Category Archives: Story

Fire fighting, Story

Volunteer fire department – Part 1

A childhood dream comes true – a ride in the HLF 20.

Like so many other people, I have always wanted to ride in a large fire engine. Now my dream has come true – I was allowed to ride in a vehicle of the Kößlarn volunteer fire department, an emergency fire fighting vehicle, HLF 20 for short.

 

This type of vehicle evolved from the pure fire-fighting group vehicles when the fire departments realized that their range of operations was increasingly shifting from fire-fighting to technical assistance and therefore equipped their fire-fighting group vehicles with additional equipment for accident assistance.

Even before they were standardized, HLFs were the most versatile pieces of firefighting equipment, used for all conceivable operational situations such as traffic accidents, hazardous goods operations and, of course, conventional fire operations. I don’t want to go into the technical details in this report; you can find a lot of information on Wikipedia.

 

Our fire engine has a very special livery. The Kößlarner Keiler, the heraldic animal of Kößlarn, accompanies the firefighters on their missions.

 

 

But now my impressions on this trip to the garage:

As a person of the 1960s, I was still driving vehicles that had just a single wing mirror and a radio-cassette player as additional equipment….

When you get into the driver’s cab of the HLF 20, you enter a huge, high-tech, electronic machine with a cockpit full of display screens, monitors, telephones, measuring devices and communication units.

I am really impressed that the firefighters manage to watch and read all the monitors when they are called out to an operation, despite the tension that every operation brings, while at the same time being able to communicate, listen to the warning tones and transport the vehicle and crew safely to the scene.

 

 

I admit it openly: I would have been hopelessly overwhelmed and would like to once again send my thanks and deep respect to all the people who work for the volunteer fire department and sacrifice their free time to help people in emergency situations.

 

By the way: after the first few impressive minutes on the ride, I became a child again and simply enjoyed the rest of the ride with a big grin on my face. Many thanks to the Kößlarn fire department for giving me permission to ride along.

And the great thing is that I get to visit the firefighters a second time and talk to someone in charge about everyday life in the volunteer fire department. I’m really looking forward to it.

Fire protection, Story

Would have, should, could, would, needed to…. Conjunctives in fire protection?

 

As a passionate motorbike enthusiast, I was naturally saddened by the report of the fire in the motorbike museum in Hochgurgl in January 2021.

The cause of the fire was soon determined: a technical defect in a digital signage display in the exhibition area. The museum was largely made of wood, which made it even more difficult for the fire brigades to extinguish the fire. Just about all the classic motorbikes fell victim to the flames, and of course the question of the fire protection of the building, which was just newly constructed in 2016, arose.

 

Fire in the motorbike museum in Hochgurgl 2021

 

However, there was indeed an elaborate fire protection concept – starting with fire protection sliding doors with T-30 fire protection function, which close automatically in case of fire, to optical and acoustic warning systems, to built-in rescue doors, which secure the escape route of persons and the possibility to quickly transport injured persons to hospitals via the helicopter landing pad.

 

And now the ” would have ” comes into play: If the operators or the fire protection officers had known at that time about the possibility of using monitors that are equipped in such a way that fires caused by electricity inside the monitors are automatically extinguished immediately and can thus fight a fire in a targeted manner before a catastrophe occurs, they would certainly have built this preventive fire protection into their fire protection concept.

 

Because: “The problem here was the undetected fire from inside, probably triggered by the electricity in the power supply unit. Such incipient fires can always happen,” explains Rajko Eichhorn, Senior Business Development Manager at JOB (JOB Group – world market leader for high-quality sprinkler lamps and inventor of the world’s smallest fire extinguisher). Most fire protection solutions for displays rely on unsightly, heavy, clunky fire protection enclosures and protective glass.

In contrast, solutions such as JOB’s E-Bulb, an automatic micro fire extinguisher, are integrated into the displays and can thus fight fires in a targeted manner before an actual fire occurs.

E-Bulb Assortment

 

And now to the ” should “: Shouldn’t we all work together so that fires like this and others no longer have to be reported daily in our newspapers?

I think so – and change the “should” to “must”. We must disseminate and pass on knowledge that we gain and that can help the general public.

 

And that’s why we will report in our next articles on how the “Automatic Miniature Fire Extinguisher“, AMFE for short, works, the VDS-certified “E-Bulb” micro fire extinguishers and the concept of “appliance-integrated fire protection”.

 

By the way: The reopening of the Motorcycle Museum was on 18.11.2021!

The reconstruction not only expanded and renewed the lost collection, but also the entire concept of the museum.

So you “could” plan a visit to the museum again…. but:

The Austrian federal government has ordered another comprehensive lockdown, including the closure of all hotels, restaurants and museums.

This officially ordered closure of operations is set for a maximum of 20 days in the period from 22.11.2021 to 12.12.2021 and also includes the possibility of an earlier reopening after 10 days – provided that the infection situation eases significantly.

Check the museum’s website for the latest news.

 

And here’s another photo I took on the Col du Galibier in the summer – for you to understand what makes me so happy when I go motorcycling…

 

 

Photography Col du Galibier
View from the Col du Galibier – Photo: Leopoldi-Art