erster teil aus meiner Arbeit

1	Introduction

Due to my membership in the German fire service in Munich, I´ve gained thirst for knowledge exactly for this section. What brought it about was a trip to Switzerland where I realized, that fire stations also work and exist with quite military lines.
Also when I visited the fire service Jetzendorf in Austria, which has a partnership with a firehouse here in Munich, I recognized their strict uniform, decorated with a bunch of awards, even for theory lessons. The dress uniform in Germany is worn for public relations, competitions or intern funerals only. This made me curious, that I watched the typical movies as Ladder 49 or Backdraft. The heroic tactics perplexed me. With the help of the world wide web and friends who have been to New York City before, I was fortunately able to clear up some myths.

But there are still several essentials, which animate to compare the American fire service with the German system based on a few chapters. My grandfather confirmed my resolution to write about this topic, because of his authorship on behalf of the government about the recommended handling with hazardous substances relating to accidents. Certainly, there are aspects, which are not natural for each reader and that’s why I will only focus on the main drive.

The simple reason, why I have chosen the Fire Department New York as an instance for the USA, is the variety of their given structural conditions. They have to provide security for skyscrapers, many tunnels, bridges, harbors, two airports and big parks like the Central Park. The terror from 9/11 was surely defining some new guidelines and the daily bread for the Fire Department New York, but it would go beyond the scope of this topic and also require an extra essay. Therefore, as a comparison to New York I have chosen Munich with its
nationwide standards and also my personal engagement for the Fire Department Munich, which causes also many helpful contacts.



2	Depiction of fundamental structures of the fire service

2.1	New York

Since the first professional unit, which was called „Engine Company Number 1“ and was launched on July 31th, 1865, there are plenty details which changed of course. The focus in this paper is certainly on the present. Since 2014 Daniel A. Nigro is the current and 33rd Fire Commissioner of the Fire Department New York.
Today the Fire Department New York has 11.400 firefighters and these include 32 women. They are proportioned to 221 firehouses in the city. It is very important to have a frequency like this, because New York has 8.25 million citizens and heavy traffic, which makes it very hard to get through. Furthermore, there are also 2.800 members only for medical emergencies and another 1.200 civil workers. They also do a lot of desk work, such as fire prevention for new buildings, which is in other cities normally done by extern companies. One simple reason for this high density of these many small sized firehouses, that´s why they are called “companies“, is to facilitate faster reactions and having the opportunity to send multiple companies, which are not to far away at all. The ambulance service will be ignored in this research paper.

An average salary for a firefighter with a 6 years period of employment earns 100.000 Dollars a year (included overtime and danger pay).
Really interesting is, that every firefighter can end up his career after 20 years and gets half of his monthly salary till one´s dying day. This was actually published among others in the well-esteemed magazine „Brandwacht“. It exists also the National Volunteer Fire Council with 400 volunteer firemen in New York.

Since the terror from 9/11 every firefighter is still more high regarded and the population is grateful to have these brave people watching after them, even if meanwhile the most firemen, who helped in this difficult time, are off-duty considering their early retirement.



2.2	Munich

After the foundation of the volunteers „Freiwillige Feuerwehr München“, in sept-
ember 1866, the leading men realised, that Munich needs professional units as they already exist in other cities. Consequently on first July in 1879, the first occupationally firehouse with 24 firemen was invented and named „ständige Feuerwache“, which means “constantly firehouse“. Since 2005 Wolfgang Schäuble is the department head of the Fire Department Munich.
Nowadays  Munich has 1.760 professional firefighters, which are proportioned to 10 fire stations and another 952 volunteers in 22 departments spreaded in the whole city with an overall of 291 vehicles, excluded special trucks from disaster management or for example trailers.
Both entities are trained similarly and are forced to operate with the exact same conditions and guidelines. Their vehicles are equivalent just as their protective clothing is, optically and equally shielding. This allows working hand in hand with each other and knowing what the other firemen are doing at any time. It is very often a problem on the outskirts of Munich, where also little fire brigades from small villages, whose department is not far away of the operating place, get alerted and arrive. Even if the operation tactics are very similar, the equipment has enormous differences, with the result that rescue devices, such as defibrillators; hydraulic spreaders or thermal imaging cameras are not shared.

Professional firefighters have to work until they are 67 years and gets a salary of only 36.000 a year (excluded overtime and danger pay).



3	The alert system – How the emergency call works

3.1	In New York

There are several possibilities for anyone to report about an accident or fire. What everybody should know is the “9-1-1“, which connects the civilian caller with operators by the New York Police Department. It is not a big deal for the policeman to interlink with fire alarm dispatchers of the Fire Department New York. It is also possible to dial the number “0“, where you directly phone your
telephone company, who can transfer it to the F.D.N.Y., too.

But of course since 1970 it is not hard to find the typical “alarm boxes“ on the streets and in important public buildings, like schools; hospitals or at other necessary hubs. Once they are activated, there is not return and the nearest fire brigade will
surely arrive. Some of these boxes even allow to talk with the dispatcher. Fortunately, the concerted effort to remove almost all of the boxes failed. That would maybe have been a big regression for the safety of the whole city, because of disabled and poor people, who were not any longer able to make an emergency call.

