Little known fact (maybe): Emergency services in Germany is largely handled by volunteers.
Police is always paid, no volunteers there.
Paramedics are often paid ("Regelrettungsdienst"), but there are lots of units working on voluntary basis which take care of festivals, larger events and more and are somewhat on stand-by in case the Regelrettungsdienst gets overwhelmed with work.
Firefighters are the most and they are almost always volunteers, the so called "Freiwillige Feuerwehr". As a member of the Freiwillige Feuerwehr you'll have some kind of pager or app to alarm you and people will then leave work and rush to the fire department and man the trucks. Only large cities (> 100k residents, I think) need to have paid firefighters.
Firefighters and Paramedics are also among the jobs with the highest trust/respect with the people in Germany. (Sadly, attacks on those groups from bystanders are steadily climbing...)
These days thousands of people have left their work (your city will pay your employer for the time you had to leave, although most employers don't bill that time) to help take care of the aftermath of the floods, either as Paramedics or Firefighters.
Usually there's no compensation for this work, next to getting something to eat and drink and the equipment.
This is probably quite unique compared to other countries.
Update: Seems like it's not unique to Germany. I appreciate that, thanks for letting me know.
Here are a few additional points to give more context how this volunteering is organized in Germany:
1. Employers have to allow their employees to participate in aid missions and also have to pay them for the time they spend volunteering in an emergency. Employers can get the paid wages back from the respective authority.
2. In my experience the mentioned organizations are often youth organizations similar to sports clubs and are doing a lot of social work apart from emergency, rescue and disaster missions.
3. Historically it wasn't completely voluntary. When I was young every male citizen had to pay a fee if they didn't participate. This was abolished eventually, because of gender equality. Also, compulsory military service (when we still had it) could be avoided by volunteering at least four years in disaster relief.
I suppose the SES (State Emergency Service) is the equivalent of the THW, even to the point of being set up at about the same time to help in case of a war but dealing with natural disasters and other incidents that are less dramatic. THW is federal but SES is state, but I'm sure that's trivial.
Police are of course paid.
Paramedics who ride in ambulances attending emergecies are paid - perhaps not enough. But first aid at festivals and larger events are handled by organisations like St Johns Ambulance, which are mostly volunteer-based organisations. It sounds like perhaps it is structurally different, but has the same effect.
Firefighters are divided. Metropolitan firies are usually paid, but in country towns they are volunteer.
I have noticed many similarities between Australia and Germany that seem surprising. Perhaps this is another one to add to that. Maybe it isn't so surprising though. It would seem like every country town couldn't have its own firefighting force if they have only very rare fires or if they are particularly seasonal.
> This is probably quite unique compared to other countries.
It works like this in many European countries. When I went to work in Germany and was introduced to the work council as something uniquely German, it was cute too. Good to see my native country isn't the only place that thinks it's a special snowflake though.
Just to add one point, one perc you got for joining the THW or beeing a firefighter was that you didn't have to do the military service at the time it was still compulsory.
Now without that many that rely on volunteers struggle to find enough Young people.
> Firefighters are the most and they are almost always volunteers, the so called "Freiwillige Feuerwehr". As a member of the Freiwillige Feuerwehr you'll have some kind of pager or app to alarm you and people will then leave work and rush to the fire department and man the trucks. Only large cities (> 100k residents, I think) need to have paid firefighters.
Germany has three kinds of firefighters: volunteer, fulltime and conscripted.
I've never heard of conscripted firefighters ("Pflichtfeuerwehr"), but apparently it's possible to
call upon able persons, i.e. if the village is to small and not enough volunteers exist.
attacks on those groups from bystanders are steadily climbing
Do we know why? I can understand why people might attack the cops (not saying it is right), but paramedics? Firefighters? These people literally save our lives while putting themselves in danger.
This type of attacks is growing in the UK too. According to the news, sometimes people deliberately set fire, call 999 and attack the firefighters when they arrive. I truly don't understand this at all.
