Total procurement

Pilot project to relieve Upper Austria. Relieve fire departments

Municipalities and firefighters are to be relieved in terms of fire engines

(Bild: Landesfeuerwehrverband/Wegscheider)

Up to 1000 hours of time were previously invested by fire departments in the purchase of new vehicles, with price differences of up to 160,000 euros in some cases. This is coming to an end for the time being: a pilot test is examining the overall procurement of vehicles by the provincial command, as well as extended subsidies for parking spaces and a repair bonus.

Fire departments spend up to 1000 hours on the purchase of new vehicles. This is now set to change: A pilot test was presented on Friday, which envisages the provincial fire service command designing vehicles and ordering them in larger quantities. Depending on the vehicle, certain empty spaces can be used for location-specific special requirements.

Should save time and money
Provincial councillors Michaela Langer-Weninger (ÖVP) and Michael Lindner (SPÖ) also hope that this will lead to major financial savings and reduce the burden on local authorities. Also part of the experiment: parking spaces for base vehicles will be subsidized with 70 to 80 percent instead of the previous 20 to 80 percent. Fire departments no longer have to pay their own contributions.

Using vehicles for longer
A repair bonus is also part of the package: its aim is to extend the useful life of the vehicles by up to ten years through a general overhaul. Currently, fire engines have to retire after 25 years, even if they only have comparatively few kilometers under their wheels.