Busy years: Stuhr's fire department rescues and gains new heroes!

Busy years: Stuhr's fire department rescues and gains new heroes!

In 2023, the Stuhr Volunteer Fire Department recorded a record number of operations and new additions. There were a total of 295 alerts, which is considered “average” this year. Particularly noteworthy was the operation during the flood situation over the Christmas holidays, in which 260 helpers from all local fire departments were mobilized. The Brinkum local fire department was deployed for basic protection, and the dike defense took three days, which significantly affected the comrades' Christmas planning. Community fire chief Michael Kalusche commuted between operations and church on Christmas Eve.

The emergency services were also able to count on the support of residents and the Meyerhof restaurant. A thank you party for the dedicated helpers is being planned for May 2024. Other outstanding operations included an underground car park fire in Varrel, a gas station fire in Brinkum, an overturned beer truck on Autobahn 1 and a serious truck accident. Another tragic incident was a fatal traffic accident.

New arrivals and training

There were a total of 24 new members in the fire department, the majority of which consisted of career changers. The general conditions for the fire brigades have improved, including new protective clothing and hygiene trailers. The training of troop men and squad leaders now takes place primarily at the local brigade level, which enables more flexible training, which is mainly carried out in regular service. The training courses carried out included topics such as burning electric cars and technical assistance. The local fire departments in Brinkum, Stuhr and Fahrenhorst were also on standby over the turn of the year.

In view of the challenges in recruiting members, fire departments in Germany are increasingly calling on people to recruit career changers and promote voluntary work. This is particularly important in order to counteract the increased number of deployments and the age-related loss of experienced emergency services, as shown Pioneer newspaper is reported. The focus is on numerous strategies for recruiting members and youth work, such as the establishment of children's fire departments.

Looking to the future, the Stuhr fire department plans to procure four new large emergency vehicles and build new fire stations in Heiligenrode and Stuhr by the beginning of 2027. In view of the current challenges, recruiting young talent is considered extremely important for the future of the fire service.

– Submitted by West-East media