The third option is an automatically one, where nobody calls or talks until the firemen are directly in front of the building. This is often built in big warehouses or for example in factories with sprinkler systems and smoke detectors, which perceive smoke, heat or both and give alarms. Good aspects are here, that it is very fast, so no single person has to realise the potential fire and gets cautioned immediately, and of course the fire brigade knows the address and access to the building instantly.




3.2	In Munich

Whenever there is a fire, another accident or incident, which is relevant for the fire service, everybody can call the feeless 1-1-2 in Germany and by the way throughout Europe. Coincidentally the number had its 25th birthday on the 29th July of 2016. Incidentally it is the same number for emergency medical services, also. The caller gets directly connected with a person, who sits straight next to a dispatcher in their own headquarter. This has the simple reason, that the dispatcher is able to react instantly during the call.

There is a simple case by way of example:
If there is a caller, who tells the first man, that there is an unconscious person laying on the ground and where he is actually located, the dispatcher will already send off a medical team and also firefighters at the same time. Usually firefighters are much faster. This method logically speeds up proceedings and saves lives. It is called First Responder (short: FR) and has been taken over by the American Firefighters.
While I have been in the Munich headquarter of the dispatchers, there was almost the same scene as depicted. Whilst the firefighters were alarmed and also hit the road, the fireman on the phone told the caller how he could prepare everything for best results. This means a very stressful and intense phone call, but it is worth it.
But also the boxes in important buildings or automatic fire alarm systems are well-known and in use.

3.3	Comparison of results

Certainly the dispatching is quite similar. Ultimately it is a fact, because they do the same, with the only difference, that New York is bigger than Munich. But the First-Responder-Tactic´s are a good sample for learning from each other.
What first was only tried and then enforced in New York also works in other cities. Even firehouses beyond Munich use it, because there are simply far too
little full-time paramedics. So while they drive to the place where they are needed, a nearby fire department can send manpower to bridge the time gap.

As described above, it doesn’t matter what kind of help you need or institute you want to reach. To make it easier for everybody, it is always possible to dial the 9-1-1 in America. The telephonist at the other end of the phone is able to
advise, to connect with different aid agencies (also for example the police) or
to send help instantly.

Contrary to this system, in Europe there is only the 1-1-2 for the fire service and medical aid. On the one hand it is easier for the population and also tourists, because they don´t have to memorize country-specific numbers. But on the other hand, there are always people, who can´t notice more than one emergency number. The police, with their own number which is 1-1-0 in Germany, is quite often called. Due to the fact that stressed or shocked people forget the simplest things, they can´t differentiate various numbers. This is very aggravating, because another redirection costs time.








4	Operation tactics – How the fire service acts with its standards

4.1	In New York

Like every state in America has some specific laws, it is pretty the same with standards for firefighters. They also sadly don’t publish everything they teach.
But it is clear, that most of the tactics which appeal very strange to us cohere with the way most of the buildings are built there.

In New York are the typical Brownstone Buildings or also called Multiple Dwellings. They are mostly high and narrow confusing buildings. Also often to see in the television are houses mainly made out of wood. Naturally a wooden fire house can burn out extremely fast and is very difficult to extinguish. Because of that, they have their own way to divide themselves into groups. Considering that at a fire also produces flammable and explosive gases in closed rooms, they can easily make holes into windows or the roof. They are also allowed to drive through a window with their big aerial ladder to be faster with the venting.

Normally there are the well known “Roof Men”, who get on top of the building to saw, wrest and drill vents. It is one of the most dangerous jobs, because the buildings collapse frequently. By the way, Chiefs of a Department don’t drive to every operation. They only join the operation, if the division needs someone for extremely difficult things to deal with. This however can sometimes pose a problem, as it again costs a certain amount of time until the Chief arrives. On the other hand, it is necessary to point out, that he is not driving in vain as well as still being available for other general affairs and in, case of need, obtainable for different damaging events.




4.2	In Munich

Fire Departments all over Germany are bound to work with the same guidelines.
They are called "Feuerwehrdienstvorschrift” (short: FwDV) and rule the operations and there is nothing fundamental, what isn´t based on a standard.
It makes it a lot easier to have a consistency in the whole country. Different fire services from sundry federal states are able to work hand in hand and also firefighters, who moved to another city, can furthermore do their job after a small recruitment test. Every country is allowed to assume the tactics and standards because they are logically not patented.

The “FwDV 3” for example contains all about the required work in fire-fighting operations, everything where a branch with water is needed, and rescue operations, every issue where persons have to be rescued or protected. It is very important that there is always a leader and it doesn’t matter whether there is only one single auxiliary fire tender, a fire truck which is also used for technical assistance, or multiple fire engines, which is like a company (Ger.:”Zug”). One single auxiliary fire tender will only arrive for the explained first responder or of the order of a burning/smoking garbage can.

So as defined in the “FwDV 3” the commander of a company is standardly present and has the competence to make decisions, but is also responsible for all personnel. It is common knowledge that the Germans have a need for security all the time in every area and try to hedge as far as possible.

A big point is, that the breathing apparatus wearer are called “Angriffstrupp” and they are used to get into a house in flames, rescue or recover bodies and extinguish the fire from close proximity. For each appointed breathing apparatus squad it is required to have another prepared squad, the so called security force (“Sicherheitstrupp”). They are primary to help the firefighters getting out of the house instantly, when something unfortunately goes wrong.