For @fire, 2011 was all about expand­ing our network - nation­ally and inter­na­tion­ally. Numer­ous inter­nal and exter­nal train­ing courses helped to improve the effec­tive­ness and skills of our emer­gency units. To this end, we also expanded our train­ing centre. 

The earth­quake in Japan with its cata­strophic conse­quences shocked the world public in 2011. It also showed how vulner­a­ble even well-prepared indus­tri­alised nations can be to natural disasters. 

@fire was on standby with a 50-strong team to help on the ground. Just like after the earth­quake in Turkey in Octo­ber 2011. In both cases, however, the affected coun­tries did not need exten­sive inter­na­tional assis­tance in the area of search and rescue of buried victims.

@fire’s exper­tise in “vege­ta­tion fire­fight­ing” is now regu­larly used by the rele­vant author­i­ties in nature conser­va­tion. Here @fire carries out controlled burn­ing of areas for the purpose of renat­u­ra­tion. In the Harz Moun­tains, for exam­ple, it has been possi­ble to help areas infested with pests to blos­som again by burn­ing off the dead plants (and thus also the pests). 

What is defi­nitely a gain for nature is also train­ing for us. Only through precise plan­ning and appro­pri­ate measures can the fire be limited and controlled.

“Fire­fight­ers help world­wide” is our motto, and follow­ing events and the steady increase in damage caused by natural disas­ters, @fire will be called upon again as an inter­na­tional aid organ­i­sa­tion in the years to come.