When Holger Himmelhuber passed one of his friends washing a fire engine at the Bleiche, it was an encounter that would go on to change his life. Not only did he join the “Oberursel-Mitte” fire brigade on that same day in 1976, but 5 years later he played a role in creating the “Jugendfeuerwehr” (youth fire brigade) and shortly afterwards became responsible for maintaining the equipment as well.
Some years later, in 1988, he took on the role of “Wehrführer”, putting in him charge of the town centre’s fire brigade, located in the Marxstraße. It was at this point that he because an “Ehrenbeamter”, which roughly translates as being a voluntary civil servant.
That was 25 years ago, and to celebrate a number of members of the fire brigade, along with his family, gathered at the town hall for a presentation made by the town’s treasurer Thorsten Schorr.
Fire Inspector Holger Himmelhuber with Treasurer Thorsten Schorr
But his career in the fire service did not stop there. In 1999 Holger Himmelhuber took over the chair of the “Förderverein” – the supporters and fund raising part of the fire brigade and held the position until 2005.
Finally in 2006 he was elected to the post that he now holds as “Stadtbrandinspektor” – the town’s fire inspector who, amongst other things, is responsible for co-ordinating the work between the five fire brigades in the town and its suburbs.
At the presentation, Thorsten Schorr highlighted Holger Himmelhuber’s reliability and the fact that he carries out this latest position voluntarily, in addition to being a member of the town council. His family are also involved in the fire brigade, and of course he also has his day job. He works for the regional government (Landkreis) as “Gefahrenverhütungsbeauftragter”, something along the lines of an accident prevention officer. He is, of course, the expert for fire prevention.
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