On May 1st, the district fire brigade association Frankfurt am Main, one of the most influential district fire brigade associations in Germany, published a remarkable announcement.

In it, the chairman Dirk Rübesamen expressed fears of drastic financial cuts for the fire protection system in the Main metropolis by the magistrate, which would not least endanger the safety of the citizens of Frankfurt.

And after initially announcing that he would answer FAZ's questions about the alleged cuts, Rübesamen backed down four days after the announcement.

A day earlier, Uwe Serke, spokesman for fire-fighting policy for the CDU parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament, announced in a statement that the guarantee amount for fire protection in Hesse would be increased to a new “record level” of 43 million euros in 2022.

And one day after Rübesamen's retreat, the head of the regulatory department, Annette Rinn (FDP), announced on Friday that, after detailed internal discussions, they first wanted to wait for the annual general meeting of the association at the weekend before commenting on the association's fears.

Rinn praised Rübesamen for his media withdrawal: "Great job." 

For the district fire brigade association day on Saturday, there was obviously a need for discussion.

Especially in the current situation, in which the members of the volunteer fire brigades also have to do a lot of extra work due to the flood in the Ahr valley, the construction of corona test centers and much more, cuts would hit the fire brigades in Hesse hard, it was said in advance.

This topic in particular should be discussed at the district fire brigade association day in Nieder-Erlenbach.

According to the association, the professional fire brigade and volunteer fire brigades are an “indispensable part” of the security architecture of the Main metropolis.

Financial cuts endangered the public and the safety of citizens in Frankfurt.

In the message from May 1st, the association asks: "Do politicians really want these consequences??!!". 

Associations apparently feel little support

Serke also takes this criticism seriously.

Firefighters don't tend to exaggerate, which is why "such massive criticism" is remarkable and he assumes that "there might be something in the reports about planned cuts".

If you take a look at the coalition agreement of the Frankfurt magistrate, the topic of fire protection does not come up very often, the word only appears twice.

But the coalition makes many suggestions as to how the life and work of firefighters could be improved.

It's about "better tax conditions" for company apartments for comrades, modern equipment, high-quality training courses, and "intensive work with young people" in which one wants to "support the associations".

The associations, on the other hand, apparently feel little support. 

The back rowing of the association chairman and the praise of the head of the fire protection department for the suddenly self-imposed restraint of her speaker raise questions.

Contrary to his initial promise after the internal discussion with department head Rinnsich, Rübesamen no longer wants to comment on the announcement from his association on May 1st.

The fact that he and the head of the Frankfurt fire brigade, Karl-Heinz Frank, are city officials certainly doesn't make it any easier for the association to push through its cause.

After a request from this newspaper, Frank also only refers to his duty of confidentiality and therefore "does not want to take a position on internal administrative processes". 

The meeting of the district fire brigade association should create clarity here.

Rübesamen finds clear words in his welcome speech: "If the water stops flowing in the hoses of the fire brigades, then we have a big problem.

We need planning security in civil protection.” At first glance, the association has achieved its goals.

Head of department Rinn then promises: "There will be no austerity measures with me at the expense of the fire department".

The city must ensure that the training quotas are kept high and “train for Frankfurt”.

This includes "that of course the budget is not cut".

Markus Heuser, the spokesman for the fire brigade association, doesn't want to just leave it at that.

"Now people talk their way out of it, it's because the posts weren't clearly identified enough.

Will that be corrected now?

Is it better stated?

We haven't heard anything about that." In view of the increasing number of crises, what is needed is a strengthening of the fire brigade and civil protection, also financially.

“In principle, these were just political phrases, nothing else.

Red lines are being crossed here and we will not accept that.”


About the department head's guarantee that there will be no austerity measures, Heuser says: "The department communicated the cuts to the fire department in discussions.

No head of department thinks that up.” What if Heuser is right in his fears and the cuts are implemented after all?

"Then we reserve the right to take the next step and act as an association under private law, draw attention to ourselves, keep going to the media until the promises are kept." If everything, as the head of department promises, was a misunderstanding, then it must that will now be clarified.

"We need butter for the fish, a conversation next week where it will be said, where is the promised money?"


The dispute over the budget of the Frankfurt fire brigade also persists after the association meeting.

Rinn assures the fire department that it will not make any budget cuts.

Now it's up to the magistrate.

On the day of the association, it was said that clarification was needed as to how this "misunderstanding" could have come about and that a watchful eye was needed to see whether the city's promises were being implemented.