Erfurt (dpa/th) – Thuringia’s fire brigades are concerned about the turn of the year: After two pandemic New Years with fireworks bans, the fire brigade association is assuming a catch-up effect when burning New Year’s Eve rockets, as board member Michael Schwabe said on Thursday on request. “One or the other will probably invest more in the firecrackers.” In addition, the announced stormy weather is a risk with the fireworks. “It can be dangerous if the missiles are blown off by strong winds.” Schwabe expects more fire service deployments over the turn of the year than in the two previous years.
This is then also associated with an additional burden for the rescue services and emergency rooms. The fire brigades organized an on-call service for New Year’s Eve or set up standby groups, said Schwabe. In the rural Thuringia, firefighting is mainly in the hands of volunteers – only larger cities such as Erfurt or Jena have professional fire brigades.
In view of the risk of fire for monuments or historic inner cities from New Year’s Eve rockets, several cities in Thuringia have issued fireworks bans in endangered areas. This applies, for example, to Rudolstadt with the Heidecksburg or the tourist mile in Weimar between Theaterplatz and Frauenplan.
