German Fire Services

This article is about the German Feuerwehr, a fire-fighting organisation as it exists in basically every country of the world.

Fire platoon of the fire department of the city of Hofgeismar

Responsibility

The responsible body for operating and equipping fire departments are the German communities ("Gemeinden") and cities ("Städte"). By law, they are required to operate a fire-fighting force including Emergency medical services (EMS) in numbers corresponding to the inhabitants of the county or city. In cities, this is usually performed by the Fire Prevention Bureau, one of the higher-ranking authorities. Most of Germany's 1,383,730 fire fighters are members of voluntary fire brigades, with a lesser number working in professional fire brigades either operated by

a municipal body like the city of Berlin
a larger company ("Werkfeuerwehr", for the needs of the company operating them) i.e. refineries or chemical industry production facilities
airports to meet the ICAO requirements (this includes airplane factories like that of Airbus in Hamburg)
the armed forces.

By law, cities with a population of more than 80,000-100,000 people (depending on the state) are required to have a professional fire fighting force ("Berufsfeuerwehr"). Others can set up a steady sentry ("Hauptamtliche Wachbereitschaft") which is basically a group or a squadron which deals on its own with smaller issues and is supported by voluntary forces in bigger issues. Each community meets the need of fire-fighting personnel by setting up a voluntary force ("Freiwillige Feuerwehr"). It is also possible that a community or a city sets up a professoinal fire fighting force without having extra volunteer forces. In case it is not possible to recruit enough men for this job, the mayor of a city is required to set up a "Pflichtfeuerwehr" (compulsory fire brigade), where he will draft the number of men required.

Organisation

Tactical Units

Voluntary and Professional Fire Brigades usually share the same basic layout when deploying. Firefighters are organized in tactical units as follows:

unit	translation	men	leader	comments
Trupp	squad	2 (-3)	squad leader	usually either the crew of an ambulance or ladder or part of the crew of an engine
Zugtrupp	platoon squad	3	platoon leader	the crew consists of 1 vice platoon leader, 1 assistant and 1 driver. Only in charge when 2 groups or more are needed
Staffel	squadron	2 squads + machinist	squadron leader	most common unit of professional fire fighting forces; minimum standard for firefighting
Gruppe	group	3 squads + machinist + message runner	group commander	most common unit of voluntary fire fighting forces; usually the crew of an engine; message runner can also act as second machinist
Löschzug	platoon	2 groups + platoon squad	platoon leader	usually consisting of several vehicles, i.e. 1 command car, 1 engine, 1 tanker, 1 ladder and 1 ambulance

Hierarchy

Members of the professional fire depts & volunteer fire depts serve in a hierarchy corresponding to other German institutions i.e. the Police.

The volunteer firefighters ranks are as follows:

Feuerwehrmannanwärter (FMA) fresh to the firebrigade, at least 18 years old.

Feuerwehrmann (FM) after the first part of the basic training.

Oberfeuerwehrmann (OFM) after the second part of the basic training and after at least two years as Feuerwehrmann (FM)

Hauptfeuerwehrmann (HFM) after beeing Oberfeuerwehrmann (OFM) for five years.

Unterbrandmeister (UBM) with completed training to leading a squad or platoon squad and at least one year being Oberfeuerwehrmann (OFM).

Brandmeister (BM) after at least two years as Unterbrandmeister (UBM) and two weeks training at the countys fireschool (F3). Allowed to command a squadron or group.

Oberbrandmeister (OBM) at least two years as Brandmeister (BM)

Hauptbrandmeister (HBM) at least five years as Oberbrandmeister (OBM)

Brandinspektor (BI) after a training at the countys fireschool (F4). Allowed to command a platoon. Must have been Oberbrandmeister (OBM) before.

Brandoberinspektor (BOI) after a training at the countys fireschool (F/B5). Allowed to command severals platoons. Must have been Brandinspektor (BI) before.

Vehicles

Technically, there are eleven types of vehicles in service today. However, due to regional needs and availability, there are a vast number of different vehicles in use.

