Emergency vehicles of the Berlin fire department are parked in a hall.
© dpa
The Berlin fire department has set a new record for the number of call-outs: last year, firefighters were called out 532,157 times to deal with emergencies, illnesses and fires. Compared to 2023, this is an increase of 3.4 percent (17,291 deployments), according to the fire department.
However, the number of emergency calls fell slightly (minus 5.7 percent) to around 1.15 million after years of growth. This means that more than 3,000 emergency calls reached the country's largest rescue center every day, as state fire director Karsten Homrighausen said.
"The year 2024 was also characterized by extreme situations," said Senator of the Interior Iris Spranger (SPD). Homrighausen spoke of a "highly stressful situation". However, in a nationwide comparison with the situation of fire departments in other major cities, this should not be seen as "extraordinary". The fire department recorded more than half a million call-outs in one year in 2022 (528,895). In the following year, 2023, the figures were slightly lower (514,866). Now they have reached a "historic high" according to the Senator for Internal Affairs.
The longest operation in the past year lasted 7 days, 2 hours and 22 minutes, according to the figures. It was a major fire at a metal technology company in Berlin-Lichterfelde at the beginning of May 2024. Almost 600 firefighters were involved in the extinguishing work. Around 4,780 people work for the Berlin Fire Brigade. In addition, there are almost 2,970 volunteers in the capital's volunteer fire departments and youth fire departments - around 230 more than in 2023.