Berlin’s fire brigade chief has to report

By Axel Lier

Here the fire brigade boss goes to report to the interior senator. And must declare a state of emergency in his troops!

Karsten Homrighausen (54, 3 children) has been Berlin’s fire department chief since August 2018 – but his job has never demanded him as much as it does now.

Reason: His fire brigade is standing k. o. Emergency services must be declared every day, often twice a day. Almost 170 are in the statistics. Often there isn’t a single free ambulance (RTW) left in the capital.

The result: 112 callers have to wait longer for help. It was particularly bad at the weekend: the state of emergency lasted for 16 hours. 27 ambulances remained unmanned, 106 employees were missing. Fire engines drove across the city to medical emergencies – luckily including many trifles.

Interior Senator Iris Spranger had promised promotions - but they didn't come

Interior Senator Iris Spranger (60, SPD) Photo: sb

Two hours after the fire brigade boss entered the office of Interior Senator Iris Spranger (60, SPD) on Monday afternoon, it was said again in the capital: No ambulance free! At around 9 p.m., the fire brigade counted 1,407 rescue service operations, 115 in technical assistance and 46 in firefighting.

“The fact is that people will die if there is no RTW available,” warns Oliver Mertens from the police union (GdP), which also represents many firefighters.

It is good that the topic is finally coming into public focus, that the FDP has put a hearing on the agenda of the interior committee.

Trade unionist Oliver Mertens: “We expect that people will listen to us and be willing to make the necessary decisions in order to stop endangering human life.”

The result of the crisis meeting with the interior senator to extinguish the fire at the fire brigade: There is no …

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