Industrialization and Wilhelminian period (1851-1899)

Back in the mid-19th century, Berlin suffered a series of devastating fires. The city grew rapidly and buildings became more and more crowded. Resources could no longer keep up with the size of the buildings. Therefore, The King of Prussia decided in 1851 to command Ludwig Scabell to set up a professional fire brigade and ensure its training and equipment .^[4] Scabell created the Berlin Fire Defence with the support of the former Berlin Police Chief Carl von Hickeldey. Within a very short period, almost 1,000 men were hired and trained while the professional fire stations were built. In the same year, the world's first electrical fire alarm network was installed in Berlin. The implementation was carried out by the German company Siemens & Halske. The innovation connected the headquarters at the Molkenmarkt with 24 fire stations and all police stations within the city. In 1854 the very first newly built fire station was opened, two years later a new water supply network with 1,520 hydrants went into operation in Berlin. Scabell retired in 1875 and was succeeded by Gustav Witte. In 1879 together, with the engineer and manufacturer Greiner, they received the German patent for the world's first turntable ladder.^[5] The Berlin Fire Brigade put their first turntable ladder, built by the German company BAMAG, into service at the main fire station in 1882.^[6]

Turn of the century, First World War and Weimar Republic (1900-1932)

In 1901 the International Fire Protection Exhibition took place in Berlin to mark the 50th anniversary of the professional fire brigade.^[7] In 1906 at the fire station in Berlin-Grunewald, the first gasoline fire truck in Germany equipped with a fire pump was put into service.^[8] In 1908 Berlin purchased its first electric fire engine. ^[9][10] During the First World War from 1914 to 1918, seven hundred officers had to transfer from the Berlin Fire Brigade to the Wehrmacht, where part of the firefighters were deployed in the newly created flamethrower regiments.^[11]

Berlin Fire Brigade in August 1945

National Socialism (1933-1945)

On December 15, 1933, the term Feuerlöschpolizei (lit. 'Firefighting Police') was introduced for all Prussian fire brigades. The fire brigades throughout the German Reich were placed under the Ordnungspolizei, abbreviated Orpo (lit. 'Order Police'), in 1938. These Brigades were called the Feuerschutzpolizei (lit. 'Fire Protection Police'). The previously red fire vehicles, blue uniforms and fire service ranks were replaced by green fire vehicles, green uniforms and police ranks. They were issued firearms and batons. With few exceptions, the Nazi-led fire protection police did not intervene in the November pogroms in 1938 when the synagogues in Berlin were set on fire.

One city - two fire brigades (1946-1990)

After the Second World War, six of the 38 professional fire stations were lost. Of the 51 volunteer fire stations, three were totally destroyed while twelve were only partially.^[12] On November 21, 1948, the Berlin Fire Defence was divided into two separate authorities in East and West Berlin.^[13] The first post-war fire stations were built on both sides during the 1950s. Technology and training in East and West developed separately. In 1952 the East Berlin Fire Brigade was incorporated into the Volkspolizei, abbreviated VoPo, (lit. 'German People's Police') as "Organ F" and issued firearms and batons.^[14] East Berlin also received a "west turntable ladder" to protect the massive buildings on Stalinallee, today known as Karl-Marx-Allee. The turntable ladder type DL 52 manufactured by Metz, with a rescue height of over 50 meters, had a car that could be used as an elevator.^[15] In the days after the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, the West Berlin Fire Brigade had to keep using its jumping blankets because people jumped from buildings on the demarcation line towards freedom in West Berlin. In 1969, the West Berlin Rescue Service was incorporated into the fire brigade. The Berliner Rettungsdienst was the ambulance service of Berlin. Since then, the West Berlin Fire Brigade has also been responsible for emergency medical services. In East Berlin, rescue and emergency medical services were carried out by the rescue office independently of the fire brigade until reunification. Since the early 1980s, the West Berlin fire brigade has repeatedly been involved in May riots in Berlin-Kreuzberg. A fire truck from the Berlin-Kreuzberg fire station was completely destroyed on the night of May 1, 1987.^[16]

Germans stand on top of the Wall in front of Brandenburg Gate in the days before the Wall was torn down

