Fire brigade conference in Bad Gams: Digital progress for the emergency services!

Fire brigade conference in Bad Gams: Digital progress for the emergency services!

Bad Gams, Österreich - On April 4, 2025, the annual commander working conference of the area fire brigade association Deutschlandsberg took place in Bad Gams, Styria. Brandrat Wolfgang Fellner took over the opening of the conference, and among other things, Mayor HR Mag. Josef Wallner and Honorary Fire Brigade Helmut Lanz were among the guests. On this occasion, a variety of topics were dealt with that are important for the fire brigade and their memberships.

A central point in the reports of Oberbrandrat Sepp Gaich was the funding for fire cladding in category D3, which was still possible until the end of 2025. He also reported on the high participation of around 6,300 fire brigade members in a survey for the new LFV app. Another important aspect was the planned changeover of the service email addresses to Microsoft 365 to optimize digital communication within the fire brigade.

digital alarm and future developments

An important goal is to implement the digital alarm until the end of 2026. The conference also illuminated the upcoming area fire brigade days, which will take place on May 24th in Kraubath and on September 6th in Grünberg-Aichegg. In addition, the almost completed training of the tunnel operations, which will be crucial for future missions.

In various lectures, the participants were taught knowledge about current developments. Hubert Arzberger explained aspects around existing insurance in the LFV and the importance of updating the member lists for insurance coverage. Heinz Reinbacher presented adjustments to the alarm stitch words; The minimum requirements for the Erstalarm will in future be based on the funds used and no longer based on vehicles. These innovations come into force on July 1, 2025.

Thomas Rauch also addressed innovative approaches in the procurement of emergency vehicles and pointed out an important ban: from July 4, 2025, the use of AFFF pilgrimages will no longer be permitted.

role of digital communication in crisis management

Against the background of increasing digitization, the fire protection, emergency management and civil protection working group terminated for the protection of critical infrastructures e. V. (BSKI) a Best Practice Guideline for digital alarm and emergency communication. This is aimed at operators and organizations of critical infrastructures (criticism) and offers comprehensive insights into the digital alarm.

In dangerous situations, reliable information is essential for the effective coordination of forces in emergency and crisis management. The guideline treats, among other things, the functionality of the digital alarm, the communication between internal and external areas as well as aspects of data protection.

A future-oriented project in Rhineland-Palatinate provides for the expansion of a digital, nationwide uniform alarm network to replace the outdated analog system within the next four years. In this context, a total volume of around 19 million euros is provided for the development of around 700 digital alarm conversions and the acquisition of around 35,000 radio report receivers for the emergency services.

With these developments, the fire brigades and disaster protection -relevant organizations deal intensively with the challenge of the digital alarm. Information on this topic is available, among other things, about the FAQs for digital alarm on the BKS portal.

The conference finally ended shortly before 9 p.m. and left a feeling of confidence in the future developments in the fire service and digital communication.