Without all the volunteers, nothing would be possible – like Stefan Gut, the operations manager who coordinated the search for the capsized firefighter in Offingen.
Some images are hard for him to get out of his head, says Stefan Gut. For example, the drowned diver he once rescued from a lake. The water was crystal clear that day, so he could see the man from far away. He can still see him in his mind’s eye today. Last Sunday in flooded Offingen could just as easily stick in his memory. The alarm clock showed three in the morning when the control center rang him out of bed. A boat with five rescue workers had capsized. Gut, 44, one of six water rescue operations managers in the Swabian district of Günzburg, was supposed to coordinate the search. So he let his wife and children sleep on, jumped into the company car, which was still parked in front of the house from the previous day’s operation, and drove to Offingen.