The development and expansion of Dortmund Airport required a corresponding revision to existing fire safety protocols. In November 1998, Dortmund City Council Fire Department and Flughafen Dortmund GmbH decided to embark upon a unique project to further expand airport fire services.

With this aim in mind, the city stationed a fleet of vehicles of the voluntary fire service and the “Feuerwache 7” of the Fire Brigade (Airport Fire Inspection Service) on the airport site. In order to guarantee readiness in emergency situations, the volunary fire service was formed into a stand-by unit. The members of this unit are only permitted to work in the immediate surroundings of the fire station in order to assure a sufficiently swift response time. 7 firemen are always assigned to specific tasks during normal operational periods.

Under the leadership of the airport fire station superintendant (Chief Fire Inspector since 1.01.02), FW 7 took responsibility for rapid response in the case of building fires. They were also required to maintain fire safety equipment according to the guidelines laid down by the INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION (ICAO).

The airport fire service administration is made up of 5 civil servants of the Dortmund Fire Brigade alongside 4 employees of the airport. The voluntary fleet is a part of the ground vehicles department. When they are not involved in administrative or operational duties, employees are able to attend courses to further their training/education. New recruits (plus those transferred from Deutschen Steinkohle) should already have fire fighting experience and suitable training (through a voluntary, mining or works fire service).

The combination of Fire Brigade officials and airport fire service employees together with the careful selection of new recruits with a high standard of training provides an extremely capable airport fire service. It is important to note that the employees of the ground vehicles division have the greatest possible knowledge of aircraft, technical equipment and the layout of the airport.

In October 2000, airport operations (including the fire service) were ready to move into the new terminal building. We were accommodated in a provisional vehicle hall and in the adjacent terminal.

The new 450 x 60m terminal at Dortmund Airport has been operational since the 29th October and can accommodate up to 2m passengers per year. The total cost of redevelopment (including the extension of the runway to a length of 2000 metres) was around 350m DM (180m €). Such extensive building work required a corresponding improvement in fire safety technology to the most modern standards.

The special charm of Dortmund Airport is its transparent system, the simple efficiency of which can be seen by the passenger as they look directly from the check-in desk to the aircraft on which they will soon be travelling.

The chief fire inspector has the ongoing responsibility for the administration, organisation and leadership of the airport fire service.

The fire chief and the rest of the crew are on standby 24 hours a day.   Their responsibilities include general operations; emergency services and planning; management, administration and organisation; training; manning the operations centre; maintenance of vehicles and equipment; procurement and much more.


A question which we are frequently asked is: Which tasks is airport fire service responsible for at any time of day?

The 24 service encompasses a large range of tasks.  In addition to the responsiblities already named, we are involved in fire protection, rescue services and a wide range of preventative activities.

The responsibilities of the airport’s emergency services correspond to those of all paramedics. These include rapid response and support of the main emergency services in hospital transfers and emergency situations; organising care for passengers taken ill or injured while airborne and the treatment of minor injuries for all airport users and employees.

The duties of our fire service are to investigate the use of any fire alarm at the airport, to be the first unit to respond in the case of fire, to take part in airfield operations following the guidelines of the ICAO and to provide technical assitance where necessary.   Numerous checks are carried out, at night, on the wide range of technical equipment used in these tasks which would not be possible during normal airport operations.   There is also great interest and activity with regard to preventative measures against fire.   The airport fire service is also responsible for the upkeep of our fully up-to-date technical systems, such as underground fuel storage facilities, sprinkler systems and smoke dissipation equipment to name but a few and care of the continual building work which reflects the lifelong development and improvement of the airport.

Depending upon the scale and type of emergency, appropriate units will be dispatched from the main Fire Brigade to the airport to work alongside our own units in combatting fire.

Naturally, training is not provided by the fire service alone. We work with the general and paramedic training units, subject-specific departments of the Fire Brigade e.g. SEC, other airport fire services, Unna fire brigade, Deutschen Montantechnologie (DMT) and university lecturers.

Further airport specific training is available from the Lufthansa Emergency Training Centre in Frankfurt, Stuttgart Airport fire service, in Teesside (England), Risc Rotterdam, from special equipment manufacturers, etc.

All operational employees of the airport hold a certificate in German air traffic radio communication from the German flight safety organisation (Deutschen Flugsicherung) in Cologne and Deutsche Telekom.