District fire brigade Stade: Peter Winter says goodbye after 30 years!

District fire brigade Stade: Peter Winter says goodbye after 30 years!

Schwinge, Deutschland - The Stade district fire brigade is facing a dramatic change of management! District fire chief Peter Winter, who has been at the top since 2013 and worked for a total of three decades in the service of the volunteer fire brigade, will resign at the end of the year. At a moving service in Schwinge, he said goodbye to the 92 local weirs of the district and looked back on a fulfilling but also challenging time. Winter praised the excellent cooperation with politics and administration, which have always strengthened his back.

Honorable award for Peter Winter - An emotional highlight of the event was the award of Winter with the Medal of Honor of the State Fire Brigade Association in Gold by government fire chief Uwe Quante. The people present honored him with standing ovation, a gesture that impressively underlined the appreciation for his merits. Winter had already given the chair of the district fire brigade association to his deputy Henning Klensang in April and was appointed honorary chairman.

new district fire chief and fresh faces

At the turn of the year, Henning Klensang, who has been deputy district fire chief since 2013, takes over the rudder. Klensang, who began in 2008 as a local fire chief in Bargstedt, is supported by Thorsten Hellwege, who remains as deputy district fire chief, as well as Marcus Hinrichs from Harsefeld, who will act as the new deputy district fire chief and section manager South. Danny Waltersdorf and Sebastian Hinsen will take the positions of the deputy section heads north and south.

In a review of the past year of operation, winter reported a total of 2941 missions - 275 fewer than in the previous year. Particularly noteworthy: the district was spared from extreme storm layers, but the floods left its mark in the statistics at the turn of the year. At the political level, the impending advice on the change of the Lower Saxony Fire Protection Act is eagerly awaited. Winter expressed critical words about the plans of the state government to shorten the annual fire protection tax by six million euros, while at the same time central vehicle procurement is carried out at the state level.

The Stade district fire brigade has not held back in the procurement of vehicle. Three new extinguishing group vehicles for disaster protection have already been stationed in Hüll, Burweg and Sauensiek. In addition, another vehicle is provided by the federal government, which is to be stationed in Dollern. Winter emphasized the need to improve the course capacities at the Lower Saxony State Academy for Fire and Disaster Protection, as there are still massive bottlenecks here.