Our fire departments

This woman is on fire for the volunteer fire department

Passionate about her work: the Klingenbach native is a firefighter with heart and soul and is on the front line.(Bild: Julia Ivancsits)

Julia Ivancsits is the first woman to achieve the gold performance badge. She is particularly committed to young people.

Whether it's storms, traffic accidents or fires: the Burgenland Florianis are on hand 365 days a year when there's a fire on the roof. Julia Ivancsits from Klingenbach is also at the forefront of operations. She was recently awarded the Rosa Jochmann Prize for her commitment to the fire department.

Rosa Jochmann Award winner Julia Ivancsits with Deputy Governor Astrid Eisenkopf.(Bild: LMS)

Nowadays, women are an integral part of the fire department. When Julia Ivancsits joined the Klingenbach fire department more than 20 years ago, she was one of the few female pioneers.

The number of women in the Burgenland fire department is increasing. Julia Ivancsits is considered a pioneer.(Bild: Carina Fenz)

It was not until the reform of the fire department law in 1994 that women from Burgenland were allowed to be active members of the fire department. "My godfather was a commander and my uncle was a fire department youth officer, I have firefighting in my blood," says the 32-year-old, who is not only the youth leader of the local fire department, but also works at district level as a district officer for "fire department youth and training" and manages the youth district competitions in the Eisenstadt district.

First state winner of the gold fire department performance badge
The list of completed badges is also long: Julia Ivancsits has earned all of the performance badges and was the first state winner to achieve the fire department performance badge in gold. As part of her commitment to young firefighters, she also programmed an app with knowledge questions to prepare for the knowledge tests. Since 2023, she has also been responsible for public relations work for Burgenland's young firefighters and works as a drone pilot in the field of disaster relief.