Firefighter Marco Heisterkamp receives special award

A special honour has now been bestowed on the deputy chief of the Bocholt volunteer fire brigade, Marco Heisterkamp. Heisterkamp was awarded the German Fire Brigade Medal of Honour in silver. At the annual general meeting of the municipal fire brigade association at the fire station, many promotions were also awarded.

After being welcomed by the head of the fire brigade, Thomas Deckers, the first city councillor and head of the fire protection department, Thomas Waschki, addressed the members of the fire brigade, the honorary fire brigade and the youth and children's fire brigade. Waschki thanked "on behalf of all the citizens of Bocholt for the indispensable work and commitment of the fire brigade, which provides the population with protection and rapid assistance in emergencies. When it comes down to it, you are there!"

On the agenda, apart from a minute's silence for the deceased comrades and the reports of the auditors, were reviews of operations and events of the year 2022. The review of the year was rounded off by contributions from the children's and youth fire brigades.

Promotions

During the general meeting, numerous comrades were promoted by the head of the fire brigade.

Alexander Böcker, Joel Steffen Bönicke, Julius Demming, Niklas Hörning, Sophie Reyering, Peter Schmitt, Patrick Tombergs and Kira van Marwick were promoted to firefighter.

Sven Beyering, Christian Drexelius, Noah Langfeld, Kevin Mengering, Dustin Siebelt, Jeremy Vinmans and Sven Weikamp were promoted to senior firefighter.

Andre Iding and Philipp Laar were promoted to sub-fire chief.

Holger Querbach and Florian Weikamp were promoted to senior fire chief.

Christian Robeling was promoted to fire inspector.

Björn Hormann was promoted to senior fire inspector.

Honours

In addition, colleagues were honoured for their many years of commitment to the volunteer fire brigade.

For 25 years of membership in the volunteer fire brigade, Markus Boland, Andre Iding and Sebastian Geisler were awarded the Fire Brigade Badge of Honour in Silver by Fire Protection Officer Thomas Waschki.

District Fire Chief Stefan van Bömmel honoured Marco Heisterkamp for his extraordinary commitment. Heisterkamp has been a volunteer in the Bocholt Volunteer Fire Brigade since 1982 in various functions and was instrumental in founding the youth fire brigade in the Suderwick fire brigade. He also plays an important role in promoting German-Dutch cooperation. In particular, he is involved in the Crossfire project, which involves the construction of a joint German-Dutch fire station.