Welcome to feuerwehr-nrw.de

Information to our English speaking visitors 

Here we like to inform you about the fire services system in Germany in general and in particular about the fire departments in the federal state North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).

Surely, you will find that there are so many similarities between the fire departments in the world, and differences are found mainly in the equipment and the organization.

We salute all comrades – wherever – and we welcome your interest and feedback ... and perhaps the linking of our website to yours.

Cordial regards
from the website staff of feuerwehr-nrw.de 

Remark: feuerwehr-nrw.de is not the website of the NRW Fire Briagade's Association. That is ▷ www.vdf-nrw.de = Verband der Feuerwehren in Nodrhein-Westfalen.

The Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is a fe­de­ral par­lia­men­ta­ry republic in the middle west of Europe. The republic is divided into 16 fe­de­ral sta­tes (Bun­des­län­der). Germany consists of three constitutional political levels: The fe­de­ra­ti­on, the sta­tes as well as the cities and municipalities as local level.

The public fire protection in Germany is ex­clu­sive­ly a local matter. The legislation related to firefighting is under the competence of the federal sta­tes. Tasks of the counties are supporting activities and fa­ci­li­ties such as the establishment of fire-trai­ning cen­ters for the cities and municipalities. The federal level only tasks such as the unification of com­mon standards and guidelines.

You will find an adequate des­crip­tion of the organization of the German fire fighting system in the Eng­lish Wi­ki­pe­dia ▷ under Ger­man fire services.

Fe­de­ral sta­tes

Federal states (Bundesländer) in Germany: Baden-Wuerttemberg (BW), Bavaria = Bayern (BY), Berlin (BE), Brandenburg (BB), Bremen (HB), Hamburg (HH), Hessen (HE), Lo­wer Sa­xo­ny = Niedersachsen (NI), Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania = Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV), North Rhine-Westphalia = Nordrhein-Westfalen (NW), Rhineland-Palatinate = Rheinland-Pfalz (RP), Saarland (SL), Saxony = Sachsen (SN), Saxony-Anhalt = Sachsen-Anhalt (ST), Schleswig-Holstein (SH) and Thuringia = Thueringen (TH).

External Links

Politics, Life, Knowledge, Business, Culture, Environment ▷ www.deutschland.de/en 

Travel destination Germany ▷ www.germany.travel/en 

Wikipedia ▷ German fire services ▷ Tactical units ▷ Hierarchy. 

German Fire Briagades Association (DFV) ▷ www.dfv.org 

German Youth Fire Brigade (DJF) ▷ www.jugendfeuerwehr.de 

German Fire Protection Association (vfdb) ▷ www.vfdb.de  

Industrial Fire Brigade's Association Germany (WFV) ▷ www.wfvd.de 

Working group of the professional fire brigades' directors (AGBF) ▷ www.agbf.de 

... [more]

North Rhine-West­pha­lia (NRW)

North Rhine-West­pha­lia is one of the 16 German federal states. It is divided into
5 Regierungsbezirke (governmental districts), these again in altogether
30 Landkreisen (counties, rural districts) and a Städteregion (city region) and
23 independent cities (undistricted cities, urban districts).

Altogether, there are 395 cities and municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia, which all maintain a public fire department. Inside the website you will find them all via the governmental districts and counties.

Coun­ties and in­de­pen­dent ci­ties

Counties and independent cities in North Rhine-Westphalia: Aachen City Region | City of Bielefeld | City of Bochum | City of Bonn | Borken County | City of Bottrop | Coesfeld County | City of Cologne | City of Dortmund | Dueren County | City of Duesseldorf | City of Duisburg | Ennepe-Ruhr County | City of Essen | Euskirchen County | City of Gelsenkirchen | Guetersloh County | City of Hagen in Westphalia | City of Hamm | Heinsberg County | Herford County | City of Herne | Hochsauerlandkreis = "Higher Sauerland County" | Hoexter County | Kleve County | City of Krefeld | City of Leverkusen | Lippe County | Maerkischer Kreis = "Mark County" | Mettmann County | Minden-Luebbecke County | City of Moenchengladbach | City of Muelheim on the Ruhr | City of Muenster in Westphalia | Rhine-County Neuss | Oberbergischer Kreis = "Oberberg County" | City of Oberhausen | Olpe County | Paderborn County | Recklinghausen County | City of Remscheid | Rhein-Erft-Kreis = "Rhine-Erft County" | Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis = "Rhine-Berg County" | Rhein-Sieg-Kreis = "Rhine-Sieg County" | Siegen-Wittgenstein County | Soest County | City of Solingen | Steinfurt County | Unna County | Viersen County | Warendorf County | Wesel County | City of Wuppertal.

External Links

Web portal of the federal state ▷ www.land.nrw/en/ 

Web portal of the NRW state ministry of the interior ▷ www.mik.nrw.de
▷ Topics: fire defense and civil protection.

NRW Fire Briagade's Association (VdF NRW) ▷ www.vdf-nrw.de  

Youth Fire Brigades in NRW (JF NRW) ▷ www.jf-nrw.de 

Institute of the NRW fire services (IdF NRW) = state fire academy ▷ www.idf.nrw.de 

Working group of the professional fire brigades' directors in NRW (AGBF NRW) ▷ www.agbf-nrw.de 

Working group of the full-time fire station heads in NRW (AGHF NRW) ▷ www.aghf-nrw.de

Magazine of the NRW firefighters ▷ www.feuerwehreinsatz-nrw.de 

NRW accident insurance (Unfallkasse) ▷ www.unfallkasse-nrw.de 

Fire safety prevention and education website ▷ www.sicherheitserziehung-nrw.de   

Phoenix hotel and congress center in Bergneustadt ▷ www.phoenix-hotel.de 

... [more]

Terms and ab­bre­via­tions

See also in the English Wikipedia ▷ German fire services ▷ Tactical units ▷ Hierarchy.

