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Safe driving skills: Firefighters master their trucks in Oberallgäu!
On October 19, 2025, firefighters in Kempten will train their driving skills with heavy trucks to ensure safety during operations.
Safe driving skills: Firefighters master their trucks in Oberallgäu!
The 17th driving safety training for fire engine drivers from the region is currently being carried out in the Brutscher company's gravel pit. Organized by the Oberallgäu district fire inspection, the participants learn how to optimally control their multi-ton fire fighting vehicles. A particularly impressive example was a highly off-road vehicle from the Lauben-Heising fire department, which was put through its paces during training. In all-wheel drive mode, the vehicle used engine braking to decelerate itself on steep downhill gradients. A skill that is crucial in an emergency, such as District messengers reported.
The challenges firefighters face can be enormous. Like the website of HFUK North As explained, emergency trips often result in high levels of stress. Due to time pressure and the unpredictable behavior of other road users, the risk of accidents involving emergency vehicles is 17 times higher than during normal journeys. Therefore, such training units are not only useful, but urgently necessary.
Variety of exercises
During the training, various exercises were on the program to ensure that the participants got to know their vehicles perfectly. Skill and ability are more important than speed here. They were able to demonstrate their talent on slalom courses and parking exercises. A braking test from 40 km/h was also an integral part of the training, regardless of vehicle type and size. The gravel pit offered the opportunity to realistically simulate steep climbs, descents, curves and potholes. Those responsible hope that the fire brigade members are optimally prepared for the requirements in practice.
Some participants reported on their positive experiences and the newly acquired knowledge about the numerous facets of driving training. This shows how valuable such training is for firefighters. By the way, several vehicle drivers successfully passed their fire brigade license for vehicles up to 7.5 tonnes during training.
Vehicle control and safety
The training system diagnoses the need for comprehensive instructions for the emergency services. According to information from the DGUV, which was compiled in a 300-page document, many volunteer fire department members often do not have regular driving experience. It is crucial for drivers to have “blind” control of their vehicles so that they can fully concentrate on the traffic and other road users. Therefore, comprehensive training is essential to improve safety, as well as in the DGUV information can be read.
The fire brigade and relief organizations have to deal with millions of missions every year. This makes it all the more important that drivers can live up to their responsibilities. The collection of exercises, which is tailored to the specific needs of dealing with fire engines, is even available as a PDF download to further increase safety in emergency traffic and expand driving practice.
The experiences and newly gained knowledge from these training courses are an important component in increasing the safety of everyone involved in operations. Ultimately, it is the well-trained fire brigade drivers who make a decisive contribution to ensuring that everything runs smoothly in an emergency.