The Feuerwehr (German: fire defence) is a number of German fire departments. The responsible bodies for operating and equipping fire departments are the German communities ("Gemeinden") and cities ("Städte"). By law, they are required to operate fire-fighting forces. In cities, this is usually performed by the Fire Prevention Bureau, one of the higher-ranking authorities.
There are three kinds of recruiting firefighters in Germany: the predominant number of Germany's 1,383,730 firefighters are members of voluntary fire brigades (Freiwillige Feuerwehr), a lesser number working in professional fire brigades and at least the drafted members of a Compulsory Fire Service (Pflichtfeuerwehr), established just in a few places nationwide.
Professional fire brigades are usually operated as
- Berufsfeuerwehr (professional fire station or brigade) of a municipal body counting over 100,000 citizens, such as the city of Berlin as a full-time city department
- Werkfeuerwehr (plant fire station or brigade) of a larger company, for the needs of the company operating them by law e.g. refineries or chemical industry production facilities
- Betriebsfeuerwehr (factory fire station or brigade) of a larger company, that does not need to run a Werkfeuerwehr by law, but if it is required for the insurance coverage
- Flughafenfeuerwehr (airport fire station or brigade) as airports have to meet the ICAO requirements, this includes airplane factories like that of Airbus in Hamburg)
- Bundeswehr-Feuerwehr (armed forces fire station or brigade) with specialized divisions such as Fliegerhorstfeuerwehr Cologne-Wahn located at German air force bases, military bases, naval bases as well as on any ship of the German Navy
By law, cities with a population of more than 80,000–100,000 people (depending on the state) are required to have a professional fire-fighting force ("Berufsfeuerwehr"). Others such as smaller cities and towns can set up a full-time force ("Hauptamtliche Wachbereitschaft"), which is basically a group or a squadron occupying one large fire station around the clock. This force deals with smaller incidents on its own and is supported by voluntary forces for larger incidents. Each community meets the need of fire-fighting personnel by setting up a voluntary force ("Freiwillige Feuerwehr"). If it is not possible to recruit enough personnel for this job, the mayor of a city is required to set up a "Pflichtfeuerwehr" (compulsory fire brigade), where he will draft the number of personnel required.