AFAIK volunteer firefighting is the rule everywhere in Europe. In France we have volunteers, professionals and military firemen (with more specialized / intensive tasks).
We have reserves of volunteers for emergency health care and so on (for example they're being used for vaccination right now), working on the same principles as the ones you have described.
> Only large cities (> 100k residents, I think) need to have paid firefighters.
Depends on the state.
Where I'm living now (Northrhine-Westphalia) we're far below 100k, but we have a professional fire brigade.
We also have the volunteer fire brigade.
And one chemical factory has their own fire brigade, which also helps out throughout the town whenever something special (i.e. chemical) is happening or everyone else is busy.
Firefighters are loosing trust somewhat because of the culture they've grown in the volunteer groups.
I tried to join my local volunteer group a few years ago, to help out in my community, was like 12 people back then. Sadly after the leader of the group dropped a hard-r N-word followed by complaints about certain ethnicities and half the group chimed in with "hear hear", I left as quickly as I could.
> The voluntary police service has existed in Baden-Württemberg since 1963. It currently consists of 576 (as of June 30, 2020) citizens who, through their voluntary work, support the police enforcement service in the protection of events and in the area of prevention, among other things.
> The police volunteers have the position of a police officer within the meaning of the Police Act and therefore generally wear uniform. Since they too can come into the position of having to protect their own life or the life of another, they are equipped with a pistol and other means of coercion.
> The decision of the previous state government in 2011 to terminate the voluntary police service is being corrected by the incumbent state government.
You would think so, but actually there is some sort of "Freiwilliger Polizeidienst" in several german states. Though only in Baden-Württemberg they are part of police proper:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiwilliger_Polizeidienst
This is organised similarly in the UK. Volunteer "retained firefighters" [1] mostly cover rural areas, and full-time crews cover towns and cities.
There are also volunteer police officers called "special constables" [2]. Mountain rescue is also provided by volunteer teams, as is lifeboat maritime rescue, with helicopter support from the coast guard (which also uses volunteers...)
Interesting how many countries converge on the same approaches.
Maybe nice to note: Even in cities where there are paid firefighters, there are almost always still more voluntary firefighters that respond mostly during night times if there is a demand for them.
volunteer fire brigades are also quite common in (very) small towns in the USA. it's a bit like a social club. the fire station serves as a sort of public gathering hall as well.
It would be interesting to have a table comparing how this works across countries.
In the UK:
- Police are mostly professional, but there are voluntary special constables [1]; ~130k professionals, ~10k specials [2]
- Firefighters are kind of all professional; most are full-time, but some are "on call", having other jobs, but running off to put out fires when needed (and being paid for it) [3]. On-call firemen are often the only cover in rural areas. About 20k full-time, 10k on-call [4].
- Ambulance staff are almost all professional. There are volunteers, but a small number [5]. However there is also the St John Ambulance, a medical charity that does some ambulance-esque things, including providing first aid at public events [6]. Air ambulances are completely separate and operated by local charities [7] [8], so not available everywhere in the country.
- Mountain rescue, cave rescue, and sea rescue are all entirely charitable volunteer organisations. Search and rescue helicopters used to be provided by the RAF, but are now a private service contracted to the coastguard.
- We don't have any equivalent of the THW, as far as i know. The fire service do some kind of disaster relief, particularly if it involves pumping water. But for the rest of it, there just isn't any systematic response.
Interestingly the THW also operates the "virtual operations support team" (VOST). This group of volunteers is monitoring social media and detecting fake news with specialized software in order to aid crisis relief efforts. https://www.thw.de/SharedDocs/Meldungen/DE/Einsaetze/nationa...
We have something similar in Denmark which is a agency under the defence ministry. Though compared to THW they are only around 1/3 volunteers, 1/3 conscripts not wanting to be in the military and the rest is normal payroll staff. They also man the big pumps when it is needed and such here.
