However, these were once again mastered brilliantly: “The 428 fire brigades in our state, with their almost 24,500 comrades, worked a total of 1.6 million volunteer hours and saved 655 lives in 5,300 fire and 11,886 technical operations,” reports the fire brigade officer in the provincial government Daniel Fellner, who also warmly thanked his comrades at a press conference at the state fire brigade association together with state fire brigade commander Rudolf Rubin: “You are one of the reasons why one can always feel safe in this country. Thank you for your commitment, thank you for your commitment”.
Lifesaver in free time
With more than five million euros, the 225,000 hours worked alone, at an hourly rate of 24 euros, are a priceless guarantee of safety for the population in our federal state. Each individual member of a Carinthian fire brigade invested a total of two working weeks in preventive measures to avert danger.
Fortunately, in comparison to the neighboring federal states of Salzburg and Styria, Carinthia was spared major national storm consequences in 2021. Local hotspots for weather-related assistance – such as storm operations, flooding and pumping work after heavy rain events often required the Carinthian fire brigades for hours.
Education is booming
Despite the pandemic and many operations, the Carinthian fire brigades were able to further promote and expand their work with young people last year. More than 1,500 young girls and boys are already serving a good cause and with eight newly founded fire brigade youth groups last year, the trend is rising.
The figures for training and further education show that the adult comrades of the Carinthian fire brigades are also very inquisitive. A total of 5,485 people attended one of the more than 150 possible further training events in the districts or in the state fire brigade school. Every third active member of the fire brigade went to school and thus made a contribution to safe operations.
Focus on the year 2022
“The tightrope walk caused by the pandemic between professional operational management and operationally relevant and necessary protective measures made enormous demands on our emergency services last year. The camaraderie and the resulting social gatherings at festivals, anniversary celebrations and performance competitions also had to suffer greatly from the pandemic in 2021. With a hopeful and motivated look, the focus of our comrades is already on the year 2022,” said State Fire Brigade Commander Ing. Rudolf Robin in his remarks.