(CBRN defense) The brigade was officially formed on February 1, 1851, by Ludwig Scabell, under the command of King Frederick William IV.

It has a total of 4,479 staff,[2] including 4,082 operational firefighters and officers based at 35 main fire stations.

The Berlin Fire Brigade has an annual budget of around €250,000,000, which includes personnel costs and investments.

Therefore, The King of Prussia decided in 1851 to command Ludwig Scabell to set up a professional fire brigade and ensure its training and equipment .

Within a very short period, almost 1,000 men were hired and trained while the professional fire stations were built.

In 1854 the very first newly built fire station was opened, two years later a new water supply network with 1,520 hydrants went into operation in Berlin.

In 1879 together, with the engineer and manufacturer Greiner, they received the German patent for the world's first turntable ladder.

[9][10] During the First World War from 1914 to 1918, seven hundred officers had to transfer from the Berlin Fire Brigade to the Wehrmacht, where part of the firefighters were deployed in the newly created flamethrower regiments.

The fire brigades throughout the German Reich were placed under the Ordnungspolizei, abbreviated Orpo (lit.

In 1952 the East Berlin Fire Brigade was incorporated into the Volkspolizei, abbreviated VoPo, (lit.

[14] East Berlin also received a "west turntable ladder" to protect the massive buildings on Stalinallee, today known as Karl-Marx-Allee.

The turntable ladder type DL 52 manufactured by Metz, with a rescue height of over 50 meters, had a car that could be used as an elevator.

Since the early 1980s, the West Berlin fire brigade has repeatedly been involved in May riots in Berlin-Kreuzberg.

[17] In 1993/94, due to the high volume of urban traffic and the numerous new measures to calm the increase, new vehicle concepts were tested in the city districts.

[18] On New Year's Eve 2000 there was a total failure of the IT control center, including the fallback level.

[19] The affected operational control system FIS was replaced in 2000 by the more modern IGNIS and in 2017 by its successor IGNIS-Plus.

They are in close professional contact with the Berlin Fire Brigade and, with the exception of the Berufsfeuerwehren, can be alerted for special operations.

The training and further education is concentrated at the Berlin Fire and Rescue Service Academy, short BFRA.

The main campus is located at Schulzendorfer Straße in the north-west of Berlin in the district of Berlin-Reinickendorf.

[30] The urban parts of Berlin with a high population density are covered by professional fire stations, which are staffed 24/7.

In addition to the different types of turntable ladders, the Berlin Fire Brigade also has a telescopic mast vehicle (TM 50).

Their loading is very similar to that of "HLF - Fire Emergency Team Vehicle", which are used very frequently in Germany.

Compared to the extinguishing group vehicles and tank fire engines that were common at the time, the LHF is more extensively equipped with devices for technical assistance.

Compared to its predecessor, it has shrunk by 2.2 m in length and 20 cm in width, which means better maneuverability in road traffic.

[36] A new generation of LHF has been in use since the beginning of 2007, which is equipped with compressed air foam systems (CAFS, German: Druckluftschaum).

The LHF 20/12 has a fire pump with an output of 2,000 L / min at 10 bar, 1,200 L of water, 100 L of foam concentrate and a DLS system (CAFS 1,000 or 1,200).

The vehicle is equipped with a hydraulic rescue kit for technical assistance, automatic transmission and a reversing camera.

At the Berlin Fire Brigade, mainly Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vehicles with box bodies are used as ambulances.

In addition to the transatlantic sister city agreement between Los Angeles and Berlin there are also strong relations on the fire department level.

The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) and the Berliner Feuerwehr maintain a close partnership with constant visits.