Comments: Comments: FiremenKofferen               September 11, 2001 The day that changed all our lives. Our Hearts and Soul are with you all.

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Homepage from the

Volunteer Fire Department

Kofferen, Germany

This homepage is dedicated to all who see it in Internet, friends, fellow firefighters, family, and to us, the Volunteer Firefighter´s from Kofferen, Germany.

You all must be wondering, where in the WORLD is Kofferen.

The above symbol is the seal of the State of Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany.

Yes you are right, Kofferen is in this State, we are in the County of Düren,

under the City of Linnich.

Linnich-Kofferen is located roughly 60 kilometers from the City of Cologne(Köln).

We are one of 15 villages that belong to Linnich, and each village as its own

Volunteer Fire Department.

This is us, the firefighters from Kofferen. We have 17 active firefighters, 3 inactive, and 9 youth firefighters.The inactive help mainly during the day, when must of us are at work, they assist only when not enough persons are present to respond to a emergency. The youths help and respond as well, only thing is that they do not enter a danger area, main duties for them would be to control traffic, persons, and handle light equipment located in the vehicle. We are all a great team!!!

The Dalmation is the mascot of Firefighter´s in the United States, for example. And us here in Germany and most of Europe we have St. Florian, the patron Saint of all Firefighters. On are flag from the Feuerwehr(Fire Department), we have St. Florian on it. And we display it proudly at our station and when we are in a parade.

The next three photos show  some of the ranks worn by us in the Feuerwehr in Germany. The red and silver bars can be found amongst the Volunteer´s in Germany. The silver and gold bars are used within the professional Firefighters in the big cities.

Let me tell you a little about myself. My name is Manuel Rodriguez, I was born in Philadelphia, Pa. In 1989, I got out of the Service and stayed here in Germany, my wife and children are German. I was so lucky to have found a home here in Kofferen, after a year here, my wife and I bought a home. We love it in Kofferen, we do not ever want to leave here. This is are home now. The people here in Kofferen accepted us so quickly, all we had to do is just mix with the people. And the rest came naturally. I am in three different clubs here, Feuerwehr(First Choice), St. Margrethe Schützen( shooting club), and the Sportverein(Soccer Club). For the Feuerwehr, I made this homepage. It was great making it, as you may have noticed, I am not a expert in Homepage´s. This is my first one, please excuse the errors and the loading time in Internet. If you have any usefull information or ideals for me in how I can improve this page then let me know. My e-mail address is: MRodri7158 at AOL.COM. The Feuerwehr has the following e-mail address: FiremenKofferen at AOL.COM.

The Squad Leader for Kofferen Fire Department is: Oberbrandmeister Mr. Matthias Jussen. This man will be celebrating his 25th. Anniversary in the Feuerwehr in December,1999, he knows alot about firefighting. We learned very much from him. He keeps us together, we learn, we travel, we go out together with are wives, we take care of each other, we even play soccer as a team, you can clearly see that we work together as a team. The reason may be that Kofferen is a small Village. We have roughly 600 people living here and about 170 Homes and or Apartments in Kofferen. Now you know why, in such a small village everybody knows everybody.

As Feuerwehr, we have seen alot of things. Every two years we make a 4 day visit to Poland,to our friends there.We visit the Village of Puskow near the city of Opole. We have also visited Norway, Holland, Austria, Belguim, and the United States. Everytime we had a chance to see there local Fire Departments, it was a very learning expereince for both sides. Plus we got to see the Cities, People, Culture, and sights. We are not some kind of nuts who follow firemen around, we just want to be able to see how the other ones operate, that is all.

The next four pictures show some of the places were we went to. Picture 1 shows a typical Fire truck in Poland,they are around 25 to 30 years behind the time there. After the fall of theWarsaw Pact, there was no more money to go around, like must places, but not so extreme like in Poland. An average working person there gets around $400.00 a MONTH!!! In some ways it is a poor country, but the people are very good in heart. The second photo is are God-Child in Poland. This picture was taken in June,99, when we made are visit there. The little truck belongs to the village of Puskow, it cost $300.00. And we put in our own money so they can buy it, it is Puskow´s proud and joy. It is much better then pushing a push-cart, that is what they used before they got the truck. We have helped in obtaining hoses, nozzles, buckets, and a few other things. The next time that we are in Poland, we will of course help them in any way we can. Picture 3 shows us in the Headquarter´s from the Philadelphia Fire Department, back in April,98, we made a visit to the USA. We stayed in Maple Shade, N.J. and covered a 250 mile radius around us all in ten days. It was fun, for most of us it was are first trip to the USA. Picture 4 shows us in the USA, Cherry Hill, N.J. to be exact.

