1/1/24 Berlin *New Year’s Eve balance sheet*

Joined
Nov 14, 2023
Messages
85
It happened between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m

1.598 Alarms

663 Fires



Special missions from New Year's Eve:



7:41 p.m., Pieskower Weg in Prenzlauer Berg: 4th Alarm. + NOTF 2. [NA.],
Full-scale apartment fire in a high-rise building with 7 people injured.

10:07 p.m., Lietzenburger Straße in Wilmersdorf: 4th Alarm+ NOTF [NA]
Full fire in an apartment in a 6-story building.

10:31 p.m., Knobelsdorffstrasse in Charlottenburg: 4th Alarm,
Basement fire in a residential building, 7 people were brought to safety here.

00:05 a.m., Jungstrasse corner Edinburger Strasse in Wedding: BRAND 1. [KFZ.],
Full fire of 4 cars in the street.

00:40 a.m., Gustav-Meyer-Allee in Gesundbrunnen: 2nd Alarm. [Vehicle],
Here, too, four cars were completely engulfed in fire on the road.

00:44 a.m., Karl-Marx-Straße corner Rollbergstraße in Neukölln: TH 1. + NOTF 4,
Traffic accident with 5 people injured.

1:28 a.m., Brunnenstrasse in Gesundbrunnen: BRAND 1,
Full fire in an apartment, 8 people were brought to safety here.

01:53 a.m., Schaperstrasse in Wilmersdorf: 6th Alarm. + EMERGENCY. [N/A.],
2 burning cars and rubbish in a parking garage, 11 people were spotted here by the emergency services, of which 3 people were injured.

02:05 a.m., On the Oberhavel in Hakenfelde: BRAND 1. [U.],
Full fire on a pleasure boat on a body of water.

05:06 a.m., Seestrasse in Moabit: TH 1. + MANV,
Traffic accident between 2 cars with 6 people injured.
 
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Perhaps this webpage is the source of AgentBlack's data? Translation (per Google, not me 😬 ):

New Year's Eve balance of the Berlin fire department 2023/2024 → Fewer operations, 30 attacks (without injuries) - Fireworld.at

BERLIN (GERMANY): The Berlin fire department handled 1,598 missions at the turn of the year 2023/2024. That is 119 fewer missions than in the previous year. On New Year's Eve, 30 attacks on emergency services were registered. Fortunately, according to current knowledge, no rescue workers were injured.

“State of emergency New Year’s Eve” declared as planned.

On December 31, 2023, the so-called “state of emergency on New Year’s Eve” was declared as planned at 7 p.m. This means that additional command services were deployed and the number of staff at the guards and the organizational units was increased. The aim of the staff is to always be on “hot standby” in addition to the reporting obligation. If a special operational situation arises that ties up a large number of forces in the long term and requires special leadership, the staff must be able to take over immediately. Furthermore, our volunteer fire brigades, aid organizations, rescue service personnel from the Bundeswehr and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief were involved and supported the professional fire brigade on the busiest night of the year. The number of operations decreased significantly in the early hours of the morning, so that the state of emergency was ended at 4:20 a.m.

Numbers of stakes

On average, the Berlin fire department handles 1,450 calls per day. On this year's New Year's Eve alone, 1,598 operations were carried out in the city of Berlin between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. These included 663 reported fires, 861 rescue service operations and 74 technical assistance and other operations.

On New Year's Eve 2022/2023 there were a total of 1,717 deployments in the same period, including 749 fires, 825 emergency service deployments and 53 technical assistance operations.

New YearOperations between 7 p.m. and 6 a.mincluding firesincluding emergency services
2019/20201,523617806
2020/2021862211556
2021/20221,026219755
2022/20231,717749825
2023/20241598663861

Staffing levels

The Berlin fire department once again prepared well for this turn of the year. Compared to regular operations, the number of staff was almost tripled. There are usually 531 members of the professional fire department on duty at night.

The following were in action on New Year's Eve:

  • 849 professional firefighters
    • Of these, 78 employees work in the control center. In regular operation there are 32.
  • 550 volunteers from the volunteer fire departments
The following also provided support:
  • 92 forces from aid organizations and the Bundeswehr (emergency service)
  • and 56 staff from the Federal Agency for Technical Relief
A total of 1,547 emergency services were on duty.

Attacks on emergency services

Unfortunately, there were once again violent attacks on emergency services and vehicles from the Berlin fire department. A total of 30 attacks were documented via the internal reporting system, but as of now, no rescue workers were injured.

In comparison: Last year there were 69 attacks on New Year's Eve. 15 emergency services were injured and one emergency worker had to be hospitalized. The year before, 10 attacks were registered.

State Fire Director Dr. Homrighausen: “On this first day of January we can say that from the perspective of the Berlin fire department, the turn of the year went smoothly compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, we recorded significant spikes in deployment, particularly in the rescue service and firefighting. Fortunately, the number of attacks on emergency services has decreased. However, every attack on emergency services is one too many and absolutely unacceptable. We will not tolerate this and will file criminal charges in every single case. I would like to thank all emergency services for their tireless commitment.”

