For many decades, the fire department was classically regarded as a man's woman. That is slowly but surely changing. Because more and more women are interested in the activity. 20 women are now active in langensendelbach. For 20 years, she has supported her male colleagues on missions. "In january 1999", we founded a women's team with 20 women, all of whom are still active today," says district fire chief and commander willibald hofmann. The women made sure that the proportion of women in the langensendelbach fire department is now 20 percent." before there were no active women firefighters in langensendelbach, female commandant hofmann.
The "girlish" thing take off
You have to put the "girlish in the corner", if you want to be accepted as a woman in the fire department, says claudia muller. "You have to show that you want to do it and that you are highly motivated", adds andrea wagner "because we are no puppets, we stay relaxed, we are ambitious, we know what we are doing, we get down and dirty without crying." andrea wagner remembers the time when she decided to join the fire department: "at first i wanted to take a look at it all, but that has now turned into 20 years. I appreciate the community in the fire department, but I still get limelight fever and get excited when the siren goes off." women complete training as firefighters together. In 2011 they successfully passed the bronze performance test. In 2012, the women's team in the highest group achieved the red-gold performance badge. This has allowed them to participate in missions.
Growing up with the fire department
The female firefighters do not feel like exotics in the circles of their male firefighter colleagues. "We may be in the minority, but we are not treated differently", alexandra langguth, a native of adlitz who grew up with the fire department, tells the story. Your father was already in the fire department. There, she was active in the youth fire department and in 1999 helped found the women's team, completed her training as a squad leader and took the radio operator exam with five of her colleagues . After 30 years of service, she is still eager to get to work, she admits proudly.
Coarse fire witnessed
Eleonore nagel, who lives in the center of langensendelbach and witnessed the blaze at the singer bakery, is one of the active women. She wondered at the time how one could help if one was a housewife at home. "It's not the classic women's hobby, but it's a versatile task in a nice community that prompted me to support the langensendelbacher wehr 20 years ago", she says. Monika erlwein is also a member of the defense force. Like her colleagues, she trained as a firefighter and passed the bronze and red-gold performance test. "I have never been put off by the fact that the fire department is labelled a man's woman", she says. Erlwein, like her male colleagues, has a license to drive one of the large fire engines up to 40 tons.
Prejudices out of place
Prejudices according to which women in the fire department only make sandwiches do not exist here. "As female arsonists, we don't get extra sausage. And we do not want to have any. We want and we have to bring the same performance as our male colleagues. The fire does not take any consideration", rides erlwein. The female firefighters claim they could tackle the job just as well. But muscles are not everything. The women scored just as well with their knowledge, attention and experience. They saw things from a different perspective and were able to make a decisive contribution to solving problems.
The next training course
Their diverse training shows that the women firefighters are fully operational in an emergency, explains district fire chief willibald hofmann: "for example, we have three machinists, two breathing apparatus wearers and six with radio training among the women." this year, the women from langensendelbach took the course in technical assistance with a focus on safety and care for the injured.