Support for volunteer fire brigades

Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG) is honouring and supporting the work of volunteer fire brigades in the region with the Fire Brigade of the Future competition.

The services provided to society by volunteer fire brigades cannot be overestimated. Their members are on hand when there is a fire, a serious car accident has occurred, floods have flooded basements or people need help in other ways. It is not uncommon for them to save lives on their missions.

However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find dedicated people to take on this key task in their free time. "This is precisely where we come in with the Firefighters of the Future innovation competition," explains Ulli Boos, company spokesperson for Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG). The competition is being held for the fifteenth time this year. The idea behind it: To motivate fire brigades to break new ground. In order to meet future challenges and, not least, to attract young people to volunteer work. "This is also becoming increasingly important in view of the changing climate," says Ulli Boos. This is because extreme weather conditions in particular mean that volunteers have to turn out more and more frequently. After all, several people are often affected by such events at the same time and need help. And this is precisely why sufficient personnel are needed.

Anything is possible
"Together with the SWG, we are calling on all volunteer fire brigades in the region to take part in the competition again with unusual ideas," says Florian Vornlocher, Deputy Chairman of the district fire brigade association, encouraging his fellow campaigners and adds. "In order to give the firefighters as much leeway as possible, we have once again dispensed with a motto and the associated restrictions this year."

This means that fire services can choose a theme that suits them, develop it and apply to take part. It doesn't matter where the submitted projects are intended to lead to improvements. This means that literally all firefighters can take part - from operational departments, children's and youth groups, music and marching bands as well as honourary departments. Even the supporting sponsoring organisations are encouraged to get actively involved.

The only requirement for participation in the competition is a convincing application, which must be received by SWG by 30 April 2026. The fire brigades that are accepted will then have until 30 September 2026 to develop their idea into a concrete project. They must be finished by 31 October 2026 at the latest and submit documentation including an illustrated presentation.

Difficult decision expected
As in the previous fourteen rounds, the jury is expecting a difficult decision. "Experience shows that the competition always produces top-class ideas from the fire service members," recalls Ulli Boos. These initial sketches ultimately result in exciting projects and ultimately significant optimisations for the participating fire services. The work invested in their free time pays off in any case. And it also pays off financially for the winners: as always, SWG is awarding a total of 3,000 euros in prize money. Half of this goes to the winning fire brigade, the runner-up receives 1,000 euros and third place is endowed with 500 euros.

Registration for the competition: SWG has compiled all the important information and registration documents for the Fire Brigade of the Future competition at www.stadtwerke-giessen.de/innovationspreis.