Dictionary of the German Fire Protection Association ▷ ... ▷ vfdb-Lexikon 

·A–B·    

AGBF = Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Leiter der Berufsfeuerwehren = Working group of the professional fire brigades' directors

Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Leiter der Berufsfeuerwehren (AGBF) = Working group of the professional fire brigades' directors

BBM = Bezirksbrandmeister = fire inspector (govenrmental district)

Berufsfeuerwehr (BF) = professional fire brigade 

BF = Berufsfeuerwehr = professional fire brigade 

Betriebsfeuerwehr (BtF) = company fire brigade (private), unlincensed by government 

Bezirksbrandmeister (BBM) = fire inspector (govenrmental district) 

BHKG = Brand­schutz-, Hil­fe­leis­tungs- und Ka­tas­tro­phen­schutz­ge­setz ≈ law of fire fire protection, emergency assistance and civil protection in NRW

Brand­schutz-, Hil­fe­leis­tungs- und Ka­tas­tro­phen­schutz­ge­setz (BHKG) ≈ law of fire fire protection, emergency assistance and civil protection in NRW

BtF = Betriebsfeuerwehr = company fire brigade (private), unlincensed by government 

Bundesland = federal state  

·D–F·   

Deutsche Jugendfeuerwehr (DJF) = German Youth Fire Brigade 

Deutscher Feuerwehrverband (DFV) = German Firefighter's Association 

Deutschland = Germany  

DFV = Deutscher Feuerwehrverband = German Firefighter's Association 

DJF = Deutsche Jugendfeuerwehr = German Youth Fire Brigade  

DL = Drehleiter = turnable ladder  

DLK = Drehleiter mit Rettungskorb = turnable ladder with rescue cage 

Drehleiter (DL) = turnable ladder, (DLK) turnable ladder with rescue cage 

Feuerwehr (Fw) = fire defense, fire service, fire service, fire brigade (institution) 

Feuerwehrmann = firefighter (male) Feuerwehrfrau = firefighter (female) 

FF = Freiwillige Feuerwehr = volunteer fire service 

Freiwillige Feuerwehr (FF) = volunteer fire service  

·I–K· 

IdF NRW = Institut der Feuerwehr NRW = Institute of the NRW fire services = state fire academy  

ILS = Integrierte Leitstelle = integrated coordination center (fire and rescue, FRCC) 

Institut der Feuerwehr NRW (IdF NRW) = Institute of the NRW fire services = state fire academy 

Integrierte Leitstelle (ILS) = integrated coordination center (fire and rescue, FRCC)  

KFV = Kreisfeuerwehrverband = firefighter's association (country) 

KBM = Kreisbrandmeister = fire inspector (county) 

Kreis = county, rural district 

Kreisbrandmeister = county fire inspector   

Kreisfeuerwehrverband (KFV) = firefighter's association (county) 

Kreisfreie Stadt = independent city (undistricted city, urban district) 

·L–M·   

Landesfeuerwehrverband (LFV) = firefighter's association (federal state) 

LdF = Leiter der Feuerwehr = fire chief (local)  

LE = Löscheinheit = fire fighting unit (neutral terminus) 

Löscheinheit (LE) = fire fighting unit (neutral terminus)  

Löschgruppe (LG) = fire fighting squad (unit)  

Leiter der Feuerwehr (LdF) = fire chief (local)  

Leitstelle (LSt) = alarm center, coordination center  

LFV = Landesfeuerwehrverband = firefighter's association (state)  

LG = Löschgruppe = fire fighting squad (unit)  

Löschgruppe (LG) = fire fighting squad (unit)  

Löschzug (LZ) = fire fighting company (unit)  

LZ = Löschzug = fire fighting company (unit)  

LSt = Leitstelle = alarm center, coordination center top  

MI = Ministerium für Inneres = ministry of the interior 

Musikzug (MZ) = musician fire company 

MZ = Musikzug, Spielmannszug = musician fire unit 

·N–R·   

Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) = North Rhine-Westphalia 

NRW = Nordrhein-Westfalen = North Rhine-Westphalia 

Öffentliche Feuerwehr = public fire department  

Regierungsbezirk = governmental district, admnistrative region  

Rettungsgesetz (RettG) ≈ law of rescue service, emergency medical service and ambulance transports 

RettG = Rettungsgesetz ≈ law of rescue service, emergency medical service and ambulance transports 

Rettungsleitstelle = rescue coordination center (RCC) 

Rettungswagen (RTW) = emergency ambulance  

RLSt = Rettungsleitstelle = rescue coordination center (RCC)  

RTW = Rettungswagen = emergency ambulance  

·S–Z·   

Spielmannszug = musician fire unit (drums and pipes) 

 = Verband der Feuerwehren in NRW = NRW Firefighter's Association  

Verband der Feuerwehren in NRW (VdF NRW) = NRW Firefighter's Association 

Vereinigung zur Förderung des deutschen Brandschutzes (vfdb) = German Fire Protection Association 

vfdb = Vereinigung zur Förderung des deutschen Brandschutzes = German Fire Protection Association 

WF = Werkfeuerwehr = industrial fire brigade (private), lincensed by government  

Werkfeuerwehr (WF) = industrial fire brigade (private), lincensed by government 

Werkfeuerwehrverband Deutschland (WFV) = Industrial Fire Brigade's Association Germany 

WFV = Werkfeuerwehrverband Deutschland = Industrial Fire Brigade's Association Germany 

Zivilschutz = civil protection 

www.feuerwehr-nrw.de
Website Staff


April 2020