The eleven standardized types are:

A Mercedes-Benz truck serving as Turntable ladder

Command Car; the Einsatzleitwagen (ELW). This type has 3 subtypes, ELW1, ELW2 and ELW3 with the first one usually being a sedan or SUV and the last one having the size of a coach
Small fire trucks; either the Tragkraftspritzenfahrzeug (TSF), or the Kleinlöschfahrzeug (KLF). Usually modified panel truck with basic means of firefighting
Engines; the Löschgruppenfahrzeug (LF). Typically a large truck manned by a group and carrying firefighting and rescue gear, nowadays usually with a small water and foam supply.
Rescue Engines, the Hilfeleistungs-Löschgruppenfahrzeug (HLF). Similar to the engine (LF) but with far more rescue gear onboard.
Tankers, the Tanklöschfahrzeug (TLF). Typically a large truck manned by one squad and a water supply of several thousand litres. Very often they are equipped with water cannons on the roof and foam cannons.
Rescue trucks, the Rüstwagen (RW).Usually either a larger panel truck or a smaller truck, they are equipped with a broad range of rescue gear i.e. saws, cutters or work platforms
Equipment carriers, the Gerätewagen (GW). A vehicle that comes in all sizes, depending of the equipment stowed. Equipment might be specialized gear for water rescue operations or hazmat.
Ladders, like the Drehleiter (DL or DLK). A large truck with a telescopic ladder (DL), often with an attached bucket or platform at the end (DLK). The most common type is the DLK 23-12, a ladder truck with a platform that can extend to 23 metres height while positioned 12 metres away.
Hose Carriers, theSchlauchwagen (SW). Typically a large truck with a supply of rolled and pre-coupled hoses, in case longer distances have to be bridged.
Ambulances, the Rettungswagen (RTW). Typically based on a delivery-truck chassis with a special body, the RTW provides pre-hospital critical care for one patient. Crew constist of two EMT-I or EMT-P, sometimes augmented by an emergency physician.
Crew Carrier, the Mannschaftstransportwagen (MTW). Usually a minivan or a small bus, used for non-emergency rides, organisational tours or transfer of additional personnel.

Dispatching & Alerting

Radios

German fire brigades all use 2-way-FM radio to coordinate their efforts. Currently in use is the so called "BOS-Band" (BOS means "Behörden und Organisationen mit Sicherheitsaufgaben" =authorities and organisations with security duties), channels in 4-metre and 2-metre-bandwitdth with a frequency range from 74.215 to 87.255 MHz (4m) and from 167.56 to 173.98 MHz (2m). An enormous advantage of the German BOS Radio System is that virtually every helping organisation in Germany like Police, Rescue Services, THW, life-guard and Fire brigades are using the same system in different channels so they can easily switch and communicate. Typically, 4-metre-radios are used by control centres and on vehicles, whereas 2-metre-radios are handheld Handie-Talkies for tactical communication on scene. In bigger areas, there is usually a number of relais stations in place which repeat the signal, giving it more range and quality.

Identification

Radio identification names consist of five parts:

Name of the organisation, i.e. "FLORIAN" for the fire brigade
Name of the city or county the brigade is based, i.e. "MAGDEBURG"
Two digits referring to the specific area or station, i.e. "01"
Two digits referring to the type of vehicle, i.e. "33" for a ladder
Two digits referring to which one it is, i.e. "01" for the first one.

Es an example, the radio identification "Florian Magdeburg 01-33-01" would describe the first ladder of station 1, operated by the Fire Department of the city of Magdeburg.

Sometimes those identifications are shortened for the sake of fast radio contact and when there can be no doubt that the vehicle is unique. As an example might the ELW currently on scene simply refer to himself as "1-11" or "Florian 1-11", instead of using the whole string when the crew is certain, there are no other companies involved. Due to the fact that the German Fire Services are terms of the federal states like Bavaria, Hesse or Berlin this could be different from state to state. The radio identification name for the same ladder in Bavaria is "Florian Geretsried 30/1" for example

Alerting the Fire Brigade

All fires or emergencies requiring the service of the fire brigade can be reported by the toll-free number "112". The caller will be connected to the command centre responsible for his area and can report the emergency. The dispatcher will then decide, whom to alert. Since professional fire brigades are at the station, they will be alerted by klaxon, announcement and/or diplay messages. During the night, the alarm circuits are often wired to turn on the lights in the crew quarters. Voluntary fire brigades are almost everywhere equipped with pagers, some only informing the firefighters of an emergency, some even displaying short messages regarding the specifics. In some areas there are still sirens in use, sometimes even as the primary means of alerting firefighters. A few fire brigades are experimenting with a GSM-based alarm circuit. The firefighter will then get either a message on his mobile phone or a machine will call him. This method has proven successful in areas, where constant radio contact for pagers can not be guaranteed, i.e. in montainous areas.