Revolution in fire brigade: Lea app starts in Lower Austria!

Revolution in fire brigade: Lea app starts in Lower Austria!

On March 31, 2025, the new information app Lea was presented in St. Pölten for all fire brigades in Lower Austria. Under the direction of LH deputy Stephan Pernkopf, State Fire Brigade Commandant Dietmar Fahrafellner and Emergency call Lower Austria, managing director Josef Schmoll experienced the digital progress in disaster protection. The app complements the previous alarm technology, consisting of siren and pager, with additional information that is of crucial importance for the operations managers and fire brigade members. This modern solution is expected to counter the challenges through increasing natural disasters more effectively.

The LEA app enables members to give feedback and communicate standardized. This improves the possibility of signal team strengths and arrival times and makes navigation easier to use. In addition, the app offers support in the everyday life of the fire brigade, for example for invitations and schedule. These functionalities are particularly important, since the requirements for speed and precision in rescue operations are constantly increasing, as the experiences also show that digital tools have become central to planning, coordination and implementation of missions, especially in crisis situations.

advantages and cost savings

The Lea app was developed in close cooperation with the emergency call Lower Austria and the IT department of the Lower Austrian State Fire Brigade Association and the annual costs of the previous systems were 1.8 million euros, which are now eliminated. The cost of the new app is only 250,000 euros, which are completely covered by the state of Lower Austria. In the future, the LEA will also take over the existing Esapp, which is previously responsible for emergency services and special operations. This innovative project shows how digitization in disaster protection is not only cost -effective, but also improves the accessibility of the members through central administrative software.

The maintenance of the app is considerably easier thanks to central administrative software, which automatically transmits the accessibility of the members. The Lower Austrian State Fire Brigade Association also provides a portal that is responsible for managing the authorizations. This first stage of development is only the beginning, because further ideas for supporting the emergency services are already being planned.

digital transformation in disaster protection

Digitization plays an increasingly important role in disaster protection. Various digital tools, such as drones for air monitoring or geographic information systems (GIS) to real -time use of use, revolutionize the way rescue workers act in crisis situations. These technologies shorten the response times and reduce human errors that can have catastrophic consequences in an emergency. Nevertheless, there are challenges such as the dependence on stable networks in disaster areas and the necessary data security to prevent cyber attacks. Despite these technical developments, humans remain a central factor in disaster protection.

Overall, the Lea app is considered a step in the right direction in order to increase the efficiency of the fire brigades in Lower Austria and to have better grown the challenges that arise from increasing natural disasters. This measure ensures that the emergency services are optimally prepared when it matters.