Brochure for new citizens

A safe city Fighting fires, saving lives, ensuring traffic safety, settling disputes – there are many aspects to making sure that Heidelberg is a safe place to be around. Youth fire brigade and volunteer fire department In addition to the professional fire department with its more than 116 full-time firefighters, more than 400 citizens of the city of Heidelberg are involved on a voluntary basis in eight departments of the volunteer fire department. The children‘s and youth fire brigade has around 220 members, around a third of whom are girls. In addition to firefighting lessons, they meet for joint activities. Working together For a safe Heidelberg and for an op- timal response when disaster strikes, the city administration, police and res- cue services work closely together. The “municipal public order service” (Kommunaler Ordnungsdienst), for example, makes sure that bars and shops in the old town close on time and responds to disturbances of the peace. The “municipal enforcement service” (Gemeindevollzugsdienst) monitors parking and adherence to the rules of the road. To protect against flooding, the city’s civil engineering office works not only with the fire department and the municipal public order service but also with the relief organiziation DLRG as well as the civil protection organ- ization Technisches Hilfswerk and, if necessary, the Red Cross, the Malteser emergency service and the Army. Coping with disasters Tips are available in the “Disasters Alarm” guidebook, which is available free of charge and can be download- ed from www.bbk.bund.de . Official warnings can be received directly on your smartphone via the warning app NINA. The app also provides warnings of severe weather or flood situations as well as advice on the correct reaction to such weather events. It is available free of charge for Android and iOS. Always think about the people around you: Inform them in case of an emer- gency situation and support them if they need help. The Heidelberg Fire Department Around the clock, the men and women of the Heidelberg Fire Department are on duty 24 hours a day to provide quick and effective help in emergencies. They are called out 2,500 times a year to fight fires, rescue citizens from road accidents and, increasingly, help people affected by extreme weather situations. On aver- age, they save between 20 to 25 people a year out of life-threatening situations. Doing this job properly requires inten- sive training, including annual training sessions in the fire station’s special gas- mask training facility, as well as state- of-the-art equipment. Three turntable ladders help rescue people from higher floors. In the districts of Pfaffengrund, Wieblin- gen and Ziegelhausen, new fire stations have been built. In October 2020, the new integrated control room started operations, coordination all calls to the emergency number 112 in Heidelberg and the Rhein-Neckar-region. It is the operations center for non-police emergency response for Heidelberg and the Rhine-Neckar district. 38 | A safe city More than 600 members of the DLRG Heidelberg are committed to improving safety on and along the Neckar River. A safe city | 39