Every year in the month of May, the Feuerwehr from Kofferen has a Fest, something like a block party. The only differance is that it is for the whole Village, normally the surrounding area Feuerwehr groups come also. And when we have this Fest there is always a theme involved. For example, the year we installed a bell in the Feuerwehr house tower, or when we built a duck house in the pond located in Kofferen, I can keep on and on. But this one last Fest, I must mention. This year we had made a new World Record, the worlds longest wurst (sausage) was made by us, the Firefighters from Kofferen, and all in one complete piece. It had a length of 22.50 meters (roughly 75 ft.). We had local television, radio, and the press there, we had everthing documented, film, and witnesses for this task. All this was needed for the record in the Guinness Book of World Records. This record should come out in the year 2001 edition from Guinness, for the year 2000, it was to late, that the dead line for that year was in April,99, and we had are Fest a month later. Recognition must be given to our dear friend, Mr. Frank Zimmerman. Frank who is a Metzgermeister (Master Butcher) helped us, we prepared (stuffed the whole thing), cooked it, and then ate it, it took over 4 hours to cook that monster and at a constant temperture of 70 degrees Celsius. We had 8 propane burners on at one time. Many people were there, they all bought a peice of the world record sausage. That Saturday evening in May,99, we almost sold the whole thing. Sunday afternoon the remaining 12 ft. was gone. We raised a total of 3000.00 German Marks ($1500.00). Between Frank and the Feuerwehr the money was divided. Frank donated his half to a Kindergarten group in the town of Alsdorf. Our $750.00 was donated to a School for Gifted Children. The pictures below show that event and the day we went to give our donation to the school. Photo 1 shows the area were we had the Fest. The long tent is were the wurst was born, had sold, you also see a bus in the picture, next to it is our Station with the little house next to it, we train indoors in there. Next picture is taken in the tent, you can see us cooking the sausage. The last 2 pictures are at the school. After we handed over the money we stted up our equipment and showed the children how we fight a fire. The Kids loved it, afterwards we let them handle the hoses and with are help they fought an imaginary fire, even the ones in wheel chairs helped.

  With these bold letters we would like to tell everyone about something very special that will take place in the year 2001. Feuerwehr Kofferen will be celebrating its 75th. Anniversary, that is 75 years of service to Kofferen and the surrounding area. From back then with a horse drawn cart till now with our Mercedes fire truck, much as happened in those 75 years. We hope to have visitors from the places we have visited, friends, fellow firefighters, and more friends. We´ll take care of everything here on are side, sleeping accommodations can be handled by us, but remember, only a limited amount of space, so let us know early. Write it down, in the month of May, in the year 2001. We plan something big that year.

HOT STUFF!!!

Here we are in a Parade in Kofferen. It was the yearly Feast of the St. Margeretha Schützen (Shooting Club), it is held always in the second weekend of July. it is a big Fest in Kofferen, and the Feuerwehr is always invited in their Parade through the few streets of Kofferen.

For next year, 2000, I will keep you informed about what is going on in Kofferen and the Feuerwehr.

Well it is August and in the year 2000. We have done alot this year so far. Our young men from the Feuerwehr were in an event  in our State of Nordrhein-Westfalen. They came in first place, from a total of 40 groups. They now carry proudly a Feuerwehr medal for knowledge and know how. And event that took them trough many of hours of training for this one day. But for the 10 boys who did it, it was worth it. They are very proud of themselves just like we are of them for what they did.

Also a fellow Volunteer Fireman, Mr. Wolfgang Aussem, is the new Schüzten Konig (Schooting King)from Kofferen. There was 4 men trying for the same thing, but Wolfgang made the last important shoot. They were schooting at a wooden bird roughly 10 meters from them. And Mr. Aussem's last shot was what it took for the bird to fall down. Like every year in the second weekend of July the huge Fest from the Schützen was the main event of the year. And Wolfgang with his lovely wife Renata were at the head of everything those four days that Kofferens party. On behalf off all of us in Kofferen and including his wife, Renata, we wish you the best this year as King Wolfgang from Kofferen. Your fellow firefighters. Congraulations!!!

Here they are, Mr. and Mrs. Wolfgang Aussem. Till July, 2001 the Shooting King from Kofferen.

On the 2nd. and 3rd. of September 2000, we will have in Kofferen a Handworkers Market here. That will be handmade things farm tractors a dance group from Hottorf and the Fahnenschwenkergroup Kofferen (a flag drill team, must say that my son is in this team, they are good!!!). We will even have a Disco, so a big street party.

Once again  we had a Handworkers Market, it was heard in September, 2001. It was the same as above, but this time the Archbishop of Aachen came and blessed a beautiful colored glass picture of the Holy Saint George. It was a very nice occasion.

Also this past week, on September 17, 2001, our Fire House received a letter from Guinness Book of World Records. We made it, not for the longest wurst, but for the biggest man made candle light Christmas decoration. It is made out of wood and the lights looks like candle but use electricity.

This flag is my pride and joy!!! But first I must thank Retired Sgt. Major Earl Hart for making this happen. This flag belongs to Kofferen. In WWII it was taken as a souvenir back then by the late Earl Hart, the father of Sgt Major Earl Hart. Well because of this Homepage here that I done, the son of this WWII Veteran will be returning the flag back to Kofferen on May 30, 2004. This day will be the greastest event in my life!!! By the way this flag is over 100 years old, it is from the Kreiger Vereins Cofferen. And on the one side it states, "With God for the King and Fatherland". Back then Kofferen started with the letter "C". It took Earl a while to find Kofferen.