Freiburg: First military meeting after Corona interruption held in Freiburg – Volunteer fire brigade also had plenty to do in 2021 – Over 45,000 hours spent in exercises, training, operations and security guards

Due to Corona, there was no military meeting in 2021, but yesterday, Wednesday, the high point in the annual calendar of the Freiburg volunteer fire brigade (FF) took place again. Over 600 invited guests, including 100 guests of honor from politics and firefighters from the departments, accepted the invitation to the new exhibition center in compliance with the hygiene concept.

Surrounded by performances by the music procession, there was a lot going on yesterday in the presence of Mayor Martin Horn, who spoke a greeting from the city of Freiburg, until late in the evening. Because the military assembly serves as a platform for the volunteer fire brigade towards politics, administration and other aid organizations, as city fire chief Achim Müller emphasized in his welcome address.
Then his deputies Stefan Fritz and Andreas Melzl presented the 2021 activity report of the FF (effective date: December 31, 2021).

The volunteer fire brigade now has 531 active members, including 43 women (8 percent). In 2020 there were 532 active people, including 32 women (6 percent), in 2019 there were 502 active people, including 21 women (4 percent).
The youth work in the youth defense remains exemplary. Here, too, there are now 216 members aged 10 and over – more than ever before. Among them are 48 girls and young women (22 percent). For comparison: in 2020 there were 192 members, 46 of whom were women. In 2019 there were 215 members, 46 of whom were women.
The honorary department of the FF consists only of comrades from the professional fire brigade, the volunteer fire brigade, the works fire brigade and the band who have reached the age limit of 60 or 65 or who are no longer active on duty for health reasons. It currently has 184 members.
In the music procession, which played several times last night, 52 members, including 26 women (50 percent), have been presenting the fire brigade in public for years.

In the whole of 2021 there were 2,714 fire brigade operations, of which the volunteer fire brigade had 698 alerts and was involved in 542 operations. On average, she was alerted 1.9 times a day and had 1.48 calls a day. This corresponds to 6,385 hours of use. In 2020 there were 2,544 total missions, of which the FF had 981 alerts and was involved in 413 missions.

Overall, the total hourly output of the FF 2021 with the fire brigade services was 45,981 hours (2019: 56,687, 2020: not representative). They are distributed over exercises, training, operations and security guards, for example at SC games. Also in 2021, the FF supported the professional forces of the fire brigade to a large extent.

Mayor Horn as well as City Fire Chief Müller and his deputies Fritz and Melzl emphasized the social contribution of voluntary work in city life and in the localities. Especially in times of crisis and special deployment situations (pandemic, storms), it shows how important functioning civil protection is and how precious the work of volunteers is. During the Corona period, the volunteer fire brigade mainly supported the delivery of the lollipop tests to schools and daycare centers and to packing services. Corona was and is also a test of patience for the FF structures. Exercises and courses took place in 2021 under pandemic conditions. Nevertheless, no course had to be cancelled; this ensured continuous training. All speakers pointed out that storms like the one in July 2021 in the Ahr Valley will occur more frequently in the future. In doing so, one is dependent to a large extent on the immediate help of volunteers.

Achim Müller highlighted October 17 as a milestone of the FF year 2021. The regional fire brigade training facility was inaugurated in the Breisgau business park in Eschbach, which is available to the fire brigades from the city of Freiburg, the districts of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Emmendingen and Lörrach as well as the plant fire brigades in the region. There are a variety of training opportunities in the areas of technical assistance (e.g. train accidents, construction accidents, rescue from heights and depths, fall protection), fire protection (e.g. real firefighting, training on the door entry principle, training on risers) and dangerous goods (truck accidents, motorways). accident, industrial accident). The investment share of the city of Freiburg is 1.8 million euros.

The biggest events of the volunteer fire brigade this year include the ceremony “50+1 years of youth fire brigade” on June 19 and the national competition for fire brigade music, which will take place in Freiburg from September 23 to 25.

Mayor Martin Horn and Mayor Stefan Breiter, in his function as head of the fire department, also summarized the milestones of the past two years. The construction decision for the rescue center on December 14, 2021 is of outstanding importance. From 2026, all emergency response organizations will be united under one roof. Pandemics and natural disasters have shown how important it is to have operational units that are immediately deployable, well equipped and centrally located. The construction of building section E 2023/24 and building section H 2025/26 is planned here. The city of Freiburg is investing a total of around 35 million euros here.

Horn and Breiter emphasized the city’s willingness to prepare the fire brigade for the constant changes, be it in the climate, new technological approaches or the management of ever larger operations. Thank you and appreciation to all of the volunteers. Afterwards, Breiter and Stadtbrandmeister Müller presented OB Horn with a combat jacket.

Honors and Appointments:
Finally, Mayor Stefan Breiter, fire brigade commander Ralf-Jörg Hohloch, city fire chief Achim Müller and a representative of the city fire brigade association made numerous honors and appointments; some of these had been pending since 2020 and could not be completed in 2021 due to the lack of a military assembly.

Badge of honor gold of the Freiburg fire brigade: Manfred Joos (formerly
professional fire brigade)

Silver badge of honor from the Freiburg fire brigade: Stefan Schmidt (trainer; Dept. 01), Wolfram Baumann (long-time cashier; Dept. 01), Bernhard Ginter (Dept. 04), Dirk Specht (Kuhnle; as trainer; Dept. 04), Jörg Nönninger (Dept. 07), Roland Hank (Dept. 14), Uwe Trescher (Dept. 16), Bernd Biermann, KBM Alexander Widmaier, Deputy KBM Gotthard Benitz

FW medal of honor in gold (40 years): Reiner Ullmann, Manuela Maass (Dept. MZ), Holger Schmid (Dept. 01), Bernhard Luhr (Dept. 02), Peter Melcher (Dept. 03), Jürgen Baier (Dept. 03), Christoph Konanz (Dept. 04), Ralf Fritz (Dept. 05), Bernhard Vögele (Dept. 06), Bruno Wistler (Dept. 14), Thomas Merbreier (Professional Fire Brigade/ILS)

FW medal of honor in gold special level (50 years): Werner Mahler (Dept. MZ)

Medal of Honor of the State Fire Brigade Association in silver: Achim Müller, Stadtbrandmeister.

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