“Smoke in the chemistry lab”: Volunteer fire department extinguishes the fire and evacuates the building
The Marburg-Cappel Volunteer Fire Department conducted its annual drill at the Steinmühle. The simulated emergency: a fire in the chemistry lab! Late in the evening, in the darkness of November 9, a fire engine arrived with its emergency lights flashing: After the bollard was lowered, five vehicles—including a turntable ladder—passed through the entrance to the school grounds and skillfully positioned themselves between the flower beds in the courtyard and on the adjacent open area.
When the alarm was sounded, reports indicated that several boarding school students were on the first floor of the main building, where smoke was coming from the chemistry lab, though the cause was unclear. While fellow firefighters were busy rolling out the fire hose, four firefighters equipped with self-contained breathing apparatus had to make their way up the stairs to guide themselves and the people in danger through the smoke—realistically simulated with stage fog— and to guide the students to safety. The rescue was carried out by leading the students down the stairs; in some cases, they were also evacuated via the turntable ladder.
The Tasks: Water Supply and Rescue Operations
A total of 31 firefighters—both men and women—had come to the Steinmühlen campus for the drill. “In cases like this,” reported Steinmühlen teacher Jonathan Gröb, “some are tasked with the water supply, while others are responsible for rescuing people.” There’s a special reason why Jonathan Gröb is so knowledgeable about this: The math and physics teacher is himself the fire chief in his hometown in the Vogelsberg district, and thanks to the close ties between colleagues, he was happy to agree when Cappel’s fire chief, Dominik Wagner, asked about a training opportunity.
This is a win-win situation. While the fire department can fully practice such operations a short distance from its station on the bypass, Steinmühle learns specific rules of conduct and procedures for emergencies. It is no coincidence that Jonathan Gröb also serves as Steinmühle’s fire safety officer, and an updated fire safety policy—tailored to the building’s current layout—is already in the works.
“Mr. Gröb, we want to ride the turntable ladder.”
Once the students participating in the drill realized that, depending on the situation, these kinds of operations can sometimes get a little rough, their spirits lifted all the more shortly afterward. They didn’t exactly sing “Hurrah, hurrah, the school’s on fire” like the band Extrabreit did back in the legendary ’80s, but they did ask for a bit of fun: “Mr. Gröb, we want to ride the turntable ladder,” they pleaded at the end. And so it came to pass that a group of students, under professional supervision, was lifted a good 20 meters into the night sky in the basket of the extended turntable ladder and was able to enjoy the view of Marburg.
Steinmühle would like to thank the Cappel Volunteer Fire Department, the students who participated, and our teacher Jonathan Gröb for giving us the opportunity to have these experiences and expand our knowledge of the work of the fire department!
