The Ukraine is on fire – and that’s why more than 200 mostly volunteer fire brigades, but also factory and company fire brigades, followed a call for donations from the Bavarian State Fire Brigade Association to support their colleagues in the war zone with equipment and vehicles. From the Unterföhring fire brigade training area, where the south assembly point was set up, and the north assembly point in Lauf an der Pegnitz, a total of 49 tons of fire brigade equipment, including protective equipment and equipment for firefighting and technical assistance, as well as nine vehicles were initially taken to Kraków.
At the meeting point of the two convoys in Rohrdorf, the Ukrainian Consul General Dmytro Shevchenko thanked the emergency services as well as donors, supporters and organizers for their commitment in a moving speech before departure. “No one is the hero alone. But together we can make a difference,” says the consul. 80 emergency services accompanied the convoy of 39 vehicles – 30 for transport, nine as a donation to stay in Ukraine – when it started at five o’clock on Monday morning. From the district of Munich, the fire brigades from Grasbrunn and Unterschleißheim were involved under the direction of district fire chief Michael Spitzweg.
80 emergency services accompanied the convoy.
(Photo: Bavarian Fire Brigade Association)
Shortly before Kraków, the convoy picked up three other emergency vehicles from the Brandenburg State Fire Brigade Association and from Rhineland-Palatinate. After a 17-hour drive, the convoy reached its destination, the Kraków Fire Brigade School. There the donations were handed over to the Polish fire brigade and reloaded. The nine donated vehicles were driven to Nisko and from there to their new locations in Ukraine.