FRM II sends protective equipment to Hungarian fire department

Handover of fire protection equipment The personal protective equipment being handed over by organizer Wolfgang Wagner (l.) and district fire chief Manfred Danner (r.) to András Schumicky (m.), a firefighter of the Hungarian fire department. © Roland Albrecht

The personal protective equipment being handed over by organizer Wolfgang Wagner (l.) and district fire chief Manfred Danner (r.) to András Schumicky (m.), a firefighter of the Hungarian fire department. © Roland Albrecht

When the charity organisation NAVIS e.V. called for a donation for a newly established fire department in Hungary, the management of the FRM II research neutron source was eager to help by donating 16 firefighting outfits for this cause.

Friendship for 31 years
The connection to Hungary is maintained by Wolfgang Wagner, chairman of NAVIS e.V. since 1989. In that year, a total of 55,000 GDR citizens fled to West Germany via the German embassy in Budapest. Wolfgang Wagner, who is from Moosburg an der Isar, also helped the refugees together with Hungarian aid workers. “Since then, this trusting friendship has lived on,” he recounts. The NAVIS association has not existed as long as this friendship, but it has set itself the goal of organizing the transport and distribution of relief supplies such as hospital beds, medicine, and firefighting equipment in Hungary and other countries. NAVIS is not an abbreviation, but the Latin word for “ship” and that is what the organization wants to be: a rescue ship.

Protectiv equipment fire department From now on the atomic egg will be seen on the back of the Hungarian fire department in Páty. © Manfred Danner

From now on the atomic egg will be seen on the back of the Hungarian fire department in Páty. © Manfred Danner

16 garments from FRM II
The newly established fire station in Páty, a suburb of Budapest, Hungary, was not yet ready for operations. The training of the new firefighters was provided by the Hungarian professional fire department, but there was a lack of equipment. Therefore NAVIS e.V. called for a donation campaign. FRM II fire safety officer Manfred Danner was thus able to contribute 16 outfits that were not needed at the FRM II anymore. “The equipment was hardly worn and will still serve the Hungarian fire department well,” says Manfred Danner, reactor operator at FRM II and district fire chief in Freising. In total, Wolfgang Wagner and Manfred Danner, together with other helpers, gathered the personal protective equipment for 60 firefighters for the fire department in Páty.

Consul General thankful
The joy of the Hungarian firefighters about the 60 outfits was enormous. As a thank you, there was Hungarian wine with its own thank you label. “I am deeply touched by your charity,” wrote the Consul General of Hungary in Munich, Gábor Tordai-Lejkó, in a personal letter to organizer Wolfgang Wagner. “We are pleased to be able to play our part in this sign of friendship and support,” Manfred Danner also said.