lights, crashed into a parked car and then fled.

Soest: Drunk fireman didn't even have a driver's license

At around 4:50 a.m., the man was in the fire engine in a housing estate in the east of Soest.

He damaged a parked car in Birkenweg.

Then he drove to the fire station.

The police quickly determined that there was no fire service in the area at the time.

The officials also found out that the driver of the fire truck was a 25-year-old volunteer firefighter from Bad Westernkotten who was "under the significant influence of alcohol", according to the police.

He also did not have a license to drive the vehicle.

Volunteer fire brigade in North Rhine-Westphalia

The volunteer fire brigade plays a central role in firefighting in Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia: In most of them, fire protection is not only ensured by a professional fire brigade, but mainly by volunteer firefighters.

In North Rhine-Westphalia there are 50 cities with voluntary fire brigades, in which full-time emergency services are also active.

The oldest volunteer fire brigades in the state are in Arnsberg (since 1879) and Recklinghausen (since 1878).

It is still unclear what drove him to drive drunk through Soest in a fire engine at Christmas, which he should not even have been allowed to drive sober.

The man's driver's license was secured and a blood sample was taken from him.

Further investigations follow and a complaint has been filed against the man.