In the third year of the "Fire brigade of the future" competition, the volunteer fire brigades from the district of Giessen once again demonstrated their innovative strength. The innovation prize is entering its fourth round in 2014.
On 14 November, Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG) and the district fire service association announced this year's winners of the "Fire Service of the Future" competition and presented the prizes. First place went to the Hungen-Obbornhofen volunteer fire brigade with the project "2013 - the year of preventive fire protection". Second place went to the Reiskirchen volunteer fire brigade, which provided its members with comprehensive further training on the "Firefighter Paramedic" pilot course. Third place was shared by the Lollar-Salzböden volunteer fire brigade, which launched the "High performance in (everyday) operations" programme, and the Heuchelheim and Linden volunteer fire brigades. In the joint project "Fit for Fire - The Challenge", the latter two showed that their members are also in top sporting form.
All projects successfully completed
District Administrator Anita Schneider, SWG company spokesperson Ina Weller and Michael Weber, first chairman of the district fire brigade association, presented the prize money at a ceremony in the SWG main building in Lahnstraße: 1500 euros for the winner, 1000 euros for the runner-up and 500 euros each to the fire brigades in third place. "This year, the emergency services from the district have once again demonstrated their wealth of ideas. The entries also illustrate the wide variety of tasks they fulfil," emphasised Anita Schneider.
The volunteer fire services submitted a total of eight proposals in 2013 - and they successfully completed all eight projects. "The decision was not easy for us as a jury, because behind every competition entry were good, innovative ideas and a great deal of commitment," explained Ina Weller. The participants also included the volunteer fire brigades from Cleeberg, Lützellinden, Großen-Linden and Rabenau-Rüddingshausen.
Looking back on the past three years of "Firefighters of the Future", Michael Weber emphasised: "The competition offers the volunteers an ideal public platform and plenty of freedom to show how they are equipping themselves for upcoming tasks, promoting young talent and educating citizens about their work." Together with the other members of the jury, representatives from the administration, fire brigades and Giessen municipal utilities, he is already looking forward to next year. "We will be entering the fourth round of the Innovation Award in 2014," announced Ina Weller.