Large exercise in Stainz: 300 emergency services train for an emergency!

Large exercise in Stainz: 300 emergency services train for an emergency!

Stainz, Österreich - On April 27, 2025, a large -scale exercise by the disaster relief service (KHD) took place in Stainz, which was prepared by the BFV Deutschlandsberg. Over 300 emergency services took part in the exercise, including KHD willingness 56 from BFV Voitsberg. At 8:00 a.m. the command for the KHD management staff of the BFV Voitsberg was carried out by KHD commanders Br Klaus Gehr in Mooskirchen. The staff quarters were set up in the vehicle hall of the Stainz volunteer fire brigade and coordinated the missions on various exercise scenarios.

The participants were organized in different trains, with four trains being alerted from the Voitsberg area, which were formed in defined provision rooms. They were called up to the stavity of Stainz and received their operational orders. One unit worked for a roof structure fire in Stainz Castle, while another two supply lines built up for the filling of a water tank.

diverse exercise scenarios

The exercise included several scenarios, adapted to the climatic challenges that can occur in the region. A new equipment specially acquired for forest fire fighting was tested, since events such as forest fires due to lightning strikes are among the current dangers during thunderstorms. This situation is increasingly being reported by the effects of weather extremes, as reported in the area around Liezen in recent years [bundesfeuerwehrverband.at].

The rescue of people, in which two injured people had to be saved from a steep terrain, was a special challenge. This exercise component not only showed the operational capacity of the rescue teams, but also underlined the need for a structured leadership component for the success. The possibility of using a drone for live transmission of the application scenarios gave the exercise additional efficiency and transparency.

success and awards

The exercise observers consistently expressed positive about the course of the exercise. Findings from a previous training in March in Lebring were successfully integrated into the exercise process, which illustrated the optimization of the work processes. Br Klaus Gehr, who will celebrate his 65th birthday in the coming weeks and will be commanding as a KHD commander due to age, received a gift basket and the 2024 flood medal of LFV Lower Austria for his services. The over 300 comrades started at the final meeting.

The ongoing weather extreme, which, according to the new recommendations of the German Fire Brigade Association, raise special security and tactical issues, require constant adaptation and improvement in operational strategies. The updated specialist recommendation for security and tactics in forest fire use deals, among other things, with the protective planning of the emergency services and shows the importance of careful planning, especially under adverse conditions. These aspects were also reported during the exercise in Stainz [Feuerwehrverband.de].