- Red Farmers: Farmers help firefighters extinguish fires
Bavarian fire departments and farmers will now officially work together to quickly extinguish fires, such as those in forests. "The machinery that agriculture provides is often very suitable for use in disaster protection," said Günther Felßner, president of the Bavarian Farmers' Association, at the presentation of the cooperation in Eichstätt.
Farmers are already often spontaneously on the scene in case of fires. "But especially when it comes to regional issues, one might not know what technology is available in the next place, how to use it, and how to access it," Felßner explained. Therefore, in the future, "Red Farmers" will be able to register in a database what equipment they have and how many liters of extinguishing water they can transport - important information that the incident commander can then access collectively.
Farmers have helpful machines
Especially with the increasing number of fires on fields or in forests, the mostly voluntary fire departments in the Free State are sometimes urgently dependent on farmers: The large tanks of the farmers can bring significantly more extinguishing water to the fire site, and their vehicles are designed for the terrain. "A vehicle that serves the community, that prevents disasters, doesn't always have to be red," emphasized the chairman of the Bavarian Firefighters' Association, Johann Eitzenberger.
The cooperation, which has already been implemented throughout Rhineland-Palatinate, also has advantages for farmers, such as in terms of insurance protection. Based on the experiences there, the initiators in the Free State expect success from their project - especially since it is estimated that around 30 percent of active firefighters in the Free State have a farming background.
Farmers in Bavaria, with their specialized equipment and knowledge of the terrain, frequently aid fire departments in suppressing forest fires. This partnership between farmers and fire departments, as announced by Günther Felßner, will also include the registration of farmers' machinery and extinguishing water capacity in a database, benefiting incident commanders.
