Drama on Lake Constance: Fire brigade is fire on passenger ship!

Drama on Lake Constance: Fire brigade is fire on passenger ship!

Bodensee, Deutschland - On July 10, 2025, the fire brigade in the Lake Constance region carried out a demanding exercise, which was designed as a realistic test for the emergency services. The exercise took place on Monday, July 7, 2025, and affected a scenario in which a fire in the machine room of a passenger ship was simulated. The fire brigades from Constance and Überlingen took part in the exercise that was alerted around 7:00 p.m. According to Fireworld there were several injuries on board and in the water that were presented by exercise.

The challenges were diverse: the emergency services had to act under respiratory protection for fire fighting in the machine room. In addition, a missing person was to be saved in the machine room, while rescue boats were in use to absorb the people driving in the water. The saved people were first looked after on board the fire extinguishing boats. After successful fire fighting, the passenger ship was secured and towed into the port. Despite personnel bottlenecks due to real missions before and during the exercise, all exercise goals were achieved.

meaning of the exercises for an emergency

The importance of well -prepared exercises is also evident in other operational scenarios. On July 14, 2022, a joint exercise between the Offenburg fire brigade and the Ortenau Clinic in Offenburg took place. Here you simulated a fire in a patient room, triggered by a fire alarm. As documented on Achern , the fire brigade moved in with two fire trucks and 55 emergency services. The provisional operations management in the hospital had already cleared the station before the fire brigade arrived, and 18 patients were brought to safety.

The emergency services were required: they had to explore and extinguish the fire under heavy smoke development. Thanks to the coordinated procedure, the all -clear could be given after about 45 minutes. Administrative director Mathias Halsinger and Matthias Sachs, the deputy technical manager, emphasized the importance of cooperation between the clinic and the fire brigade. Thanks were given to everyone involved for the success of the exercise.

creative approaches in fire work

fire brigades in Germany are continuously trying to improve their practice scenarios and make them more varied. The Feuerwehr-Magazin describes the development of exercises over the years in order to also offer volunteers in the fire brigade. With the idea of the “small exercises”, which was launched 18 years ago, over 110 different exercises have been published.

Another incentive for creative participation is premiums of up to 200 euros for published proposals. This not only promotes creativity, but also helps to ensure specific learning content and finally a solid training of the emergency services. The challenges of the use are not only practical, but also strategically thought out in order to always be prepared for the emergency.