63,117 operations

Floods placed heavy demands on fire departments last year

36,500 working hours were spent on the floods in September. 16,700 helpers from 420 fire brigades were active.

(Bild: Fesl Manfred)

The annual balance sheet of the Upper Austrian volunteer fire departments shows that slightly more operations were carried out last year than in 2023. The floods in September in particular took their toll on the firefighters. Record numbers of new recruits and improvements thanks to technical innovations are cause for celebration.

The volunteer fire departments in Upper Austria completed a total of 63,000 deployments in 2024 - around 3,300 (5 percent) more than in the previous year. The firefighters put in 7.73 million volunteer hours - 686,266 of which were spent on operations alone.

Floods demanded a lot from fire departments
The flood phase in September was the most demanding for the fire departments. Around 16,700 firefighters from 420 of the 906 local fire brigades were deployed from September 13th, filling sandbags, pumping out cellars and clearing mud in 36,500 working hours.

Financial security is important
According to State Fire Service Commander Robert Mayer, this was one of the most massive operations of the past ten years: "These operations demand not only physical but also mental peak performance." In view of increasing extreme weather events, a strong fire department organization with technical innovations, targeted training and sustainable financial security is therefore needed.

Record number of new recruits
The good news: our fire department has no shortage of new recruits: 13,134 young firefighters joined last year - a new record. In total, almost 95,000 people are active in the local Florianis. The proportion of women has also doubled since 2014: the fire departments are delighted to have more than 10,000 female comrades.

94,796 people

volunteer with the Upper Austrian fire departments. 13,134 of these are in the youth fire department - a record. The same applies to the number of women: More than 10,000.

Technology to make work easier
Two innovations are also cause for celebration: The Drill-X extinguishing technology makes it possible to extinguish interiors through boreholes, which means that no helper has to enter the building and risk their own life. In addition, drones that can detect forest fires at an early stage are being developed in cooperation with Johannes Kepler University.