Giessen. The winners of the "Fire brigade of the future" competition organised by Stadtwerke Gießen have been announced: the Reiskirchen volunteer fire brigade came in joint first place with the volunteer fire brigade from Lollar-Ruttershausen, which scored points with its "We still have places available" campaign to promote young talent. Third place went to the Linden and Heuchelheim volunteer fire brigades - they jointly organised "Fit for Fire".
The prize money of 1500 and 500 euros respectively was presented by SWG board member Manfred Siekmann and district administrator Anita Schneider during a ceremony at the municipal utilities in Lahnstraße on Monday, 20 January.
A total of 19 fire brigades took part in the competition, 11 of which realised their projects. District fire inspector Mario Binsch was the technical director of the competition. The jury consisted of experts from the professional fire brigades as well as representatives from the administration, the media and the Giessen municipal utilities. The "Fire brigade of the future" competition will be held again next year, as SWG company spokesperson Ina Weller has already announced.
Fire brigades and municipal utilities as partners
With the "Fire brigade of the future" campaign, the municipal utilities want to promote volunteer work and the next generation of firefighters in particular. "In Central Hesse, the volunteer fire brigades are indispensable - be it for fighting fires or rescuing and recovering people and equipment. We want to maintain and strengthen this role". As a municipal utility company that has always worked closely with the fire brigades from a technical point of view alone and employs several volunteer firefighters itself, it is important to support the fire brigades, says Stadtwerke Gießen.