fire Department - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 1998 - 7 Shilling

There are currently 4,881 fire departments in Germany, and 4,559 are volunteer fire departments. In addition to 316 firefighters in Austria there are only 6 professional fire brigades in the cities of Vienna, Linz, Graz, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Innsbruck. In 1997, a total crew of more than 300,000 firefighters was counted. Of these 99% are members of the volunteer fire departments, ie men and women who perform their work and their work without any financial contribution.1996 fire brigades had to perform more than 170,000 missions, of which around 32,000 were "fire missions", the remainder were "Technical Assistance ". This includes, for example, personal rescue after traffic accidents, animal rescues, storm operations or operations involving hazardous substances. The fire brigades formed in the 19th century chose the saint Florian as their patron saint, the 4th of May as "Florianitag" is today a celebrated feast day of the fire brigades.