Important facility

State fire brigade school with a lot of know-how

Nine people at LFS Burgenland are responsible for ensuring that everything runs smoothly.(Bild: Feuerwehrschule Burgenland)

68 course types and 250 courses are offered each year.

In 2023 alone, well over 8,000 course participants were welcomed to the courses at the Burgenland State Fire Service School (LFS).

The spectrum of courses, which are supervised by Head of School ABI Philipp Werderitsch and his team, ranges from classic fire service and respiratory protection training to training as a skipper and special training in hazardous materials and radiation protection. "In order not to take up too much of our members' time, many training courses also take place directly in the individual districts," explains Werderitsch. "We must not forget that our firefighters are volunteers and sacrifice their free time for work and training."

The LFS now also offers a wide range of online courses. In addition, the school's employees test and try out new technologies, equipment and facilities for use by the fire departments and pass on their experience to the firefighters. With support from the state, an electric fire engine and an electric turntable ladder are also currently being purchased for training purposes. This makes the LFS Burgenland the first firefighting school in Austria with two large electric vehicles and will hopefully point the way for many fire departments towards a sustainable vehicle fleet.

Reliable employees
LM Sandra Trimmel is responsible for the administration of the individual courses and training events in the school office and is therefore often the first point of contact for the concerns of course participants. LM Kristina Kopper develops and supervises the online courses and the LFS Burgenland Moodle platform as an instructor and eTrainer. In addition to his work as an instructor, HBI Daniel Benczak coordinates the dates in the BrandHaz and is also responsible for the training of the hot training instructors. As Head of Training, HBI Harald Heintz's tasks include the development of courses as well as the coordination of course leaders and external lecturers. HBI Markus Jenakovits is the specialist for respiratory and personal protection at the LFS and therefore the point of contact for all topics relating to respiratory protection and the use of hazardous materials. HBI Jürgen Kopinits is the course instructor for all tactical leadership courses and, as head of the radiation protection department, is also the LFS radiation protection officer. Thanks to ABI Josef Straß, the vehicles and equipment of the LFS are always in exemplary condition and ready for use. HBI Martin Vogler, as head of the aviation and vegetation firefighting department, is the link between the emergency services on the ground and firefighting from the air. HBI Martin Zechmeister is responsible for ensuring that everything always runs smoothly according to plan at the LFS and that we are equipped for all eventualities in his role as ISO 9001 quality management officer.