German Fire Services

German Fire Services

The Feuerwehr (German for Fire defense) is a number of German fire departments. 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. 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, such as the city of Berlin (Berufsfeuerwehr - full-time city department)
• a larger company ("Werkfeuerwehr", for the needs of the company operating them) e.g. refineries or chemical industry production facilities
• airports to meet the ICAO requirements ("Flughafenfeuerwehr" - this includes airplane factories like that of Airbus in Hamburg)
• the armed forces ("Bundeswehr-Feuerwehr" with specialized divisions such as "Fliegerhorstfeuerwehr Cologne-Wahn"/located at German air force bases, military bases, naval bases as well as on any ship of the German navy).

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 such as smaller cities and towns can set up a full-time force ("Hauptamtliche Wachbereitschaft"), which is basically a group or a squadron occupying one large fire station around the clock. This force deals with smaller incidents on its own and is supported by voluntary forces for larger incidents. Each community meets the need of fire-fighting personnel by setting up a voluntary force ("Freiwillige Feuerwehr"). A community or a city may also set up a professional fire fighting force without additional volunteer forces. In case it is not possible to recruit enough personnel 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 personnel required.