Practically no-one is conscripted any more. There is usually 1-2 year wait list to go in and spend 9 months before Uni and the like.
I'm one of those volunteers in "DEMA".
It varies by region how and how much the volunteers are used. I usually respond to the oddball police ect. support if my SWE job allows, but try to focus on our international capacities.
USAR, ICT/camp/water-purification support for EU/UN management teams, satellite internet ect.
My colleges ran a camp in Sierra Leone wrt. ebola, went to US Virgin Islands after the storm, I went to Sweden to fight forest fires and stuff like that.
I have friends and family ask why I spend the time, not just on calls, but education, gear maintenance and the like instead of focusing even more on my career and day job.
The answer isn't rational, but it just gives me experiences I wouldn't get any other way. I grew up learning to inherently help people if asked to without question and probably wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't helping others. But at least when I need to justify it to my conscious self, I circle back to the egoistic view of how it benefits me as well.
Fun fact, the closer you get to Germany in the southern part of mainland Denmark, the closer the local fire departments start to look like the German "Freiwillige Feuerwehr".
The culture there is just much more "everybody in the area that can, responds to the alarm".
> The primary firefighting work in Denmark are done by municipal fire departments and all municipalities are required by law to have a fire department. [...] The municipalities does not have to do the firefighting themselves, and a large part of the fire department services are done by the private firm Falck A/S.
> The company was founded in 1906 by Sophus Falck after he witnessed and volunteered at a fire at the Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1884. The lack of organization made a big impression on him, and motivated the creation of Falck later on in 1906. His mission was to help others in emergency situations. [...] Falck funds its acquisitions and capital expenditures out of its own operating cash flows. The majority of the company is owned by two Nordic-based nonprofit foundations: Lundbeck, a global pharmaceutical company, and the KIRKBI Group, a 75% holder of The Lego Group.
This is all deeply strange to Anglo-Saxon eyes!
So, a lot of fire services (and ambulance services), are outsourced to a private organisation, but that private organisation is itself sort of a public service organisation, and is owned by two charitable trusts. The Lundbeck Foundation inherited Hans Lundbeck's share of his pharmaceutical company, so very like the Wellcome Trust in the UK, and KIRKBI was founded by the current head of the Lego clan.
To what extent is this just for-profit privatisation, as we know in English-speaking countries, and to what extent is this some strange intermingling of private structures and public service?
Apart from the standard rescue groups, there are dozens of different specialist groups which are distributed among the chapters in each region[1]: bridge building, electrical supply, lighting, communications, infrastructure, food and material logistics, search and rescue, oil control, debris clearing, demolition, drinking water supply, water rescue, pumps, water level monitoring, follow-up care and more!
There is a strong history of volunteer disaster relief organisations in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, from local Red Cross, Alpine and Automobile Clubs to voluntary fire brigades. Interesting and a bit different than the us def of NGO, that sometimes leads to misunderstandings...
Volunteers always outnumber paid emergency workers. This the case in most countries. In Australia, the volunteers from the State Emergency Service and the Rural Fire Service would be about 70-80% of all personnel for emergencies.
In fact, you have to pay for most of your own safety equipment. One of the weirder things is the most effective logistics support comes from people from the Sikh religion. If there is a fire, flood or any problem Turbans 4 Australia are onsite cooking vegetarian food for anyone who needs it, victims, police, SES and firefighters.T4A not only does not get paid but they pay for all the food.
"Even though the European Flood Awareness System (Efas) sent out specific warnings for the worst-hit German regions four days before the start of the downpour, the ensuing flash floods still appeared to have taken the majority of residents by surprise."
Another example that humans are not all about profit.
Little known fact, if there aren't enough volunteers for the voluntary fire brigade then citizens could be forced to do the service.
[+] [-] martin_a|4 years ago|reply
Police is always paid, no volunteers there.
Paramedics are often paid ("Regelrettungsdienst"), but there are lots of units working on voluntary basis which take care of festivals, larger events and more and are somewhat on stand-by in case the Regelrettungsdienst gets overwhelmed with work.
