No noise and smoke

Fires in Germany and Austria are equally successfully handled by both professionals and their volunteers.

Once, at dusk, I mistook a neighbor's decorative torch on the balcony for flames escaping from under the roof. I dialed 112. Seven minutes later, the first fire truck arrived. Behind her are two more. Then - the police ... I ...

Once, at dusk, I mistook a neighbor's decorative torch on the balcony for flames escaping from under the roof. I dialed 112. Seven minutes later, the first fire truck arrived. Behind her are two more. Then - the police ... I prepared for a fine for a false call. But the firefighters only thanked for the vigilance.

Establishing good relations with the population for German firefighters is the law. Anniversaries in the history of a particular territorial team, both professional and amateur, turn into a holiday for the entire rural commune and even the metropolis. On such days, children are allowed to try on polished helmets and turn the levers of ingenious fire-retardant mechanisms. And there are an enviable number of them - mechanisms - in Germany and Austria! After all, back in 1450, the fire brigade of the trade guild of Würzburg began to use the world's first hydraulic control. In 1892, Austria-Hungary and Prussia launched the world's first mechanical fire pump vehicles. And in 1907, the first sliding ladders on wheels were successfully tested in practice.

Today, the "German Union of Fire Brigades", (DFV), has 1 million 300 thousand people. However, Austria and Germany do not have a single administrative center with their Shoigu at the head. In each of the German federal states, their own laws on both professional and voluntary fire protection have been developed and approved by the Landtags.

The main thing in each of these charters is invariable: any rural commune, even every tiny town, must have its own fire department, equipped with the latest technology. If the administrative unit in terms of population exceeds 90 thousand, a professional fire department is required. It cooperates with voluntary fire brigades, sometimes dozens of times larger in personnel than the land services. The death rate from fires among the Germans is one of the lowest in the world - no more than 500 victims annually. The Austrians have even less.

The secret of efficiency is the excellent technical equipment, the "Deutsche Ordnung", the highest professionalism of all those who deal with fire. Here, after all, even volunteers are required in special training centers at the expense of local municipal authorities to undergo training off-the-job for two or more months.

Volunteer combatants, like the pros, have their own duty schedule. But during the watch they stay in their bakeries, auto repair shops, farms, houses ... However, as soon as someone dials the control room number 112 or the police 110, a call is immediately received on cell phones or pagers of the operational group of volunteers. And all the time spent clearing rubble, extinguishing forests or pumping water out of the basement will be guaranteed to be paid at the average rate at the main job of the combatant. Through local governments. Plus, solid insurance in case of injury or the extremely rare death of a firefighter here.

But it is not these incentives, but the really high consciousness of citizens that attracts more and more volunteers to the ranks of firefighters. Let's take, for example, the Rhineland-Palatinate, the most typical land for Germany: about 4 million people, almost 20 thousand square kilometers of territory. There are 60,000 firefighters here. And there are only 1 thousand fighters of professional units. And the same number of full-time employees at large industrial enterprises.

The Austrian fire brigade, in general, is almost entirely built on a voluntary basis. In tiny Mödling (about 24 thousand inhabitants), as many as 25 fire brigades work. And on the panel for receiving alarm signals, five full-time dispatchers are on duty around the clock in shifts. It is they who regulate the work of two dozen fire engines of the latest generation. The most powerful LTM1070 crane is always ready, capable of removing any obstacles weighing up to 50 tons from the scene. The source of funding is the community treasury. Money for new equipment and wages also come from the state and regional budgets. Tangible, sometimes up to 20% of all receipts, all kinds of private donations.

Firefighters in Germany and Austria are versatile and trouble-free. And very rarely, an exemplary service arrives at the place of a call in violation of the standard, and this is only 8 minutes.