- The age limit for firefighters
Active members of volunteer fire departments in Bavaria may soon be able to serve longer. Currently, the age limit is 65 years.
Discussions about loosening or raising the age limit have been ongoing for some time. Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) considers it a crucial matter to create a regulation that is supported by the municipalities as carriers of the fire departments and the Bavarian Fire Brigade Association, a spokesperson for the ministry said upon request: "The goal is to reach a result by the end of the year, if possible."
Age limit from 65 to 67?
The Association of Municipalities has already taken a clear stance. It "proposes raising the age limit from 65 to 67 years," as spokesperson Wilfried Schober said.
The Bavarian Fire Brigade Association supports adjusting the age limit to the statutory retirement age, which could increase the age limit to 67 years. Association chairman Johann Eitzenberger said this takes into account the general demographic development.
Raising the age limit is a step towards further strengthening the deployment readiness of volunteer fire departments in the Free State. They pursue a "holistic concept," he said to dpa. Currently, the association is seeing an increase in the youth and junior sector, and women are increasingly represented in the fire departments.
The Free Voters (FW) in the Bavarian state parliament recently campaigned for raising the age limit. The corresponding discussions began due to their initiatives, parliamentary business manager Felix Locke said. "Especially the flood disaster in June has once again shown how important a strong fire department is."
The current regulation with an age limit of 65 no longer meets the advancing demographic change and is also contrary to the average health condition of a person over the age of 65.
With a targeted increase in the age limit, a significant step towards securing personnel could be achieved, and a "potential gap due to the departure of the baby boomer generation could be avoided," the FW spokesperson for rescue services, Bernhard Heinisch, said in a statement.
The majority of firefighters in Bavaria are active on a voluntary basis. There are only professional fire departments in the seven major cities, along with around 200 industrial and company fire departments. According to association figures, there were around 330,000 active members in the 7,476 volunteer fire departments in the Free State as of January 1, 2024.
The Bavarian Fire Brigade Association agrees with raising the age limit to align with the statutory retirement age, potentially increasing it to 67 years. This adjustment, advocated by the Association of Municipalities and the Free Voters, aims to address the demographic changes and ensure a stronger fire department, as highlighted by the flood disaster in June.
