Rescue in the Rhine: Large deployment of the Mainz fire brigade fails in the morning!

Rescue in the Rhine: Large deployment of the Mainz fire brigade fails in the morning!

In the early Sunday morning there was a large-scale deployment of rescue workers in the Rhine between the Theodor-Heuss-Brücke and the Kaiserbrücke in Mainz. The fire brigade was alerted at 4:15 a.m. when a caller reported a person in the water. As a result, an extensive commitment was organized: six boats from Mainz and four boats from Wiesbaden started looking. Around 40 emergency services were mobilized to cope with the alleged emergency.

, however, the intensive use only took 90 minutes before it was unsuccessfully broken off. The fire brigade expressed doubts as to whether there was actually a person in the water. However, such operations are not unusual for the Mainz fire brigade, which carries out 20 to 25 water rescue operations annually. These are usually triggered when someone is seen in the Rhine, which is often due to alcoholic swimmers.

operational planning and implementation

The operational planning takes place via a dispatcher in the fire brigade control center, which uses a large map of the Mainz Rhine section. In order to optimally coordinate the emergency services, the level of the Rhine and the flow speed are queried daily to determine potential output locations. The operations often work in cooperation with the Wiesbaden fire brigade.

Jens Olschewski, who heads the Mainz fire department, has 20 years of experience. His team of 30 trained divers has the task of monitoring the Rhine section from Eich to St. Goar. The training of the divers takes a year and a half, and especially traumatic circumstances require a high degree of professionalism.

material and procedure

The Mainz fire brigade uses several small boats for water rescue operations and shares a fire extinguishing boat with Wiesbaden. In addition, a helicopter is often used for support. However, the divers only go into the water if there are signs that there is a person under water. In around a third of the cases, the emergency services succeed in finding and saving a missing person successfully.

Another challenge is the major annual events such as the Mainz Johannisfest, where swimmers often come into need. Swimming in the Rhine around Mainz is prohibited for security reasons, and drunk swimmers are at risk of considerable costs for their rescue, which can be several thousand euros. The protection of the people in and on the Rhine as well as the prevention of emergencies are at the top for the Mainz fire brigade.