Without progressive digitalization and networking, an efficient fire department and a modern rescue service will no longer be conceivable in the future.
Several speakers pointed this out on the second day of the annual conference of the Association for the Promotion of German Fire Protection (vfdb) in Ulm. Only the use of digital possibilities helps rescuers in all areas to keep up with the requirements, according to the conclusion.
challenges
The challenges continue to increase. As one of many examples, Timm Wallrodt from Drägerwerk cited the problem of growing cities and the fire department with personnel shortages.
“While Germany’s cities are constantly growing, it is becoming increasingly difficult for fire departments to attract well-trained specialist personnel to become firefighters,” said Timm Wallrodt, adding “Digital options help the fire department keep pace despite personnel challenges.”
It will become part of the networked Smart City.
networked fire department
However, the vision of the networked fire department of the future goes even further
A networked fire department is no longer a dream of the future. However, the vision of the networked fire department of the future goes even further - right up to the integration of smart homes and smart building sensors.
“By integrating this sensor technology, forecast models can make statements about the damage pattern, course of damage, and trapped people on arrival,” said the Speaker.
Real-time localization of emergency services is also becoming a little closer through the use of digital technologies.
green wave
Sebastian Damm and Jonas Klemmt from the Braunschweig Professional Fire Department reported on various options for providing emergency vehicles with a 'green wave' in road traffic using digital technology.
They cited the SIRENE (Secure and Intelligent Road Emergency Network) research project as an example. It deals with the targeted acceleration of emergency vehicles in urban environments by influencing traffic signals in combination with intelligent routing.
SIRENE system
The route is then transmitted to the emergency vehicle and displayed via a navigation device
The principle: When an emergency vehicle receives an assignment, the SIRENE system first calculates the most optimal route to the location. On the one hand, static obstacles such as construction sites, but also dynamic traffic situations are taken into account in the routing.
The route is then transmitted to the emergency vehicle and displayed via a navigation device. If the vehicle travels on this route, only the traffic lights are switched with a priority over which the vehicle will travel.
operations, training, and administration
Tablets and other mobile devices have long since found their way into the everyday lives of fire departments, rescue services, and disaster relief workers. Dr. spoke about 'challenges in the selection, introduction, and operation' of such devices.
Olaf Grebner from Mobilion, an information technology provider. The potential of mobile information management is to make the fire department's operations, training, and administration processes faster, better, and safer, emphasized Grebner.
fire detection, fighting, and self-rescue
Six partners from science and industry are working together on solutions for faster fire detection and fighting
Another topic was the research project 'TEBRAS – concepts and techniques for fire detection, fighting, and self-rescue in the earliest fire phase'. In the project, six partners from science and industry are working together on solutions for faster fire detection and fighting.
Jens Krause from the vfdb research department concluded the discussion about digitization with a practical example: “Digitization does not mean that you just provide a PDF application to fill out and then send it back as a printout. Rather, workflows must be digitally and transparently available to everyone involved from start to finish.”
changes in training
Other presentations and discussions addressed, among other things, the question of how demographic change is changing the training of fire departments and fire protection.
The topic of networking also played an important role here. Good and modern training will only be possible in the future with strong training institutions, well networked across existing levels. Fire brigade schools must become centers of learning and must be staffed so that they can fulfill the tasks that the fire brigades expect of them.
training qualifications
“However, the German fire service must agree on this,” said Frank Mehr, Institute for Fire and Disaster Protection Heyrothsberge, adding “We have to work together to ensure that good training does not compete financially. We have to work together to ensure that training qualifications are or become comparable. We have to work together to be able to meet the demands of citizens and society on the fire service, throughout Germany.”
demography and training
Highlighting the attractiveness and special nature of the fire service profession
There was also a report on a thesis paper on 'demography and training', which the AGBF bund training working group is currently dealing with. For example, this calls for increased advertising for work in the fire department, highlighting the attractiveness and special nature of the fire service profession.
As it is said, the focus should be on topics such as “work-life balance” in the fire service, the duty roster model, the family-friendliness of the service, possible part-time models, parental leave, and other social benefits that are not offered by other employers.
role of social media
Advertising for the fire service profession must take place 'in the language of the (potential) applicants'.
The role of social media is highlighted. It is also important to consider the volunteer fire department as a recruiting pool for the professional fire department.
'Golden Florian' awarded
171 fire departments took part in the three categories of the campaign, membership recruitment/image
As part of the vfdb annual conference, the winners of the 'Golden Florian' video competition, which was advertised by the fire department magazine, were awarded on Monday evening.
171 fire departments took part in the three categories of the campaign, membership recruitment/image, and children/youth fire department with a total of 183 films. The prize money was 10,000 euros.
member identification category
Fire department magazine boss Jan-Erik Hegemann presented the first prize in the member identification category to the Bad Segeberg fire department (Schleswig-Holstein) for the contribution “Childhood Dreams.”
The Düsseldorf fire department (North Rhine-Westphalia) followed in second and third place with the Video “We can’t do it quietly, but we can do a lot” and the Alfeld fire department (Lower Saxony) with “I.YOU.WE – Don’t let us drive into the wall”.
campaign, Children and Youth Fire Department category
The Kreisfloriangruppe Lüchow-Dannenberg eV came first in the “Children and Youth Fire Department” category
In the campaign category, the Dresden-Cossebaude fire brigade (Saxony) secured first place with the contribution “What If” ahead of the Bautzen district Fire Brigade Association (Saxony) with the video “Rescue Alley Child-friendly” and the Hamburg Fire Department with the film “WM 2018 “We for Hamburg – you for Germany”.
The Kreisfloriangruppe Lüchow-Dannenberg eV (Lower Saxony) came first in the “Children and Youth Fire Department” category with the entry “The Turntable Ladder”. The Königstädten Fire Department (Hesse) with the video “Transition instead of Leaving” and the Speikern Youth Fire Department (Bavaria) with the film “Something is Missing Here” followed in second and third place.
competition to support fire departments
The fire department magazine announced the competition to support fire departments in recruiting and retaining members. “No other form of presentation can currently attract as much attention as well-made videos,” says the Editor-In-Chief of the fire department magazine.
Well-known companies from the fire service industry supported the competition as partners. The German Fire Brigade Association and the Association for the Promotion of German Fire Protection were also there as ideal partners.
special prize
The contributions of the 30 finalists can still be seen on the Fire Brigade magazine's YouTube channel.
The 31st video there is also the film by the Salzgitter-Bad volunteer fire department (Lower Saxony), which was awarded a special prize because of its special effects.
