Westerheim - Naked numbers about firefighting operations are one thing.
But behind every operation there is human suffering, on the part of those affected as well as on the part of the emergency services.
"We are often torn from the most beautiful dreams to experience some nightmares," said District Fire Councilor Alexander Möbus at this year's Commanders' Meeting in Westerheim.
Their focus was on the first year after Corona, in which club life and assignments normalized to a certain extent.
In 2022, the Lower Allgäu fire brigades had to be called out to more than 2,000 operations - around 300 more than in the previous year.
Technical assistance now accounts for around half of all operations (almost 900), while fires with 400 operations affect just one fifth of alarms.
Overall, the district's fire departments were unnecessarily alerted 328 times last year, including 100 so-called false alarms.
During the operations, according to District Fire Councilor Alexander Möbius, 155 people were saved and 272 people received medical treatment, but for 20 any help came too late.
But these bare figures could not convey the human suffering behind each operation, added the chief firefighter in the Lower Allgäu.
There is suffering on both sides
that of those affected by an accident or fire and also by the emergency services.
They would give up their free time to help others and sometimes have to experience nightmarish situations.
It is therefore all the more incomprehensible that "fewer and fewer people seem to understand the necessary activities and measures of the fire brigade," criticized Möbus.
And said: "What kind of problem is it to take a small detour because of a road block, while the cause was that people had to lose their lives because of a traffic accident." From his point of view, higher penalties for aggression towards emergency services but not lead to the goal.
Rather, in our society, a transfer of values must take place again, which must begin in early childhood.
This also includes showing the emergency services the necessary respect.
The fire brigades (but not only) could contribute a part to this,
However, the fire brigades in the Lower Allgäu cannot complain about the influx: 40 youth fire brigades with 523 candidates, including 122 girls, are currently active, plus another 51 children in four children's fire brigades.
And while the number of active volunteers, i.e. those over 18 years old, remained constant, the number of female firefighters increased by 30. The fire services, on the other hand, had to accept a drop in the number of people wearing breathing apparatus;
There are 129 volunteer fire brigades in the district - there are also no professional fire brigades in the two cities of Bad Wörishofen and Mindelheim, volunteers also provide the emergency services here - and a factory fire brigade.
There was also a plus in the training and further education of firefighters last year: 159 courses, including for group leaders,
to head a fire department or as an equipment manager have been completed.
However, the defenses are still behind the numbers from the pre-corona period.
Alexander Möbus and the other employees of the district fire inspection were able to award numerous fire service personnel for active service (25 years, 40 years and even 50 years) and for achieving certain performance badges in the past year.
Departments 5 and 10 have been newly staffed
In order to take into account the ever-diverse deployment activities, but also the fact that more and more women are at the forefront of firefighting, department 5 (disaster control and civil protection) and department 10 (women's work) have been reassigned.
This could be seen in the report by the chairman of the district fire brigade association Unterallgäu.
Among other things, it dealt with the qualification of rescue workers in the topic of e-mobility, which has now become very topical.
After training and further education was restricted during the pandemic, an online seminar was offered.
The equipment of the fire services must also be supplemented with a view to e-mobility. There are now special kits for the case that an electric car has an accident or catches fire.
Interested parties could get an idea of it at a demonstration and also find out more about it during a trip to Interschutz, the trade fair for rescue workers in Hanover last year.
While fire brigade festivals are extremely popular with the population and attract visitors, such as the 160th anniversary of the Mindelheim volunteer fire brigade at the end of September, the weather at the district fire brigade day in Ottobeuren at the beginning of October was, to Möbu's regret, anything but inviting.
The departments of the district fire brigade association, consisting of respiratory protection, dangerous goods, basic training, information and communication, psychosocial emergency care for emergency services, fire protection education, youth and the new department of deployment, disaster control and civil protection, presented themselves there.
"The Ottobeuren fire brigade set up a framework program that couldn't be done better," summed up the district fire council.
“Despite the bad weather, everyone involved didn't let their spirits spoil.
In short, everyone had fun and it was a huge success”, Alexander Möbus concluded this report and also thanked all helping hands.
At the meeting, the psychosocial emergency care of the emergency services (PSNV-E) was specifically addressed, the aid transports to the Ukraine by the state fire brigade association were also a topic, as well as the ABeK alert notice, the alert in the rescue service, fire and disaster protection in Bavaria
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