BS-R-4: Active disaster protection workers

The picture shows a young, beaming firefighter operating a spray hose. Behind him stands an older firefighter who is obviously guiding him.Click to enlarge
Growing operational demands require the training of young Volunteers in order to be prepared.
Source: Photograph: © Kzenon / stock.adobe.com

2019 Monitoring Report on the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change

Table of Contents

 

BS-R-4: Active disaster protection workers

The number of emergency helpers declined between 2000 and 2016, above all owing to a decline in the number of members of fire brigades. The increasing involvement of female volunteers – which has gained in importance also with a view to the suspension of compulsory military service – is not sufficient to offset the decline in the number of male volunteers.

In a row of columns, the numbers of active civil protection forces in 1000 are plotted in the time series from 2000 to 2016. In 2000, the value was 128, in 2016 it was around 125. The trend is significantly downward. A line represents the active civil protection workers. The values are indexed and set to 100 for the year 2000. The number decreases more or less continuously to about 96 in 2016.
BS-R-4: Active disaster protection workers

In a row of columns, the numbers of active civil protection forces in 1000 are plotted in the time series from 2000 to 2016. In 2000, the value was 128, in 2016 it was around 125. The trend is significantly downward. A line represents the active civil protection workers. The values are indexed and set to 100 for the year 2000. The number decreases more or less continuously to about 96 in 2016.

Source: THW (helper statistics); Deutscher Feuerwehrverband e.V. (fire brigade statistics)
 

Are we running out of human resources?

As far as civil protection in Germany is concerned, volunteers are our core strength. Approximately 1.7 million voluntary helpers get involved in various emergency organisations. Approximately 99 % of THW’s helpers are working on a voluntary basis. Approximately 95 % of members of fire brigades in Germany are organised in volunteer fire brigades. In that light, helpers involved in civil protection have asserted time and again that unless enough members of the public are willing to take on these voluntary roles, the capacity of units to carry out their tasks will be seriously jeopardised. The same is true for the further enhancement of civil protection in view of climate change; the minimum requirement for this is a stable staff of full-time and voluntary helpers. This is not just because the expected changes in terms of climatic conditions are likely to require more frequent and more extensive operations resulting in greater burdens, but also because the availability of volunteers may be restricted as a result of health impacts from potential heat waves.

Looking at the development from 2000 until 2016, it is clear that there has been a significant decline in active members of the emergency services, both in respect of THW and the fire brigades. During that period, their number decreased by approximately 50,000 from 1.17 million to 1.12 million active members. The declining trend is particularly striking with regard to the negative development in respect of volunteer fire brigades. While professional fire brigades as well as factory or company fire crews can boast increasing or at least stable membership figures, volunteer fire brigades now have approximately 74,000 fewer volunteers than just ten years previously. In 2016 more than 250,000 young people got involved in volunteer youth fire brigades.

The number of active helpers involved in THW is many times lower compared to fire brigades. This is why increases in the number of THW helpers only have a minor influence on the overall development of the number of active helpers. The mean number of active THW helpers for 2000-2014 was approximately 41,000 individuals; in 2015 this number increased to 66,000 active THW helpers, stabilising at this level for 2016 and 2017. In the THW the number of female helpers has increased steadily since 1999 by almost 7,000. While in 1999 their proportion was just under 4 %, the proportion of active female THW members had risen to 13.5 % by 2017. The membership numbers of THW Youth (-Jugend) have been stable for the past few years at a high level.

The decline in membership numbers among volunteer fire brigades is due to various developments. The suspension of compulsory military service since 2011 had a major influence on the recruitment of helpers in the age group of 20 to 25 year olds. In order to safeguard a viable number of emergency helpers, the THW requires approximately 5,200 new helpers per year. Up until 2011, it was possible to recruit annually approximately 2,500 individuals owing to the suspension of compulsory military service.

Besides, the impacts of demographic change on civil protection also need to be taken into account. Changes in the age pyramid have led to shrinkages in the pool of potential helpers just as much as the increasing concentration of people living in towns and cities. Recruitment bottlenecks can occur above all in sparsely populated rural areas with a comparatively older population, compared to a higher willingness prevailing among inhabitants of towns and cities to get involved in volunteer services. In this respect, various studies take a very critical view of the future, raising the question in what way the existing structures are to be taken forward in order to ensure their reliable functioning.

In order to maintain the voluntary structures of civil protection and a sufficient number of helpers, the organisations active in the area of civil protection want to make greater efforts to involve people with migration backgrounds or even senior citizens as helpers in accordance with their individual capacity. In recent years it was at least possible to increase the proportion of female helpers in organisations which are predominantly technically oriented. In 2000 the proportion amounted to 5.7 %; by 2016 the proportion of female volunteers had risen to 9.2 %. In youth fire brigades, the proportion of young women also increased gradually from 2000 until 2016 from 22 % to 27 %. In fire brigades there are nowadays 30,000 more women active than in 2000.

Furthermore, social and technical developments also open up new options. For example, during the flood events of 2013 and 2016 assistance was organised quickly and unbureaucratically via social networks in many of the areas affected. This seems to indicate that it might be possible for civil protection to tap into the continued willingness of individuals to get involved and provide assistance, even though the way this is done relies less on fixed structures than in former times.

 

Interfaces

BS-I-1: Person hours required for dealing with damage from weather-related incidents

 

Objecitves

Adaptation of effective existing crisis management and emergency prevention to current requirements and future developments such as climate change (DAS, ch. 3.2.14)