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Fire in the old town hall of Schlüchtern! Five people were spectacularly rescued during an exercise. A new emergency vehicle was put through its paces.
Schlüchtern – A large fire brigade exercise in the middle of the city center of Schlüchtern in the Main-Kinzig district on the third weekend in April was not just about demonstrating the operational strength of the local active personnel. The new command vehicle also underwent its “baptism of fire” during this realistic large-scale exercise.
“Fire in the attic apartment in the old town hall” was the operational scenario. Five people are said to have been in the house at the time of the fire. They had to be rescued, but two adults collapsed while escaping via the stairwell and had to be rescued.
Fire brigade exercise in Schlüchtern: command vehicle put to the test
Two others managed to escape to a balcony at a lofty height between the old and new town hall, from where they were brought to safety with the help of the turntable ladder. Ultimately, all five people were rescued. Artificial smoke generation caused difficulties. The people were then cared for by a task force from the Schlüchtern local association of the German Red Cross.
The fire was fought from the outside and inside. Three teams entered the building wearing respiratory protection. The stairwell in the side extension presented a difficulty: Since it is “coiled” throughout, no hose could be lowered down the middle. It had to be laboriously laid in the curves of the stairwell.
The overall management of the exercise was the responsibility of deputy military commander Axel Ruppert. After the siren sounded the alarm, around 30 people from the city center and Niederzell rushed to the scene. The Firefighters who recently fought the flames in a barn fire, among other thingsarrived with seven vehicles, plus a DRK emergency vehicle.
The heart of the fleet was the new command vehicle, which was put into service a few weeks ago. The vehicle, which costs around 300,000 euros, is technically state-of-the-art. It has the most modern facilities, for example a “damage account” that can be viewed from the outside and on which all important operational data can be read at a glance.
New emergency clothing for all emergency services
Another special feature is a mast on the roof of the car, which not only enables better distribution of radio communications, but also has four powerful headlights and a red indicator light installed on it for self-protection. The mast also offers a weather station that provides important data on wind and weather. However, the old command vehicle is still used for real operations, as the active personnel are still being trained on the new one.
In addition, all emergency services received new emergency clothing: those wearing breathing apparatus wore black-gray fire protection clothing, the other active personnel wore cream-colored suits. Even though Mayor Matthias Möller's (independent) office was not affected by the “fire”, he was still on site during the exercise and was enthusiastic about the level of performance: “I am grateful to the emergency services because, despite all the stress, they are still committed to carrying out an exercise on Saturdays.”
In 2025, the city in Kinzigtal will have invested around one million euros in fire protection. Axel Ruppert described the old town hall as an “exciting training object”. The cooperation between the emergency services was very successful. At the end, Mayor Matthias Möller invited the helpers to a snack out of his own pocket. (jk)
