Specialist conference for emergency services from Drent and Herent

Last year, the Ried district fire brigade command, in collaboration with the Red Cross, organized the event format “Symposium for emergency services” at the Ried exhibition center for the first time. The aim was to familiarize the firefighters with current fire service topics, training aspects and innovations. After the successful premiere in 2023, the conference will go into the second round on Saturday, April 27th. This year the event is organized in collaboration by the Ried district fire brigade command and the Passau district fire brigade association and is supported by Interreg funds.

Lectures for firefighters

As part of the specialist conference, which takes place in the No Worries Hall, there will be lectures throughout the day on topics that are of great interest in both Bavaria and Austria. Platoon leader Markus Pilger, the then commander of the Simbach am Inn fire department, will give a lecture on how the operation during the flood disaster in June 2016 in Simbach went and what challenges had to be overcome. Daniel Humberger from the state of Upper Austria and Robert Meier from the government of Lower Bavaria will shed light on the issue of flooding from the authorities’ perspective. The two experts will inform the participants, among other things, about how cooperation works at the level of offices and authorities.

Michael Wieninger from the Passau Technical Relief Agency will speak about THW’s areas of responsibility and cross-border availability. The topic of black-out is also discussed in detail.

According to Jürgen Hell, head of organization and Ried’s district fire brigade commander, there is great interest in the conference. So far, almost 200 firefighters – half of them from Bavaria – have registered. “The conference is intended to bring people from Drent and Herent together. This is maintaining contacts through short official channels,” says Jürgen Hell.

Visitors welcome

The event is not only aimed at active firefighters. In addition to the specialist conference, there will be a fire department exhibition. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., over 50 companies from Upper Austria and Bavaria will present their products for fire service needs with free admission. You can see drones, quads and special vehicles, among other things. The exhibition takes place in the FACC Sky Dome, also on the Ried knife site. “We hope that the exhibition will inspire people who are not yet in the fire department. Maybe one or two of them will get a taste for it and become an active member of the fire department,” reports Ried’s fire department commander.

Further information about the event can be found at feuerwehrfachtagung-ried.at.