Christian Hoenen kneels in the grass of the military area. The rotor blades of a Bundeswehr helicopter are circling less than ten meters in front of him. On command, Hoenen and his neighbor run off. The firefighters grab a rope and attach it to the underside of the helicopter with a hook.
Hoenen and eleven colleagues from Bavaria are completing their training to become a “technology” flight assistant at the Würzburg fire brigade school. They came to the Main for a week.
Budding flight assistants train for forest fires
At the end of the ropes there are different loads: a carrying net, for example, loaded with hoses and pumps. During the exercise, however, the focus is primarily on the extinguishing containers.
During the course, the fire brigade school prepares the prospective flight assistants for work in forest fires, among other things. The Federal Environment Agency recorded 164 such fires in the Free State in 2019. This year, for example, the Bavarian Lower Main was affected again and again: according to the local district fire inspection with around 75 wildfires and forest fires so far.
40 years of training in Bavaria
“Just by the fact that there are many forest areas, Bavaria has tried to prepare properly for it,” says Andreas Büttner. As a fire officer at the fire brigade school, he helped organize the course. There have been trained flight assistants in Bavaria for 40 years. They are supposed to support helicopter pilots on the ground. For example, when they break out due to floods or fires.
Due to the drought and the recent increase in the number of fires in forests, there is great interest in the training, says Stephan Brust from the fire department school. In the meantime, inquiries from other federal states keep coming. Bavaria is one of the pioneers in Germany when it comes to special fire service training. There are 17 flight assistant groups spread across the Free State.
Flight exercises on the military site
On site in the fenced-in military area near Veitshöchheim, the participants now play through various exercises. Above all, they couple and uncouple the helicopters of the Bundeswehr and state police with different loads.
The firefighters had spent two days studying the necessary theory at the fire school. Now you can try it out in practice. Small movements are suddenly difficult, first the rotor blades whirl up the wind. In addition, due to the noise, the participants can only keep in contact with each other via hand signals and radio commands.
Course due to Corona with reduced number of participants
Christian Hoenen still gives a positive conclusion after the first exercises. Once there was a bit of a hook in a plug connection at the end of a rope. Otherwise it went perfectly.
Because of the corona pandemic, this time the training is divided into two groups. Twelve more fire fighters will follow at the end of September. “I can only recommend it to anyone who is in the fire department or comes to the fire department,” says Christian Hoenen. Only one thing is actually the course: exhausting.
No wonder: Because despite sunshine and 27 degrees, all participants are in helmets and protective suits.
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