Firefighters are the most and they are almost always volunteers, the so called "Freiwillige Feuerwehr". As a member of the Freiwillige Feuerwehr you'll have some kind of pager or app to alarm you and people will then leave work and rush to the fire department and man the trucks. Only large cities (> 100k residents, I think) need to have paid firefighters.
Firefighters and Paramedics are also among the jobs with the highest trust/respect with the people in Germany. (Sadly, attacks on those groups from bystanders are steadily climbing...)
These days thousands of people have left their work (your city will pay your employer for the time you had to leave, although most employers don't bill that time) to help take care of the aftermath of the floods, either as Paramedics or Firefighters.
Usually there's no compensation for this work, next to getting something to eat and drink and the equipment.
This is probably quite unique compared to other countries.
Update: Seems like it's not unique to Germany. I appreciate that, thanks for letting me know.
[+] [-] weinzierl|4 years ago|reply
1. Employers have to allow their employees to participate in aid missions and also have to pay them for the time they spend volunteering in an emergency. Employers can get the paid wages back from the respective authority.
2. In my experience the mentioned organizations are often youth organizations similar to sports clubs and are doing a lot of social work apart from emergency, rescue and disaster missions.
3. Historically it wasn't completely voluntary. When I was young every male citizen had to pay a fee if they didn't participate. This was abolished eventually, because of gender equality. Also, compulsory military service (when we still had it) could be avoided by volunteering at least four years in disaster relief.
[+] [-] squiggleblaz|4 years ago|reply
I suppose the SES (State Emergency Service) is the equivalent of the THW, even to the point of being set up at about the same time to help in case of a war but dealing with natural disasters and other incidents that are less dramatic. THW is federal but SES is state, but I'm sure that's trivial.
Police are of course paid.
Paramedics who ride in ambulances attending emergecies are paid - perhaps not enough. But first aid at festivals and larger events are handled by organisations like St Johns Ambulance, which are mostly volunteer-based organisations. It sounds like perhaps it is structurally different, but has the same effect.
Firefighters are divided. Metropolitan firies are usually paid, but in country towns they are volunteer.
I have noticed many similarities between Australia and Germany that seem surprising. Perhaps this is another one to add to that. Maybe it isn't so surprising though. It would seem like every country town couldn't have its own firefighting force if they have only very rare fires or if they are particularly seasonal.
[+] [-] brnt|4 years ago|reply
It works like this in many European countries. When I went to work in Germany and was introduced to the work council as something uniquely German, it was cute too. Good to see my native country isn't the only place that thinks it's a special snowflake though.
[+] [-] chefkoch|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cuillevel3|4 years ago|reply
Germany has three kinds of firefighters: volunteer, fulltime and conscripted.
I've never heard of conscripted firefighters ("Pflichtfeuerwehr"), but apparently it's possible to call upon able persons, i.e. if the village is to small and not enough volunteers exist.
[+] [-] akudha|4 years ago|reply
Do we know why? I can understand why people might attack the cops (not saying it is right), but paramedics? Firefighters? These people literally save our lives while putting themselves in danger.
This type of attacks is growing in the UK too. According to the news, sometimes people deliberately set fire, call 999 and attack the firefighters when they arrive. I truly don't understand this at all.
[+] [-] Bayart|4 years ago|reply
We have reserves of volunteers for emergency health care and so on (for example they're being used for vaccination right now), working on the same principles as the ones you have described.
[+] [-] Tomte|4 years ago|reply
Depends on the state.
Where I'm living now (Northrhine-Westphalia) we're far below 100k, but we have a professional fire brigade.
We also have the volunteer fire brigade.
And one chemical factory has their own fire brigade, which also helps out throughout the town whenever something special (i.e. chemical) is happening or everyone else is busy.
