Firemen 'n Walldorf

A TALE OF TWO FIRE DEPARTMENTS

By Reine Bethany

Walldorf, Germany, may seem far from Freeport, but it is close to the hearts of every Freeport fi refi ghter. Each spring, a delegation of Walldorf’s Freiwillige Feuerwehr (volunteer fi re department) travels to Freeport to attend the Freeport Fire Department installation ceremony. Each autumn, Mayor Robert Kennedy and a delegation of about 60 Freeport Fire Department volunteers travel to Walldorf to celebrate occasions like Walldorf’s 1,250th anniversary. But the core of the interchange, says former fi re chief Don Rowan, is learning about each other’s fi refi ghting lives. “In Germany, they operate a lot diff erently than we operate in the U.S.,” Rowan says, “so fi refi ghters get wrapped up looking at each other’s equipment.” Walldorf’s ancient streets are narrow. Fire trucks are compact, and equipped mostly for dousing fi res in cement buildings, the main construction material for all new buildings after World War II. Fire doesn’t travel through concrete walls the way it travels through the wood interiors of walls in the United States, so Walldorf fi refi ghters mainly use extinguishers. But they also defuse bombs, which they still fi nd occasionally, left over from World War II. Whether Walldorf comes to Freeport or vice versa, the fi refi ghters are in constant action, riding along on each other’s trucks to fi ght fi res or handle other emergencies. They stay in touch throughout the year, coordinating on fundraising eff orts to assist families in need. The bond between the two fi re departments has existed for more than half a century.

Courtesy Ray Maguire Above photo: Fire Department Executive Director Ray Maguire, holding a microphone, presented a plaque on behalf of Mayor Robert Kennedy to the city of Walldorf, Germany.