Courtesy Photo | The U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach Fire Department at Katterbach Kaserne responded to an...... read more read more
ANSBACH, Germany — The new year began hot and smoky for the U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach Fire Department, which responded to an emergency call on New Year’s Eve from the garrison’s host-nation city partner, Ansbach.
Just 30 minutes into 2026, a fire destroyed a multi-family residence, displacing 40 renters.
The USAG Ansbach Fire Department, based at Katterbach Kaserne, arrived within minutes after the call, contributing to a coordinated response by about 160 firefighters, law enforcement, first responders and the Technisches Hilfswerk already on scene, according to the city’s official Fire Department incident report.
The off-post fire drew rapid responses from several local agencies. The lingering question is: How does the USAG Ansbach Fire Department get notified for an off-post emergency, and what steps trigger garrison involvement?
Ansbach’s dispatch center — which uses the electronic dispatching and information system (ELDIS) `— determines the personnel and equipment needed for each incident. ELDIS functions similarly to computer-aided dispatch (CAD) used by fire departments in the U.S.
ELDIS holds data on all local fire departments’ resources around Ansbach and Neustadt an der Aisch-Bad Windsheim, including the USAG Ansbach Fire Department, enabling immediate engagement of the appropriate agencies.
Once ELDIS identifies the necessary responders, the City of Ansbach’s Dispatch Center notifies them for immediate action.
In this incident, the USAG Ansbach Fire Department was notified by the Ansbach Dispatch Center and arrived at the incident in downtown Ansbach in under 13 minutes, providing an aerial ladder truck and personnel to help extinguish the blaze.
The USAG Ansbach Fire Department’s specialties include airfield operations and specialized hazardous materials response mostly uncommon to many German fire departments. These capabilities extend support outside Army installations for targeted incident response.
“Since the amount of aerial ladder trucks within the County of Ansbach is limited to a few fire departments, the quick availability of the USAG Ansbach aerial ladder is of great support to the Ansbach community in times of need,” said USAG Ansbach Fire Chief Stefan Grötschel.
The partnership between Ansbach’s host-nation emergency services and the garrison fire department has deep roots, built through decades of collaboration and mutual-aid training.
“The Garrison Fire Department is also the partner association of the Ansbach City Fire Department. This is a long-standing tradition in Germany — a true German-American brotherhood that looks out for each other and where the commitment goes beyond the job,” emphasized Grötschel.
In 2025, the Garrison Fire Department responded to 666 incidents in total, 24 of which were outside USAG Ansbach.
| Date Taken: | 01.13.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 01.14.2026 07:12 |
| Story ID: | 556186 |
| Location: | ANSBACH, BAYERN, DE |
| Web Views: | 17 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, When USAG Ansbach Fire Department responds to off-post emergencies, by Jacqueline Haderlein, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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