Hiebing and Lütkenhorst have been working for the volunteer fire brigade for 50 years

Last Friday, the annual general meeting of the city fire brigade association took place at the fire and rescue station. In addition to the emergency services, members of the youth fire brigade, the honour division and the support division also took part in the event.

The event began with words of welcome from the first city councillor and head of the fire protection department Björn Volmering and the deputy district fire chief Christoph Terwiel. Afterwards, the acting head of the Bocholt fire brigade, Jörg Telaar, led through the programme with the support of the board.

The focus of the meeting was on the reviews of the past year 2023 from the operational department, the children's and youth fire brigade and the honorary department. Numerous long-standing members were honoured for their loyal active participation. Head of Department Volmering presented the honours for long-standing memberships in the volunteer fire service:

• 50 years of active membership: Norbert Hiebing and Walter Lütkenhorst received the Fire Brigade Badge of Honour in gold with gold wreath.
  
  
• 35 years of active membership: Dirk Arping was awarded the Fire Brigade Cross of Honour in Gold.
  
  
• 25 years of active membership: Thomas Dreifke and Dominik Winter were honoured with the Fire Brigade Cross of Honour in silver.
  
  
• 70 years of membership: Paul Stevens, a member of the honour division, was honoured for his exceptional loyalty.
  
  
• 10 years of membership: Tom Bisslich and Max Uebbing were honoured.
  
  

Jörg Telaar also honoured several promotions and appointments during the course of the evening:

• To firefighter: Moritz Blum and Nick Nichols.
  
  
• To the rank of senior firefighter: Jan Arping, Melina Giesbers, Fabian Pesch, Astrid Siecksmeier and Jesse Weintritt.
  
  
• For participation in the performance test: Thomas Enk was honoured for his 45th participation in the Borken district fire brigade performance test - an exceptional achievement that only two firefighters in the entire district have ever achieved.
  
  
• Deputy squad leader: Gabriela Wedding.
  
  
• Deputy platoon leader: Christian Robeling.

The annual general meeting of the city fire brigade association traditionally offers not only the opportunity to look back on the past year, but also to honour the remarkable achievements of the dedicated members. The evening ended with a big thank you to everyone involved for their tireless efforts and commitment to serving the community.