Upper Austria’s fire brigades and municipalities can look forward to 3.3 million euros in relief. That’s how high Upper Austria’s share of the federal government’s 20 million euro fire brigade package is. The funds come from the disaster fund and are available for emergency vehicles and mandatory equipment. However, this does not mean that additional material is also purchased for this amount. Rather, the communities affected by the inflation should be relieved and the necessary investments in the equipment of the fire brigades should be secured.
Energy costs are excluded
Excluded are investments in ongoing operations such as fuel or heating costs and for fire brigade buildings. Since the municipalities pay for these, they will have to explore savings potential together with the fire brigades. “Not every room has to be 21 degrees,” says Christian Mader, Mayor of Schlatt and recently President of the Upper Austrian Association of Municipalities.
“Remarkable negotiation success”
According to fire department regional councilor Michaela Langer-Weninger (VP), Upper Austria was the driving force in the negotiations with the federal government. The original 15 million euros became 20 million. “A remarkable negotiation success, which we persistently negotiated and now of course know how to use,” says Langer-Weninger. The allocation of funds is planned in coordination with the Association of Municipalities and the State Fire Brigade Command.
Reform of the funding structure
The state of Upper Austria took the additional funds as an opportunity to reorganize the funding. In the case of mandatory equipment without large equipment, a fixed amount comes from the new funds instead of a subsidy from the state fire brigade command. Large devices are only funded by the state fire brigade command. The municipalities are relieved of the co-financing of the emergency vehicles. The process will also be simplified: While separate applications were previously required for state grants, federal grants and the fire brigade package, in future one application will suffice for everything.
Source: Nachrichten
