Chronicle
The Upper Austrian state fire brigade commander Robert Mayer was elected the new federal fire brigade president in St. Pölten on Saturday. He prevailed against the Lower Austrian fire brigade commander Dietmar Fahrafellner.
The 22nd federal fire brigade day in St. Pölten brought a tight race for the office of the new federal fire brigade president. For the first time in history, a second ballot was necessary after 49 delegates voted in favor of one of the two candidates in the first ballot. One delegate abstained from voting.
A second ballot was then carried out, in which the Upper Austrian provincial fire brigade commander Robert Mayer was finally able to assert himself. He received 52 of the 99 delegate votes. The Lower Austrian state fire brigade commander Dietmar Fahrafellner received 47 votes. Mayer succeeds Albert Kern from Styria, who was President of the Federal Fire Brigade for ten years and recently resigned from the post.
“In recent times, we have proven very often that many of our projects are also rolled out across Austria,” said Fahrafellner after the election. As examples he mentioned the 72-hour rule or VAT as a special investment bonus. “All of that shouldn’t have been enough and it’s the way it is now. We will deal with the situation and of course we will still get involved,” said Fahrafellner.
Praise for numerous assignments at home and abroad
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) underlined the good cooperation between the fire brigade and the police at the Federal Fire Brigade Day. “Last year was particularly intense, whether it was the floods in Belgium, forest fires in North Macedonia, Greece or Lower Austria – the Austrian fire brigade is in full action at home and abroad,” said Karner in a broadcast. The fire brigade is also currently donating vehicles and firefighting equipment to Ukraine and helping to transport relief supplies to the war zone.
In the run-up to the election, Fahrafellner diplomatically described his chances in the election as “50:50”. His greatest success, which also caused a nationwide sensation, was the reimbursement of VAT on emergency vehicles, which has existed in Lower Austria since 2017 and which was rolled out nationwide this year. The 54-year-old Fahrafellner has been the regional fire brigade commander in Lower Austria since 2013 and has since headed 98,000 firefighters. There are 350,000 members of fire brigades across Austria.