The performance badge is the highest award for a member of the German Youth Fire Brigade. As can be read from the Saarland Youth Fire Brigade Association, the performance evaluation covers "good personal attitude and orderly and united appearance, speed and endurance, physical strength and agility as well as sufficient firefighting technical and general knowledge and skills."
For two months, the youth fire brigade groups from Bubach, Dirmingen, and Wiesbach had been working towards this goal with great perseverance and diligence. Each practice day brought the young recruits a little further until all required commands were clear and distinct, the hoses were laid out accurately, and the group's appearance was confident and orderly.
A firefighter must not only master their craft but also be physically fit for their mission. Therefore, a physical fitness test is also a prerequisite for obtaining the achievement badge. For this purpose, a rigorous training session was held on a practice day at the sports field in Ottweiler, where the achievement badge examination takes place.
Finally, last weekend, the time had come: after the disciplines of shot put, speed exercise, setting up a fire attack, a 1500-meter relay race, and testing general knowledge about the fire brigade and the home community, the Eppelborn group came out on top. The youths not only earned the achievement badge but also achieved the best result among the competing groups from the Neunkirchen district. This outstanding result was contributed to by all participants as well as the group and practice leaders. County Commissioner Sören Meng and, representing the Mayor of Eppelborn Andreas Feld, Deputy and Local Chief of Bubach-Calmesweiler Sebastian Michel, who had also come to Ottweiler to support the Eppelborn youth fire brigade group, congratulated them on this great achievement.
“We can be particularly proud of our young firefighters, as they form the foundation for the fire brigade of tomorrow. I congratulate all participants, caregivers, and supporters for passing the fitness test and for their extraordinary performance,” emphasized Michel.
The participants in the performance badge test in Ottweiler were:
Lukas Dresen (youth department Bubach), Felix Wohlgemuth (youth department Bubach), Finn Schmitt (youth department Bubach), Mirko Polotzek (youth department Dirmingen), Adrian Wern (youth department Dirmingen), Max Wagner (youth department Dirmingen), Leon Schonk (youth department Wiesbach), Franziska Schwarz (youth department Wiesbach), Frederik Neu (youth department Wiesbach), and as substitutes Maximilian Schwenk (youth department Bubach), Jannis Eckert (youth department Bubach), and Nils Zimmer (youth department Bubach), supported by David Bonner (youth department Bubach).
