The clock ticked towards midnight, but for firefighter Thomas Wolf and his colleagues at Munich’s Fire Station 7 in Milbertshofen, the calm before the storm was already broken. “From midnight, you can set your watch by it, it’s an emergency,” Wolf remarked, anticipating the deluge of calls as fireworks lit up the sky.
The First Call: A Container Ablaze
The first alarm blared well before midnight, just before 8 PM. A burning waste container. Thomas and five colleagues sprinted to their fire engine, sirens wailing through the city. Group leader Steffen Paul, coordinating the team from the passenger seat, shouted, “Container fully ablaze!” Through the windshield, a plastic waste container spewed flames two meters high into the dark sky. Thomas quickly donned his breathing apparatus, ready to tackle the toxic smoke and extinguish the fire. The operation was swift; within ten minutes, the flames were doused with foam. The container was half-burnt, steam rising into the cold night. The cause? “Often, it’s firecrackers thrown in,” Thomas explained, a common occurrence on New Year’s Eve.
Waiting is Part of the Job
Thomas and his team work 24-hour shifts. This New Year’s Eve, they had been on duty since 6:30 AM. While usually they manage a few hours of sleep, this night offered no such luxury. Just before midnight, colleagues poured non-alcoholic sparkling wine. “We want to ring in the New Year in the courtyard,” Steffen said, but his words were cut short. At 11:51 PM, the pager buzzed again: a balcony fire.
A Balcony in Flames: Midnight Chaos
Thomas Wolf, Steffen Paul, and their team raced through the streets, sirens blaring. At the scene, flames engulfed a fourth-floor balcony of an apartment building. The balcony’s canopy was a charred skeleton. Thomas aimed his hose at the fire from below, surrounded by onlookers, some embracing, others setting off more rockets. It was midnight; the New Year had just begun. Shortly after, the fire appeared extinguished. Thomas and his colleagues exchanged New Year’s greetings while another team searched the roof for embers. By 12:30 AM, the hoses were rolled up, the area declared safe.
One Emergency After Another
No sooner were they back in the vehicle than the pager sounded again. “We’ll work through this like all the other calls,” Thomas said with a slight grin. They would extinguish two more burning bins that night. “That’s standard today,” explained Steffen Paul. The causes were usually stray rockets or prematurely discarded fireworks that still smoldered, igniting the contents of the bins.
A Record Night for Munich’s Fire Department
Between 6 PM and 6 AM, Steffen and his team responded to eleven alarms. Across Munich, the fire department recorded 211 emergencies during this period, making it one of the busiest New Year’s Eves in recent memory. This night underscored the relentless dedication and bravery of Munich’s firefighters, who stand ready to protect their city even as others celebrate.
Source: [br.de](https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/silvester-ausnahme-tag-fuer-die-muenchner-feuerwehr,V7SmVdv)
