German fire services

The Feuerwehr (German for fire defence) is a number of German fire departments. The responsible bodies for operating and equipping fire departments are the German communities ("Gemeinden") and cities ("Städte"). By law, they are required to operate fire-fighting forces. In cities, this is usually performed by the Fire Prevention Bureau, one of the higher-ranking authorities.

There are three kinds of recruiting fire fighters in Germany: the predominant number of Germany's 1,383,730 fire fighters are members of voluntary fire brigades (Freiwillige Feuerwehr), a lesser number working in professional fire brigades and at least the drafted members of a Compulsory Fire Service (Pflichtfeuerwehr), established just in a few places nationwide.

Professional fire brigades are usually operated as

By law, cities with a population of more than 80,000–100,000 people (depending on the state) are required to have a professional fire-fighting force ("Berufsfeuerwehr"). Others such as smaller cities and towns can set up a full-time force ("Hauptamtliche Wachbereitschaft"), which is basically a group or a squadron occupying one large fire station around the clock. This force deals with smaller incidents on its own and is supported by voluntary forces for larger incidents. Each community meets the need of fire-fighting personnel by setting up a voluntary force ("Freiwillige Feuerwehr"). A community or a city may also set up a professional fire fighting force without additional volunteer forces. In case it is not possible to recruit enough personnel for this job, the mayor of a city is required to set up a "Pflichtfeuerwehr" (compulsory fire brigade), where he will draft the number of personnel required.

Voluntary and professional fire brigades usually share the same basic layout when deploying. Firefighters are organized in tactical units as follows:

In contrast to the United States system, there is no division into engine and ladder companies.

Most standard procedures in German firefighting are based on the Gruppe (group), since it is the smallest tactical unit to work independently. The also common Staffel (squadron) is basically a group stripped down to the absolutely necessary minimum, which can easily be extended to a Gruppe by joining with a three-firefighter Trupp (squad) from another vehicle. Due to the financial situation of most German cities, the squadron is the most common unit for professional fire-fighting forces, because it provides sufficient manpower but saves three firefighters in comparison to a group.

The standard procedures for fire and technical aid and rescue assign certain tasks to certain crew members. This helps keeping the orders the unit commander has to give short and simple, since those tasks don't need to be specifically assigned to anyone. However, most of these guidelines date back to a time when SCBA was not widespread. Thus, if SCBA is applied, the procedure has to be adapted.

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