Professional fire brigades, together with voluntary fire brigades, are vital to protect people against fires and in public emergencies caused by accidents, collapsed buildings, natural disasters and the like. And because emergencies don’t keep office hours, firefighters are ready to go whenever they’re on call, day or night, and are always ready to serve.
Saving lives in their leisure time.
94% of firefighters are volunteers.
Whether during working hours or in their leisure time – more than one million volunteer firefighters are always ready to go and help others. The wide range of operations requires firefighters to have a high level of technical knowledge to handle possible dangers, specialist equipment and operational tactics. And because the task is so demanding, good health and physical fitness are essential also for serving in the voluntary fire brigade.
Fire brigade
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Stories
Sabrina, 23, Firefighter
Interview with Sabrina about fighting fires.
Saving lives. For me, it’s the best job in the world.
The rules are: get your bearings, take a deep breath, go to the vehicle, and off you go.
Working day and night is exhausting, but also exhilarating. Sabrina finds her job as a firefighter full of variety and never monotonous. During the day, she lives and learns at the fire station, while at night, the focus is on responding to emergency calls. And day or night, naps are welcome and allowed – something that comes easily to Sabrina. She never has trouble getting out of bed, no matter whether it’s 3:15 or 7 o’clock in the morning.
Fighting fire together.
Cooperation is not only important, but essential for survival.
Although she was not in a youth or voluntary fire brigade, Sabrina readily acknowledges how important these organizations are. The voluntary fire brigade frequently relieves the professional fire brigade of vital tasks, supporting it everywhere it can. Which is very helpful, since every day brings new challenges and unexpected situations for firefighters, requiring lightning-fast solutions.
Without the voluntary fire brigade, the professional fire brigade would often be completely stuck.
Whether in the voluntary or professional fire brigade – the work is not only physically exhausting for all emergency personnel, but often also psychologically challenging. Particularly in emergency rescues, emergency personnel often face major physical and psychological strain. Incidents can only be managed if everyone pulls together and contributes their knowledge and experience. So working for the fire brigade requires exceptional team spirit and must be handled jointly as a team effort.
