150 years - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 2013 - 90 Euro Cent

With this special stamp, Österreichische Post AG congratulates on the 150th anniversary of an extremely important institution - the Freiwilligen Feuerwehren. The motif of the attractive stamp shows a so-called "water car", as was customary in Austria around 1880. This at the time "modern" emergency vehicle was exceptionally well equipped with a metal water tank, a hand pressure syringe, hook and plug conductors, a hose reel, several fire buckets and hand tools. The history of the volunteer fire departments goes back to the sixties of the 19th century, although in the beginning interestingly, in particular, the gymnastics clubs of the fire service adopted. When later the transformation of the obsolete fire-fighting equipment into "real" fire-brigades took place, most gymnastic clubs were not able to finance this from their own resources; For this reason, many fire departments went to the respective communities or were financed by private and therefore "voluntary". The idea of ​​this voluntarism became more and more prevalent with time, and around 1900, almost 2,700 volunteer fire brigades were counted in the area of ​​today's Austria. Today there are more than 4,500 volunteer fire departments nationwide - this means that there are on average almost two fire departments per municipality. In principle, anyone who is willing to be admitted to the fire service; Austria-wide, more than 300,000 men and women are currently registered as members in a volunteer fire department. Since the fire brigade is organized in state laws, depending on the federal state, different admission criteria are decisive. For example, membership in Styria is only possible for EU citizens, but in Carinthia this regulation fell after long integration discussions at the beginning of last year. But one thing is clear: voluntary fire brigades, in which all members not only volunteer but also free of charge, are certainly a mainstay of the Austrian fire service dar. The promotion of young talent within a volunteer fire department is often carried out by special units, in Austria usually "fire brigade youth" called. On the one hand, their members should receive a fire-brigade-specific training in theory and practice, on the other hand, of course, they should also experience a general youth program. The age at which the boys are taken on active duty depends on the regulations in the individual federal states. The maximum age is generally limited to 65 years; Members of this age are usually transferred to the so-called "reserve status".