Blasting accident at 1032 meters above sea level. Several people were injured in the quarry on the Pfaffenboden, nestled between Schoberstein and Hochbuchberg in the Steyr Valley. A worker is still missing, the area is largely impassable and unclear.
Fortunately, it’s just an exercise that occupied a large contingent of emergency services for several hours last Saturday. Five volunteer fire brigades from the surrounding communities, two local mountain rescue services and the Molln Red Cross are rehearsing the emergency. This should improve communication and coordination between the volunteer organizations. In order to further increase the speed at which everyone pulls together.
In order to be able to continue to maintain the high quality of the voluntary work, the volunteers now also need support themselves. The requirements are increasing, young people and money less. The Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB), voluntary fire brigade, mountain rescue, water rescue, cave rescue and civil protection association have therefore formulated the volunteer manifesto on the initiative of the Red Cross and the OÖ Nachrichten. A list of how the assistants can be helped. The demands are aimed not only at politicians, but also at society.
“Professionalism is often required, but you’re not willing to spend anything on it. You should think about the fact that this work is not a matter of course,” says water rescuer Martin Eberl. Angelika Brunthaler, who has been working for the Arbeitersamaritanbund for more than ten years, would also like “solid financing”. Because one thing is clear: “The whole system would not work at all without the work of the volunteers.”
You too can support the emergency services: nachrichten.at/manifest
He became a water rescuer in the bath
15 years ago, Martin Eberl actually only wanted to improve his swimming skills at the Linz Parkbad. But then he saw the water rescuers training there – and has been one himself ever since. “Unfortunately, the work of the volunteers is a matter of course for many.”
“Now everyone pulls together”
Martin Trautwein became a mountain rescuer and an adult at the same time. The 49-year-old has been with the local office in Grünau since he was 18, and he now heads it too. “I am pleased that all volunteers are now pulling together thanks to the manifesto.”
“It needs more flexibility”
Christian Hildner (25) went from firefighter child to firefighter. He has been with the Pürstling volunteer fire brigade (district Freistadt) since he was ten years old, and now he is a youth worker there. “Some companies need more flexibility. That volunteers are also released for training and further education.”
“More Awareness Needed”
In 20 years of voluntary work for the Red Cross, Thomas Mayr has experienced almost everything. For the 41-year-old paramedic, it’s still “the best hobby in the world”. Even if you have to give everything you have. “We always have to function. Much more awareness is needed for this in politics and society.”
A thousand hours a year
Day shift in main job, night shift at the Samaritan Association. For a long time, once a week was quite normal for Angelika Brunthaler. The 29-year-old volunteers 1,000 hours a year in Linz. These days she is already celebrating her tenth anniversary in volunteer work. “I would wish that there would be solid financing in the future. That the volunteers stay with the organization in the long term and that society recognizes that our whole system wouldn’t work at all without the volunteers,” she says.
Source: Nachrichten