Development since reunification

On October 3, 1990, the day of German reunification, "Organ F" the East Berlin Fire Brigade, was handed over to the West Berlin Fire Director Wolfgang Scholz. At that time, the fire brigades had a total staff of 3,788 in West Berlin and 1,112 in East Berlin. In 1992 W. Scholz retired and Albrecht Broemme was appointed as the new Fire Director of Berlin.^[17] In 1993/94, due to the high volume of urban traffic and the numerous new measures to calm the increase, new vehicle concepts were tested in the city districts. The firefighting vehicle LHF 16/12 City, short "City", was 2.2 m shorter, 20 cm narrower; and therefore, more agile than the conventional LHF 16 of the Berlin Fire Brigade. After the successful testing phase, 41 vehicles of this type were ordered from 1994 to 1997.^[18] On New Year's Eve 2000 there was a total failure of the IT control center, including the fallback level. For several hours it was not possible to place emergency calls. The vehicles were sent on patrols. There was only a marginal connection with the so-called Year 2000 problem.^[19] The affected operational control system FIS was replaced in 2000 by the more modern IGNIS and in 2017 by its successor IGNIS-Plus.^[20] In May 2006, Fire Director Albrecht Broemme became president of the Technisches Hilfswerk. The civil protection and disaster relief service of Germany. Initially, his deputy Wilfried Graefling became the temporary director and eventually the new Fire Director of Berlin in November 2006. Graefling left the Berlin Fire Brigade at the end of July 2018 and retired. His successor since August 1, 2018 is Karsten Homrighausen.^[21] In 2018, colleagues from the Berliner Fire Brigade protested in front of the Rotes Rathaus, the home to the governing mayor and the government (the Senate of Berlin) of the Federal state of Berlin. Firefighters protested under the catchphrase "BerlinBrennt" (lit. 'Berlin is Burning'). The causes included the increasing number of operations, inadequate equipment including vehicles and materials, as well as the lack of personnel.^[22] Before the reunification of Berlin in 1990, only West Berlin had more staff than the reunited city from West and East in 2018.

Museum

The fire brigade maintains its own museum located in Berlin-Tegel. The museum shows the history of the Berlin Fire Brigade in an exhibition.

Training and Education

The training and further education is concentrated at the Berlin Fire and Rescue Service Academy, short BFRA. The main campus is located at Schulzendorfer Straße in the north-west of Berlin in the district of Berlin-Reinickendorf. Another training location is situated in an office complex in Berlin-Tegel. In particular, medical training and the training of station officers and incident commanders are carried out there.

There are advanced plans to relocate the Berlin Fire and Rescue Service Academy to the area of the former Berlin TXL-Airport.

Fire Stations

Volunteer Fire Stations

Berlin Concept "LHF": Fire Engine with comprehensive technical equipment

The LHF (fire and rescue vehicle, German: Lösch- und Hilfeleistungsfahrzeug, Fire Extinguishing and Assistance Vehicle) is a special vehicle concept of the Berlin Fire Brigade. The vehicles can be used for firefighting as well as for various technical assistance (e.g. car accident, train accident, door opening, cutting, sealing). Their loading is very similar to that of "HLF - Fire Emergency Team Vehicle", which are used very frequently in Germany. However, LHF in Berlin are shorter and therefore more agile in narrow streets.

Ambulance

The Berlin Fire Defence is responsible for the city's Emergency Medical Service, the Rettungsdienst - Rescue Service. The vast majority of annual operations are medical rescue operations. At the Berlin Fire Brigade, mainly Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vehicles with box bodies are used as ambulances.^[38] This design, in which the case can be detached from the chassis, enables a separate exchange of body or chassis after an accident or in the event of a technical defect. There is also an "Ambulance I" (intensive) for patients with highly contagious diseases,^[39] the Ambulance S (S = German shortcut: schwer; translation English: heavy) for the transport of overweight emergency patients^[40] and the Stroke Emergency Vehicle (STEMO) for stroke patients.^[41] As soon as 90% of the ambulances in Berlin are in use at the same time, the fire brigade control center calls out a kind of "state of emergency" and dispatches firefighters from fire engines to ambulances.^[42] In 2018, this happened 41 times, which resulted in delayed arrival times.