Right on time at 8 a.m. with the alarm gong, the head of the fire department, Arne Sicks, welcomes the employees of the Salzgitter professional fire department. The large number of people present gave an idea of the special nature of this ceremony.

The schedule included the promotion of three colleagues. Stefan Fricke was promoted to Chief Fire Officer, Detlef Maushake to Chief Fire Officer with official allowance and Torsten Preuß to Fire Chief. Mayor Frank Klingebiel took the opportunity to carry out these promotions himself.

Of course, promotions are always a positive event, but everyone involved was aware that one of today's promotions was something very special.

A color change from silver to gold rank insignia is a very rare event. The signal sent out by the appointment of Torsten Preuß as a fire councillor is an important building block in the realignment of the Salzgitter professional fire department. A new organizational structure was implemented in the fire department back in September 2023, and with it a new deputy department head. "Some of the responsibilities and assignments have changed. However, the proven flat organizational structure will be retained in order to be able to implement processes and decisions quickly and to further modernize the specialist service. We have already made a great deal of progress in the last six months," says Fire Service Director Arne Sicks. Torsten Preuß took on the role of deputy on an interim basis at the time, but has now been appointed as the official deputy head of the specialist service with effect from 01.03.2024 and promoted to fire officer. Torsten Preuß succeeds Mr. Martin Mann in this role.

The positive changes resulting from the realignment are already noticeable. Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel expressly praised the initial successes of the initiated processes and wished Arne Sicks and Torsten Preuß continued good luck. Eric Neiseke, in his role as head of the fire protection department, emphasized that it is also important to look at the attractiveness of the management service. In addition to the recruitment of emergency personnel for the watch departments, the recruitment of young firefighters is an important task for the reorganization of the Salzgitter professional fire department.