The Berlin Court of Auditors has found massive deficiencies in the Berlin fire brigade – and not because of the waste of tax money, but because it is too thinly staffed. This was made clear by union representatives and Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) on Monday in the Interior Committee of the House of Representatives.
According to information from the Tagesspiegel, the Court of Auditors calculated the number of employees required for rescue operations based on the need for this. Accordingly, the fire brigade lacks 1000 employees to do their jobs justice.
There are currently around 4,500 positions in the emergency service, but numerous positions are vacant and many employees have fallen ill as a result of the stress. The Court of Auditors wants to present its results in its annual report, which will be presented in November.
“Actually, the Court of Auditors is known for demanding savings,” said the head of the German Fire Brigade Union (DFeuG), Lars Wieg. “In this respect, it is astonishing that the Court of Auditors points out that the Berlin fire brigade needs more staff.”
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The fire brigade had already registered a further 19 as required for the previous double household in addition to the 140 ambulances planned so far. The interior administration did not recognize this, although the situation in the rescue service was already getting worse.
Spranger said that she will now recognize this additional need. She promised again that the situation with the rescue service was a top priority for her: “The emergency call from the fire department reached me.”
This year, the emergency services have been declared almost every day because too few ambulances were available for hours, and sometimes no ambulances at all.
FDP interior expert Björn Jotzo recalled that the height rescuers of the fire brigade could not save a fatally injured worker from a supply tunnel in July – because they could not prove their training documents for the height rescue due to the continuous use in the rescue service.