[+] [-] zaarn|4 years ago|reply
I tried to join my local volunteer group a few years ago, to help out in my community, was like 12 people back then. Sadly after the leader of the group dropped a hard-r N-word followed by complaints about certain ethnicities and half the group chimed in with "hear hear", I left as quickly as I could.
[+] [-] qwertox|4 years ago|reply
Baden-Wuerttemberg does have a voluntary police, but they are no longer accepting candidates since 2011.
https://im.baden-wuerttemberg.de/de/sicherheit/polizei/motiv...
> The voluntary police service has existed in Baden-Württemberg since 1963. It currently consists of 576 (as of June 30, 2020) citizens who, through their voluntary work, support the police enforcement service in the protection of events and in the area of prevention, among other things.
> The police volunteers have the position of a police officer within the meaning of the Police Act and therefore generally wear uniform. Since they too can come into the position of having to protect their own life or the life of another, they are equipped with a pistol and other means of coercion.
> The decision of the previous state government in 2011 to terminate the voluntary police service is being corrected by the incumbent state government.
TIL: Other states do have this as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiwilliger_Polizeidienst
[+] [-] imarid|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Xylakant|4 years ago|reply
And even those cities often have volunteer firefighter departments. Berlin has multiple, roughly one per district.
[+] [-] omnibrain|4 years ago|reply
You would think so, but actually there is some sort of "Freiwilliger Polizeidienst" in several german states. Though only in Baden-Württemberg they are part of police proper: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiwilliger_Polizeidienst
[+] [-] unionpivo|4 years ago|reply
We also have similar organizations for mountain rescue, and avalanche rescue dogs, divers ...
[+] [-] andyjohnson0|4 years ago|reply
There are also volunteer police officers called "special constables" [2]. Mountain rescue is also provided by volunteer teams, as is lifeboat maritime rescue, with helicopter support from the coast guard (which also uses volunteers...)
Interesting how many countries converge on the same approaches.
[1] https://www.fireservice.co.uk/recruitment/retained-firefight...
[2] https://www.college.police.uk/career-learning/career-develop...
[+] [-] KingOfCoders|4 years ago|reply
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_Fire_Service
[+] [-] cbmuser|4 years ago|reply
Also, larger cities have professional fire fighters, of course, volunteer firefighters are more a rural thing.
[+] [-] arethuza|4 years ago|reply
https://www.scottishmountainrescue.org/
https://rnli.org/
I'm sure there are many more in the UK and other countries.
[+] [-] Carnageous|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] odiroot|4 years ago|reply
Nope. Same thing exists in Poland, and from what I've heard even in some non-European countries.
[+] [-] yunohn|4 years ago|reply
One would imagine the high tax rates in such EU countries can afford to have paid disaster relief troops.
[+] [-] enriquto|4 years ago|reply
How is that? What kind of idiot would attack firefighters or paramedics?
[+] [-] AndyPa32|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] weeblewobble|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] twic|4 years ago|reply
In the UK:
- Police are mostly professional, but there are voluntary special constables [1]; ~130k professionals, ~10k specials [2]
- Firefighters are kind of all professional; most are full-time, but some are "on call", having other jobs, but running off to put out fires when needed (and being paid for it) [3]. On-call firemen are often the only cover in rural areas. About 20k full-time, 10k on-call [4].
- Ambulance staff are almost all professional. There are volunteers, but a small number [5]. However there is also the St John Ambulance, a medical charity that does some ambulance-esque things, including providing first aid at public events [6]. Air ambulances are completely separate and operated by local charities [7] [8], so not available everywhere in the country.
- Mountain rescue, cave rescue, and sea rescue are all entirely charitable volunteer organisations. Search and rescue helicopters used to be provided by the RAF, but are now a private service contracted to the coastguard.
- We don't have any equivalent of the THW, as far as i know. The fire service do some kind of disaster relief, particularly if it involves pumping water. But for the rest of it, there just isn't any systematic response.
[1] https://www.met.police.uk/car/careers/met/police-volunteer-r...
