Dear friends and support­ers,
The year 2010 began with a great chal­lenge for @fire due to the earth­quake in Haiti. As the first German search and rescue unit on the ground, our team was able to provide valu­able assis­tance here. Moving forward, 2010 was also an impor­tant year for the devel­op­ment of @fire as an effec­tive and glob­ally oper­at­ing aid organ­i­sa­tion. The focus was on network­ing as a basis for inte­gra­tion into the inter­na­tional aid system and the contin­u­ous train­ing of our oper­a­tional staff and exter­nal forces.

A special high­light was the Inter­schutz trade fair in Leipzig, the lead­ing inter­na­tional trade fair for fire protec­tion and disas­ter manage­ment. Thanks to the help of our members and donors, we were able to present ourselves there with a very attrac­tive stand.

The contin­u­ous exchange of expe­ri­ence with our part­ners at national and inter­na­tional level led to another special mile­stone in the asso­ci­a­tion’s history in August: member­ship in INSARAG*, the inter­na­tional work­ing group of rescue teams under the umbrella of the United Nations.

Both in forest fire fight­ing and in heavy rescue after build­ing collapses, we held exten­sive train­ing events in 2010. Although our helpers usually already have qual­i­fied train­ing as fire­fight­ers or in rescue services, this is not enough to meet the diverse require­ments of foreign missions. The key to safe and effec­tive field oper­a­tions here is thor­ough and contin­u­ous preparation.

But an impor­tant goal of @fire is also the trans­fer of knowl­edge. We are happy to pass on the expe­ri­ence and knowl­edge we gain during exer­cises and oper­a­tions to the emer­gency services of the munic­i­pal fire brigades, so that damage cases can be better dealt with in large and small disasters.

The estab­lish­ment and oper­a­tion of a logis­tics base with an exten­sive train­ing facil­ity as the mate­r­ial “heart” of the asso­ci­a­tion was also another impor­tant step in 2010. This now provides even better oppor­tu­ni­ties for exten­sive train­ing as well as main­te­nance of the tech­ni­cal equipment.

For the future, we plan to expand our compe­tences and tech­ni­cal equip­ment. In line with our motto “Fire­fight­ers help world­wide”, we will thus be able to help those affected even faster and more effec­tively in the event of disas­ters all over the world.