Fire department takes stock

7.6 million hours of voluntary work

The Florianis also sacrifice many hours of their free time for exercises - such as the recent spectacular car explosion in Loosdorf in the Melk district.(Bild: FF Loosdorf)

The fire department in Lower Austria had to deal with more operations than ever before in 2024 - but it also had more members than ever before! 

Last year's severe weather catastrophes caused fire department deployment figures to skyrocket. As reported, firefighters had to be called out every five minutes on average in 2024. 4625 lives were saved in the process. However, our emergency services were also pleased to see an increase: with 77,164 active members, 820 more people sacrificed their free time for the community than in the previous year. Together with the reserve and the youth, the fire department even has 105,285 members. "This makes it the largest volunteer organization in Lower Austria, if not the entire country," praises Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner.

"Outstanding commitment"
Over the past twelve months, the volunteers have put in a total of 7.6 million working hours to manage operations, as well as for exercises, fundraising campaigns and events. "This figure rose by 17 percent and shows the outstanding commitment of our members," says Provincial Fire Service Commander Dietmar Fahrafellner. The flood of the century in September alone required almost one million hours of deployment.

Children's fire department increasingly popular
The development of the children's fire department is also pleasing. 1103 girls and boys recently learned about the fire department through play - 30 percent more than in 2023. "It shows that the work in this area in particular is worthwhile," says Fahrafellner.