Civil protection organizations are challenged more than ever. In addition to their tasks in everyday life, fire brigades, The Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) , the German Life Saving Society (DLRG) , the German Red Cross (DRK) , Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe (JUH) , Malteser Hilfsdienst (MHD) and the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB) are increasingly in demand for large-scale operations. Whether corona pandemic, flood disaster, forest fires or refugee crisis: The number of operations and burdens is rising. Meanwhile, calls for a restart of the concepts for civil protection are getting louder. Lower Saxony, for example, recently announced that it would invest an additional 40 million euros in civil protection over the next three years.

INTERSCHUTZ offers the best opportunity for stakeholders to exchange ideas and solutions. At the same time, the organizations give visitors from all over the world an impression of their performance and the ever-growing challenges.

CP Symposium: Expert exchange on two days

Civil protection in a transnational context as well as extreme weather conditions are the focus of the CRISIS PREVENTION Symposium. The two-day event of the German media house Beta (21 and 22 June) is aimed primarily for executives from authorities and organizations with safety tasks as well as from fire brigades and aid organizations. The Symposium can be visited with an INTERSCHUTZ ticket upon prior registration.

The keynotes and panel discussions will take place on the exhibition grounds in the Convention Center. More about the program and registration at: http://www.cp-symposium.de/ .

A brief overview of some non-material actors in civil protection and their program at this year's INTERSCHUTZ:

The fire brigades

The German Fire Brigade Association (DFV) represents the interests of the approximately 1.3 million members in volunteers, youth, professional and plant fire brigades in 32,000 fire stations and equipment sheds throughout Germany and can be found at the trade fair in hall 27 at booth D38. At the same time as INTERSCHUTZ, the DFV is organizing the 29th German Fire Brigade Day in cooperation with the State of Lower Saxony, the State Fire Brigade Association of Lower Saxony, the City of Hanover and the Hanover Fire Brigade. The motto of the six-day event is "Security.Life". Exciting contributions on the subject of civil protection will be provided by the Fire Brigade Future Congress on Thursday, 23 June in the Convention Center (CC) at the fair ground. The focus is on increasing the resilience of the population. Young people in particular from all areas of security are called upon to actively participate in the discussions.

In addition to the DFV and the state fire brigade associations, numerous individual fire brigades also use INTERSCHUTZ to demonstrate their efficiency, including the fire brigade of the host city of Hanover (hall 12/B48), the Berlin Fire Brigade (hall 12/C10), the Dortmund Fire Brigade (hall 17/D06), the Volunteer Fire Brigade Bünde (hall 12/E82), the Volunteer Fire Brigade Werl (hall 27/B59), the Augsburg City Fire Brigade Association (hall 12/G46) and the Working Group of The Heads of Professional Fire Brigades (AGBF bund) at the joint stand with the Association for the Promotion of German Fire Protection (vfdb) (hall 13/D50).

Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW)

At the THW booth (hall 17/D42) , the latest developments in robotics and the prototype of a pontoon boat will show the direction in which civil protection will go in the future. The pontoon boat, which consists of various modules, can be flexibly expanded and should also enable the construction of floating working platforms and pontoon bridges. In addition, THW will present a drone from a research project to search for people at sea or in flooded areas.

Another focus of the exhibition is on the expanded capabilities in this area with the newly designed "Fachzug Logistik" and the logistics centers. For this purpose, THW presents the mobile workshop of the Logistics Materials Management Group. The 20-foot container can be dropped off near the deployment site and is fully equipped to perform repairs on vehicles and equipment.

With "High Capacity Pumping" (HCP) and the "Rapid Deployment Unit Water Abroad" (SEEWA), the foreign modules form a further focus of the THWs trade fair presentations, as there will also be a common area with the German Life Saving Society (DLRG) in addition to the THW booth. There, the EU module 17 "Flood Rescue Using Boats" (FRB), which THW operates together with the DLRG, will be presented. The module for rescue operations in flood situations in other European countries has been operational since 2020.

German Life Saving Society (DLRG)

Visitors can find out about the wide range of possible applications of the world's largest voluntary water rescue organization at the DLRG booth (hall 17 /D58) . "The heavy rain disaster last summer in Southern and Western Germany showed us that it is not yet known everywhere what the DLRG can do in civil protection, for example," says the president of the association, Ute Vogt. INTERSCHUTZ in Hanover is an important platform to remedy this situation.

At their booth the water rescuers will demonstrate various scenarios, including the securing of and dams. Furthermore, the DLRG will present the biological (rescue dogs) and technical positioning (using drones and sonar) in the search for people in the water as well as the processing of geo-information data.

The operational component flow rescue is also presented in more detail. "During the disaster in July 2021, the flow rescuers were often the only ones on site and were able to save the lives of many people," says Ute Vogt. The emergency services, trained to rescue in fast-flowing waters, had the necessary skills and equipment to quickly reach people trapped by the water in such situations.

German Red Cross (DRK)

The INTERSCHUTZ appearance of the German Red Cross (halls 17/B58 and B06 as well as hall 26/G29) aims to present the entire spectrum of civil protection and the complex assistance system. A special focus is placed on the growing care situation. The spectrum of the presentation ranges from topics such as emergency rescue, the extended rescue service and civil protection to the comprehensive approach of the local level and voluntary base, the district and state level and the federal level. Virtual reality (VR) elements are also used for the presentation.

Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe (JUH)

VR simulations from the fields of rescue services and civil protection also await visitors on the presentation area of Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe. A new "Ambulance" equipment trolley will also be presented, which has been optimally adapted to the new application requirements thanks to its completely revised loading concept. One of these heavy trucks based on an MAN chassis is available for inspection.

Another highlight at the Johanniters more than 800 square meter booth (hall 26/C29 and F13) is the "anti-onlooker" project launched in 2021, which is intended to put a stop to voyeurism at accident sites and thus save human lives. To this end, the aid organization relies on large-scale QR codes, for example on ambulances. If the mobile phone of an onlooker captures the vehicle, the camera recognizes the QR code and directs the user directly to the website www.gaffen-toetet.de . There the warning appears: "Attention! Watching kills! It can hinder rescue workers and become a criminal offence." The pilot project is accompanied by the Akkon University of Human Sciences.

In addition to other exhibits such as a drone, application opportunities for full-time or voluntary work on site and a few surprises, the Johanniter are also available for exchange talks on civil protection for political decision-makers from the federal states and municipalities. Incidentally, this year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe e.V.

Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK)

Together with the project partners DRK, ASB, DLRG, JUH and MHD, the BBK presents the pilot project "Laboratory Care 5,000" and the associated "Federal Support Reserve for Civil Protection".

The federal care reserve, which is currently being set up, is to include up to ten "mobile care modules". With the materials of such a stored care module, up to 5,000 people can be accommodated and cared for at short notice, simultaneously and largely self-sufficiently for a period of up to one year.

At the booth, visitors can find out about the project, as well as about the previous tests and their results; the first procured material and equipment will also be shown at the stand. There will also be a lecture area where the support module and initial deployment experiences will be presented.

International aid organizations – worldwide aid

In addition to the many national aid organizations, various international networks and institutions such as the Association of @fire , which has permanently operational special forces and sends them into action worldwide after devastating natural disasters (hall 17 /A18), will also be presenting themselves at INTERSCHUTZ.

@fire focuses on fighting forest fires and searching for and rescuing buried people after earthquakes (USAR). Internationally, @fire is a recognized part of the UN sub-agency INSARAG (International Search and Rescue Advisory Group) and works with other rescue organizations around the world. At INTERSCHUTZ, interested parties can find out what possibilities there are to contribute to global aid in disasters.