Even although they are very well trained, the fire brigade taken their volunteer duties very seriously. „As far as our colleagues’ main jobs are concerned, they include truck drivers, trainee bakers, bus drivers, gardeners, cleaners, painters and lots more“, says Bernd Krüger. „However, among our members there are also six professional firemen, who work with us when their day job is over.“ The chief officer is a janitor at the Am Sandhaus elementary school.
„My career with the fire brigade began in the association of young assistant firemen. Today this is similar to the present youth fire brigade“, according to the 52-year-old. „Since 1970 I have been a member of the volunteer fire brigade. Before I became chief officer last year I was deputy chief for twelve years.“
Today, Bernd Krüger is not only in charge of the 28 active Buch fire officers, he is also responsible for their equipment. They have three vehicles – a fire engine support vehicle, a tank fire-fighting vehicle and a fire engine.
 Although they have the latest equipment, the Buch volunteer fire brigade began in very modest circumstances 90 years ago. „It started, as it did in all the other small villages that made up Berlin, because there were always very serious fires breaking out“, explained Bernd Krüger. For example, the Chronicle reported a big fire in a barn in Buch on October 20, 1822.
There were six such fires in the decades that followed. These also affected other buildings like the verger’s house and the Schloss tavern. At that time Buch already had some major equipment for handling fires. For example, in 1906 the Chronicle recorded two fire hoses, there was a mechanical ladder, six fire extinguishers made of copper with rubber hoses, a hose truck, six fire buckets, twenty helmets, and a variety of axes and related tools for fighting fires.
In mid-September, 1910, a barn burnt down near the factory in Buch. Thanks to the great efforts of the fire brigade, the spread of the fire to surrounding building was prevented, but the citizens of Bucher decided, finally, to set up their own volunteer fire brigade. This took place on November 11, 1910. The driving force for this was the then Buch mayor, August Mewes. The first Buch fire brigade had about twenty members.
As in the case of all the Berlin fire brigades, Buch too saw fluctuations in the number of members during the two world wars. In addition, there was more than one location for the fire station over the years. For example, the fire station was once on the Schwanebecker Chaussee. When the thermal power station was built in 1968, it moved temporarily to Alt-Buch 72.
Finally, in April 1975, the foundation stone was laid for the present fire station. In August, 30 years ago, the station at Pölnitzweg 3 was officially opened. In the last year alone, the Buch team have attended 448 incidents.
„Most of these were for emergency assistance, mainly medical emergencies“, according to Bernd Krüger. However, we also had 84 fire alarms which, in percentage terms, is above the Berlin average. We also had to clear up water and storm damage, clean up oil spills from automobiles and clear streets after accidents.“
In addition to these tasks, the Buch fire brigade has practice sessions every first and third Thursday of the month when they keep themselves up to date or learn about the latest developments. Every 2nd Thursday they also meet to service the fire engines and technical equipment.
In Buch, in addition to the volunteer fire brigade, there is also a youth fire brigade, which has ten members up to 17 years of age. This is run by Martin Ellinghaus and Dorrit Termeer, who provide instruction about fire fighting techniques and first aid. Children and adolescents who are interested in this are very welcome to join the youth fire brigade and they can come along to the meetings on Fridays from 5.00 to 7.00 pm.
Any one wanting to know more or to join the Buch volunteer fire brigade can contact Bernd Krüger by phoning 94 11 34 76 or going to www.feuerwehrverein-buch.de.
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