"I've seen it myself, I've been threatened with a knife last year," says a firefighter. The German Fire Brigade union is raising the alarm because firefighters are increasingly being attacked in action - and demands: Police protection for emergency services on New Year's Eve.
The violence is increasing dramatically, says Siegfried Maier, deputy federal chairman and Bavarian leader of the union. "More and more colleagues are having difficulties because they are being threatened on the job, and we are worried that things will get worse."
Therefore, on days like New Year's Eve, a police patrol must accompany fire brigade missions by default, the union demands. "Lots of masses, lots of alcohol, lots of fun," says Maier. "Regularly the emergency vehicles are bombarded with rockets." Although his demand meant a lot of extra police personnel, "I think it's very difficult - but possible."
"An absolute absurdity"
The Bavarian Ministry of the Interior rejects the demands. In 2017, according to ministry data, only 2,500 firefighting operations in the Free State came to be a criminal offense. Attacks on the fire department are unacceptable and "an absolute absurdity," says a spokesman. The statistics of the State Office of Criminal Investigation (LKA) show, however, "that a permanent direct 'police protection' in each firefighting operation would not be justified." According to LKA data, there were a total of 88 cases of violence against firefighters in Bavaria in 2017 - compared with 128 in 2013 and even 145 in 2012.
The union, however, assumes a much higher number of unreported cases. The focus of the violence against firefighters is called Maier Berlin and the Ruhr. "But even in Bavaria, it happens more often. The colleagues are abused, they are spit." The spokesman of the Federal Association, Tobias Thiele, calls it a nationwide problem. "But there are no-go areas in the Ruhr area."
"Respect - yes please!" is the name of the campaign video on the union homepage, which wants to draw attention to the violence with the descriptions of the firefighters concerned. The message: "It is not only disrespectful, but it endangers human lives."
For three years, the fire department has been dealing with the topic, says Maier. How big the problem really was, but even the union did not know - because incidents were not recorded centrally. "We finally need a central reporting system," Maier demands.
He describes a particularly blatant case from Dortmund: On New Year's Eve there was a fireman who operated the pump to supply his colleagues in a burning house with water, so heavily shot at with rockets that he had to seek shelter under the fire engine. For the colleagues who tried to extinguish the fire, and suddenly had no more water, meant the danger to life.
Violence against rescue workers is not a new phenomenon, but one with increasing explosiveness. In the middle of November, the Bavarian Red Cross (BRK) reported 86 cases of attacks on helpers - from insults and spits to beatings and kicks to rare cases of armed violence. The actual number is likely to be higher, however, because only 30 of 73 district associations have ever made reports.
Thiele from the fire brigade union describes a case from Wiesbaden: While a rescue team cared for a patient, unknown people unscrewed the wheel nuts on the ambulance. "That's unacceptable, what's going on here now."