Representatives of the Oder-Spree district's fire and disaster protection services intensify cooperation with Polish colleagues

On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, a delegation from the Oder-Spree district fire and disaster protection service and the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief visited the Polish city of Gorzów Wielkopolski. Here they met colleagues from the control center of the administrative district of Lubusz, the city guard number 2 and the command of the state fire department.

The visit was initiated by Christian Weiß, District Fire Chief and Head of Civil Protection / Fire Protection Oder-Spree: "Our annual plan sets out the cooperation between the district and the Slubice district in the area of fire and civil protection - this should not just be on paper, but we also want to live it."

The district fire chief emphasized that in emergency situations, be it an accident or a fire, it is always clear that he and his team work in a border region: "For example, one of our cars can't just drive across the border."

The topic was taken up by Michał Borowy, commander of the state fire department of the Slubice district. He explained that, among other things, the emergency call structures in Poland and Germany are completely different. To improve mutual understanding, he promised a tour of the institutions responsible for handling emergency calls in the Lubusz administrative district.

The insights gained encouraged the participants that it is possible for emergency services to work across borders between Poland and Germany. Knowledge of the different national communication standards makes an important contribution to responding effectively and quickly.

In a concluding discussion, the role of cooperation between the emergency services in the border region was emphasized, in particular the weekly contacts between the control centres in Frankfurt (Oder) and the city of Gorzów Wielkopolski.