[2] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...
[3] https://oncallfire.uk/wp-content/uploads/On-call-firefighter...
[4] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-and-rescue-wor...
[5] https://www.londonambulance.nhs.uk/working-for-us/volunteeri...
[6] https://www.sja.org.uk/what-we-do/
[7] https://theairambulanceservice.org.uk/
[8] https://www.londonsairambulance.org.uk/
[+] [-] Leparamour|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] bonplan23|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] erk__|4 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_Emergency_Management_Ag...
[+] [-] Xylakant|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] martinmunk|4 years ago|reply
I'm one of those volunteers in "DEMA". It varies by region how and how much the volunteers are used. I usually respond to the oddball police ect. support if my SWE job allows, but try to focus on our international capacities. USAR, ICT/camp/water-purification support for EU/UN management teams, satellite internet ect. My colleges ran a camp in Sierra Leone wrt. ebola, went to US Virgin Islands after the storm, I went to Sweden to fight forest fires and stuff like that.
I have friends and family ask why I spend the time, not just on calls, but education, gear maintenance and the like instead of focusing even more on my career and day job. The answer isn't rational, but it just gives me experiences I wouldn't get any other way. I grew up learning to inherently help people if asked to without question and probably wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't helping others. But at least when I need to justify it to my conscious self, I circle back to the egoistic view of how it benefits me as well.
Fun fact, the closer you get to Germany in the southern part of mainland Denmark, the closer the local fire departments start to look like the German "Freiwillige Feuerwehr". The culture there is just much more "everybody in the area that can, responds to the alarm".
[+] [-] twic|4 years ago|reply
> The company was founded in 1906 by Sophus Falck after he witnessed and volunteered at a fire at the Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1884. The lack of organization made a big impression on him, and motivated the creation of Falck later on in 1906. His mission was to help others in emergency situations. [...] Falck funds its acquisitions and capital expenditures out of its own operating cash flows. The majority of the company is owned by two Nordic-based nonprofit foundations: Lundbeck, a global pharmaceutical company, and the KIRKBI Group, a 75% holder of The Lego Group.
This is all deeply strange to Anglo-Saxon eyes!
So, a lot of fire services (and ambulance services), are outsourced to a private organisation, but that private organisation is itself sort of a public service organisation, and is owned by two charitable trusts. The Lundbeck Foundation inherited Hans Lundbeck's share of his pharmaceutical company, so very like the Wellcome Trust in the UK, and KIRKBI was founded by the current head of the Lego clan.
To what extent is this just for-profit privatisation, as we know in English-speaking countries, and to what extent is this some strange intermingling of private structures and public service?
[+] [-] 7373737373|4 years ago|reply
[1] https://www.thw.de/DE/Einheiten-Technik/Fachgruppen/fachgrup... (in german only unfortunately)
Here's a map of all chapters: https://i.imgur.com/m89gQwQ.jpg
[+] [-] RGamma|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pintxo|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gego|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aussiegreenie|4 years ago|reply
In fact, you have to pay for most of your own safety equipment. One of the weirder things is the most effective logistics support comes from people from the Sikh religion. If there is a fire, flood or any problem Turbans 4 Australia are onsite cooking vegetarian food for anyone who needs it, victims, police, SES and firefighters.T4A not only does not get paid but they pay for all the food.
[+] [-] pelasaco|4 years ago|reply
"Even though the European Flood Awareness System (Efas) sent out specific warnings for the worst-hit German regions four days before the start of the downpour, the ensuing flash floods still appeared to have taken the majority of residents by surprise."
[+] [-] chriselles|4 years ago|reply
Here in New Zealand we saw the very quickly crowd-sourced mashup called Student Volunteer Army(SVA) in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes.
THW appears to be an organisation more thoughtfully designed and more generously funded.
I had the chance to meet with SVA founders.
This type of org is low cost, medium reward.
Very cool with lots of scope for building more resilient communities.
[+] [-] croes|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]