The decision to succeed fire director Christian Puchner has been made: His previous deputy, Stefan Krausbar, will be in charge of the Linz professional fire brigade in the future. The 45-year-old prevailed against six competitors in the hearing and will take up his new position on May 1, 2023. As reported, Puchner will retire at the end of April.
“Experienced and prudent crisis manager”
“Stefan Krausbar has proven himself to be an experienced and prudent crisis manager, not least during the corona pandemic,” says Michael Raml (FP). The safety city council sees a generation change with the decision, the clout of the professional fire brigade is to be further expanded together with the volunteer fire brigades and the company fire brigades.
Mayor Klaus Luger (SP) is convinced that the designated fire director will do an excellent job of guiding the professional fire brigade through the challenges of the coming years – from the problems brought about by climate change to the shortage of skilled workers. “With Stefan Krausbar, the professional fire brigade of the city of Linz is getting a long-standing manager with extensive specialist knowledge and high social skills as commander,” he says.
Municipal director Ulrike Huemer emphasizes Krausbar’s innovative ideas on the subject of digitization and the inclusion of women in the service of the professional fire brigade, Krausbar convinced the hearing commission both with great professional competence and with his personal, social skills.
With the professional fire brigade since 2008
Krausbar has been with the professional fire brigade in Linz since 2008. Before that he worked in the area of local construction supervision in structural and civil engineering and on the Board of Trustees for Traffic Safety. Since 2011 he has headed the officer academy of the professional fire brigade in Linz, and since 2020 he has also been the technical manager in the city’s crisis management team.
The father of a family studied civil engineering at Graz University of Technology, followed later by a master’s course on “Process and Plant Safety, Emergency and Disaster Management” at Montanuniversität Leoben. Among other things, Krausbar also built a training center for tunnel operations for the Federal Fire Brigade Association in Eisenerz.
Source: Nachrichten
