The fire brigade has fire in its name and is primarily concerned with fighting fires. But in other cases, too, she deploys to rescue operations. Some of them seem quite bizarre.
Especially in the summer months, the fire brigade is extremely challenged by countless forest fires. The emergency services also rescue people after accidents and provide first aid. From time to time, however, completely different challenges await them: Then people or animals often have to be freed from awkward situations. A look at the curious operational reports of the past few months:
Embarrassing situations only get worse when they cause a stir. This is what happened to a 17-year-old in Essen who got stuck with her bottom in a baby swing on a playground. She couldn’t make it out on her own. The fire department had to help. A two-year-old girl in Munich who was playing with a toilet attachment had similar bad luck. The head slipped through the opening and the toilet seat could not be removed again. The fire brigade came by with special tools.
A primary school student in Lower Franconia may not have liked the hype about her person. She got stuck in Alzenau with her knee in a banister in the playground. Neither the teachers nor the caretaker could help the ten-year-old. The emergency services finally stretched the metal railing with a rescue spreader.
A man in Bochum who was stuck for hours in the deep mud of a former colliery must have been happy about the help of the rescuers. The 27 helpers also had to use a chainsaw for the rescue: the man was standing behind a thorn hedge.
But sometimes it just takes a little persuasion to help and protect people. This is what happened in Bersenbrück, Lower Saxony. A kitchen burned there. But for two 23- and 31-year-olds, that was initially no reason to leave the apartment. A homeowner in East Friesland was in a hurry. He asked the fire department to cover his roof again after a hurricane. Four roof tiles were missing. The forces refused.
Mishaps don’t just happen to people: in Augsburg, a curious cat wanted to explore the engine compartment of a car – and got stuck. The fire department even had to disassemble parts of the car to free the cat. She escaped with minor injuries. It was no less easy to catch three martens in an elevator shaft in Augsburg. The trio had paralyzed the lift – and should therefore be expelled from the building. But how? The animals were finally caught with a net.
And how do you get a duckling out of the sewers? The fire brigade in Bremerhaven asked themselves this question after a chick fell into a street gully. The solution: Firefighters used their smartphones to record the calls of the mother duck and play the chattering in various gullies. This lured the chick into a downcomer – and so it could be saved.
Snakes, spiders or crocodiles also trigger missions from time to time. But it is not always really dangerous animals that fire brigades come across after information from concerned callers. In Wilhelmshaven, the emergency services had to drive to a market because a spider was suspected in a banana box. The all-clear was quickly given: In reality, it turned out to be the remains of a banana peel.
Good advice was needed when a truck got stuck in a gateway in Munich. When the load was delivered and the truck was lighter than before, it no longer fit through the gate. The emergency services finally stood on the loading area until the truck was heavy and deep enough to pass through the gate.
In Dresden, a driver fell asleep with the engine running. The problem: the car was locked and his girlfriend couldn’t wake the man up. A case for the fire brigade: When the emergency services shook the vehicle properly, the driver woke up.
Sometimes firefighters are also allowed to act as tank crackers – as in Bocholt in North Rhine-Westphalia. There the combination lock of a safe in a grammar school was broken and the Abitur exams were in it. The safe was finally cracked open with technical equipment from the fire brigade. The students then wrote the exam an hour late.
Firefighters don’t always have to help when called. In Breitenbach in Eichsfeld, Thuringia, a man extinguished his burning car with a watering can. He had previously made an emergency call – as a precaution. In Erfurt, the fire brigade opened an apartment door because blood was dripping from a balcony. The all-clear followed quickly: the 22-year-old resident had obviously stored animal innards for her dogs in a leaky container on the balcony. She had to pay for it.
For the fire brigade in Sigmarszell, Bavaria, the journey was very short in one case: of all things, their own fire engine caught fire. According to the police, the battery in a flashlight was to blame. A firefighter grabbed the fire extinguisher. However, the vehicle was no longer ready for use.
