Football tournament in Mulhouse: Chemnitz firefighters visit the French twin city of Mulhouse
15 sports enthusiasts from the Chemnitz professional fire brigade have accepted an invitation from their colleagues in Mulhouse to take part in the 5th International Football Tournament organised by the Mulhouse Fire Brigade Association in Chemnitz's French twin city. The firefighters will arrive on Wednesday (4 June), take part in the tournament on Thursday (5 June) and Friday (6 June) and return to Chemnitz on Saturday (7 June).
The Chemnitz delegation will be led by fire officer Lutz Fischer and fire inspector Claudia Besser. The Mayor's Office of the City of Chemnitz is supporting the partnership and sporting exchange and is accompanying the endeavour with interpreter Brigitte Taube. The mayor's office will use the visit to hold an initial working meeting with the new mayor of the twin city for international relations, Anne-Catherine Goetz. Mrs Goetz replaces Christiane Eckert, who has supported and promoted the town twinning for many years as mayor.
The Chemnitz team are guests of their Mulhouse colleagues in the twin town. In addition to the Chemnitz team, teams from Newcastle (England), Glasgow (Scotland), Timisoara (Romania), Prague (Czech Republic) as well as Colmar and Belfort (France) are taking part in the tournament, and fire service colleagues from Tel Aviv (Israel), Barcelona (Spain) and Budapest (Hungary) have also been invited.
The fire services in Chemnitz and Mulhouse have been exchanging experiences for over ten years: whether it was about the structure of the rescue services, the rescue of victims who have fallen under a tram, for example, fire protection in chemical plants, emergency breathing apparatus rescue or the structure of the rescue control centres - there were always competent contacts on both sides. Firefighters had several opportunities to experience the work of their colleagues in practice. Twelve teams from all over Germany and from our French twin city of Mulhouse took part in the 2012 national comparison of professional fire brigades' rescue teams at height in Chemnitz.
Chemnitz and Mulhouse have been twin cities since 1981 - information online: www.chemnitz.de