In the event of a fire, you dial 112, every child knows that, and then the volunteer fire brigade usually comes. In Germany there are just over 100 professional fire brigades – and more than 22,000 volunteer fire brigades. In Burgberg-Giengen, however, one could not be so sure that it would come. The almost 1700 inhabitants of the village in the Baden-Württemberg district of Heidenheim found a red bucket in front of their front door in the autumn with the instruction to use it to extinguish the fire yourself.
Of course it wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. But the times are long gone when it was normal to join the volunteer fire brigade as soon as you were allowed to. You know the reports: village so-and-so is looking for members, town again something is missing the offspring. The number of volunteer firefighters in Germany is reasonably stable (it was around one million in 2019), but this is probably also thanks to all the creative advertising campaigns like the one in Burgberg-Giengen. In Schwäbisch Gmünd they recruited refugees. In Höxter they came to the Christmas market in a conspicuous chemical suit. In Karlsfeld near Dachau, they printed slogans on posters: “Only our breathing masks are really tight”. In Storkow in Brandenburg, buckets have already been distributed and there have been so many open house days all over Germany that it should be slow.
In any case, in Burgberg-Giengen, the campaign worked: ten new volunteers signed up. Some fire brigades in Lower Saxony also recently reported an increase in membership. It is suspected that it is due to the pandemic. Also an unusual advertising campaign.
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