At the beginning of November, the Idar-Oberstein volunteer fire department hosted its traditional evening of camaraderie at Fire Station 1. Among other things, new fire engines were put into service and fire chief Jörg Reimer received a special honor.
Three new vehicles for the fire department
Before the event began, Lord Mayor Frank Frühauf and Mayor Friedrich Marx symbolically handed over the vehicle keys to Fire Chief Jörg Riemer and his deputy Frank Knapp as well as the watch commanders of Fire Stations 1 and 3 to celebrate the commissioning of three new fire department vehicles. A crew transport vehicle (MTF) with nine seats will be stationed at fire station 1, but will be available to all four stations as required. It is used to transport emergency crews and the youth fire department; previously, no such vehicle was available. The fire engine (LF 20 KatS) purchased by the district will also be stationed at Fire Station 1. The vehicle is specially equipped for the complex tasks of disaster control and can, for example, pump up to 10,000 liters of water per minute or transport up to 6,000 liters per minute under pressure to the scene. A special floating pump enables water to be extracted even under the most unfavorable conditions. As a replacement for a fire engine (LF 16/12) built in 1996, Fire Station 3 received a new rescue fire fighting vehicle (HLF 20). In contrast to the LF KatS, which took three years to procure, this vehicle was procured within six months, as it was a demonstration vehicle under construction.
Thanks for outstanding voluntary commitment
At the start of the official part of the event, Fire Department Head and Mayor Friedrich Marx welcomed the numerous guests of honor as well as active and former firefighters. "I've been in office as head of the fire department since 2007, but year after year I'm increasingly impressed by the professionalism of our fire department," explained Marx. He also expressed his personal thanks to the firefighters, as they had already rushed to the aid of his family members. In his speech, the mayor praised the work of the various fire department officials, highlighted the outstanding youth work carried out by Bernhard Rothenberger, Idar-Oberstein's youth officer, and thanked the employers of the volunteer firefighters for giving them time off during the frequent deployments. He also thanked Christian Schulz from Foto Hosser for his professional photographic support of the Idar-Oberstein fire department.
In his activity report, Fire Chief Jörg Riemer emphasized that the Idar-Oberstein fire department had to deal with 256 operations and 289 alarms since the last comradeship evening. This means that the fire department was deployed on average every 36 hours. The spectrum of operations ranges from classic emergency services, such as opening doors for the police or rescue services, to severe weather operations and building fires involving the rescue of people. The head of the fire department particularly remembered the roof truss fire in the Idar district on the open day of Fire Station 1, where all four fire stations were extremely busy for several hours. Riemer welcomed the commissioning of the new vehicles, but warned in the same breath: "The fire department must have the appropriate equipment to meet the ever-increasing demands; this is definitely not a luxury, but life-saving equipment." Jörg Riemer also said that more and more efforts must be made to recruit young firefighters, as there are virtually no career changers.
As the fire and disaster control inspector Matthias König and other officials were unable to attend due to illness, there was only one other word of welcome from Bernd Alsfasser, the mayor of the Baumholder association of municipalities. As a member of the fire department working group in the Association of Municipalities and Towns, he criticized the far too low subsidies from the state for the purchase of new vehicles or the construction of new buildings. "With prices continuing to rise, it is unacceptable that the subsidies are fixed amounts with no upward adjustment; something urgently needs to change in the near future."
Honors for special services
After the speeches, honors for special services were on the agenda. Chief firefighters Marlon Frech and Patrick Klein were awarded the Bronze Badge of Honor for 15 years of active, loyal service to the fire department. Chief firefighter Dannis Schneider was awarded the Silver Fire Brigade Badge of Honor for 25 years of service with the fire department. Fire Chief Markus Koop was awarded the Gold Fire Brigade Badge of Honor for 35 years of service with the fire department. Chief Fire Officer Wolfgang Frühauf, Chief Fire Officer Volker Lorenz and Chief Fire Officer Erich Ruppert have been actively involved for 45 years. They were awarded the Golden Fire Brigade Badge of Honor with a gold-colored border and oak leaf wreath.
The emotional highlight of the evening was the awarding of the Golden Fire Brigade Medal of Honor on Ribbon to Fire Chief Jörg Riemer. He was visibly moved by this completely unexpected, special award, which was presented to him for outstanding services to the fire department. To standing applause from the audience, he accepted the award from the head of the city and summarized his more than 40 years of service in the fire department: "The fire department is and remains my life."
Promotions and appointments
After honoring long-serving firefighters, junior firefighters Michael Fröhlich, Torben Herberts, Alexander Klein, Malte Kruschel, Jan Mayer, Yannick Peters, Chiara Risch, Vadim Schreiner and Jakob Schwindt were appointed to active firefighting duties.
A number of firefighters were also promoted and appointed to new roles:
Hannah Veeck was promoted to firewoman, Michael Holzhaus, Constantin Schuch and Jakob Schwindt were appointed to fireman.
Annika Späth was promoted to senior firewoman, Niklas Jahke, Jan Kluge, Jan Lamnek, Leon Priebe, Leon Ruppenthal, Asmir Asko Schulz and Linus Ullrich were appointed to senior fireman.
Julia Abrossinow was appointed chief firefighter, Jan Adam, Nils Augustin, Luca Bender, Pascal Heidrich, Tristan Jung, Marvin Klee Jonas Ohlinger, Marvin Ruppert, Maximilian Spomer, Ryan Stumm and Rene Weyrauch were appointed chief firefighters.
Patrick Klein, Eric Nees, Christopher Pees, Tomislav Rakuljic and Tobias Schaaf were appointed master firefighters.
Milena Frühauf was appointed senior fire chief, Marcel Bender, Thomas Diehl, Thomas Junker, Florian Lofi and Dannis Schneider were appointed senior fire chiefs.
Georg Werner was appointed chief fire chief.
Rolf-Peter Veeck was appointed senior fire chief.
Bernhard Rothenberger and Andreas Schmidt were appointed chief fire chiefs.
At the end of the official part of the ceremony, the members of the retirement and honorary department were presented with gifts.