Firefighters practice in Kerkrade

07-03-2024, 11:57

Over the next few weeks, the South Limburg Professional Fire Brigade will be practicing in Kerkrade at the former Defense Station. Local residents may therefore regularly see fire trucks driving through the area. They are also working with "fake smoke," which may be visible in the area.

The professional exercise days take place each year at a different location in the region. This time, the former Defense Office on the Kosterbeemden in Kerkrade was chosen as the training location. During these professional exercise days, several realistic scenarios are practiced by units of the South Limburg Fire Department. Fake fires will be used and smoke is also generated by means of smoke machines, which may be visible to people in the vicinity. Furthermore, local residents will most likely not be inconvenienced by the exercises. No streets will be blocked off.

Practice days take place at the following times:

Week 11: Monday, March 11 through Thursday, March 14, from 8 a.m. to approximately 4:30 p.m.
Week 12: Monday, March 18 to Thursday, March 21, from 8 a.m. to approximately 4:30 p.m.
Week 13: Monday, March 25 and Tuesday, March 26, from 8 a.m. to approximately 4:30 p.m.

The South Limburg Fire Department is part of the South Limburg Safety Region and has about 700 firefighters. Over 500 of them are active as firefighter volunteers: although they are fully trained as professional firefighters, they have another main job. These are fire crews in the smaller municipalities. In the event of an incident, these volunteers are called out. They train and practice weekly and receive compensation for the hours they are active for the fire department.

There are also some 200 professional staff employed by Veiligheidsregio Zuid-Limburg. They occupy the professional barracks in Maastricht-North, Maastricht-South, Sittard-West, Heerlen, Brunssum, Kerkrade (all 24-hour shift) and Beek (day shift). There they train and practice continuously. Regularly, so-called 'professional exercise days' are held at external locations especially for this group of firefighters.