Special missions from New Year's Eve:

  • 7:41 p.m., Pieskower Weg in Prenzlauer Berg: BRAND 4. + NOTF 2. [NA.],
Full-scale apartment fire in a high-rise building with 7 people injured.

  • 10:07 p.m., Lietzenburger Straße in Wilmersdorf: BRAND 4 + NOTF [NA]
Full fire in an apartment in a 6-story building.

  • 10:31 p.m., Knobelsdorffstrasse in Charlottenburg: BRAND 4,
Basement fire in a residential building, 7 people were brought to safety here.

  • 00:05 a.m., Jungstrasse corner Edinburger Strasse in Wedding: BRAND 1. [KFZ.],
Full fire of 4 cars in the street.

  • 00:40 a.m., Gustav-Meyer-Allee in Gesundbrunnen: FIRE 2. [Vehicle],
Here, too, four cars were completely engulfed in fire on the road.

  • 00:44 a.m., Karl-Marx-Straße corner Rollbergstraße in Neukölln: TH 1. + NOTF 4,
Traffic accident with 5 people injured.

  • 1:28 a.m., Brunnenstrasse in Gesundbrunnen: BRAND 1,
Full fire in an apartment, 8 people were brought to safety here.

  • 01:53 a.m., Schaperstrasse in Wilmersdorf: FIRE 6. + EMERGENCY. [N/A.],
2 burning cars and rubbish in a parking garage, 11 people were spotted here by the emergency services, of which 3 people were injured.

  • 02:05 a.m., On the Oberhavel in Hakenfelde: BRAND 1. [U.],
Full fire on a pleasure boat on a body of water.

  • 05:06 a.m., Seestrasse in Moabit: TH 1. + MANV,
Traffic accident between 2 cars with 6 people injured.
 
Well if 2 cars is a 4th Alarm, you can easily reach 10 Alarms :giggle:
4th Alarm= 5-6 Engine 5-6 Ladder 4 Chiefs and Dozens Special Units.. But you have to note that the Berlin fire department only has around 25% of the vehicles (in relation to FDNY)
 
You can expect there to be a 10th alarm every 2 weeks. And at least 2 4th alarms every day
What are Berlin Building Codes like? Because for it to be a 10-10 twice every month I'm starting to think those buildings are made of flashpaper.
 
What are Berlin Building Codes like? Because for it to be a 10-10 twice every month I'm starting to think those buildings are made of flashpaper.
Germany actually has a pretty good building code, but the world is different there and a lot of things are just set on fire. In general, it's more aggressive there. An example last year was almost 60 Attacks on firefighters reported. In some cases, fire extinguishers were even thrown at the vehicles and hit. In short, Berlin is bad.

I'll send a few pictures right away
 
Well, 4th alarm is not the right translation for what is called BRAND 4 (FIRE 4) in the news message. BRAND 1 is a minor fire to be handled by a single engine co. BRAND 2 deploys 2 Eng. Cos. BRAND 4 therefore means the response of 4 Eng. Cos., not a 4th alarm. 4th alarm equivalent in Berlin is BRAND 8 incl. add. units as ladders, chiefs... So the above mentioned 10th alarm = BRAND 10 and means a 5th alarm assignment.

Other cities have other response levels. Example for Hamburg/Germany:
FIRE (short specified as FEU) is 2E + 1L incl. 1 BC
FEU2 is 4E + 2L + 2 BC + 1 Dep. Chief
FEU 3 is 6E + 3L + 3BC + 1 DC + 1 Staff Chief + FC + MSU + Satellite + special units (drone, RAC)...
By a total of 17 firehouses for 1.8 million residents in 7 boroughs with 2.500 professionell personnel in 3 shifts this force is supported by the 86 volunteer firehouses throughout the city with add. 2.500 personnel.
 
Well, 4th alarm is not the right translation for what is called BRAND 4 (FIRE 4) in the news message. BRAND 1 is a minor fire to be handled by a single engine co. BRAND 2 deploys 2 Eng. Cos. BRAND 4 therefore means the response of 4 Eng. Cos., not a 4th alarm. 4th alarm equivalent in Berlin is BRAND 8 incl. add. units as ladders, chiefs... So the above mentioned 10th alarm = BRAND 10 and means a 5th alarm assignment.

Other cities have other response levels. Example for Hamburg/Germany:
FIRE (short specified as FEU) is 2E + 1L incl. 1 BC
FEU2 is 4E + 2L + 2 BC + 1 Dep. Chief
FEU 3 is 6E + 3L + 3BC + 1 DC + 1 Staff Chief + FC + MSU + Satellite + special units (drone, RAC)...
By a total of 17 firehouses for 1.8 million residents in 7 boroughs with 2.500 professionell personnel in 3 shifts this force is supported by the 86 volunteer firehouses throughout the city with add. 2.500 personnel.
I understand what you mean, but most of the time it is the case that in the end there are significantly more engines at the site than were actually planned. In Leverkusen, for example, it is similar to Berlin with the alarm levels, but ultimately with a BRAND 4 6-7 engine it is just as similar to Berlin. In addition, the FDNY, for example, has 70% more vehicles at its disposal than the Berlin fire department and a completely different number of operations Which is why there are certainly not always as many vehicles available. So I would always see it in relation to which city you are talking about. Greetings from near Cologne
 
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