Large-scale fire drill successfully carried out at Küfner
On 18 September 2026, the Albstadt Fire Brigade’s Tailfingen unit, together with other emergency services, conducted an emergency drill at the Küfner company. The realistic scenario, involving a fire, heavy smoke and several missing persons, presented the emergency services with challenging tasks, which were handled professionally and efficiently.
The Albstadt Fire Brigade, Tailfingen Division, was alerted at 19:10 on 18 September 2026 with the code ‘F4_BMA_normal’ to the Küfner company premises at Im Rossental 87 via the integrated fire alarm system.
Upon the arrival of the Albstadt Fire Brigade’s firefighting unit – comprising a command vehicle, two rescue fire engines and an aerial ladder – the duty crew commander on site carried out a reconnaissance of the situation.
During the reconnaissance, the crew commander found the following situation: a fire in plant room 1 – one person is missing.
Fire service operations: Assessing the situation, commencing fire-fighting operations with a team wearing self-contained breathing apparatus. In addition, a team wearing self-contained breathing apparatus was deployed to rescue people; whilst these fire service operations were underway, the platoon commander was informed of further missing persons in the plant building.
This, in turn, prompted a further call-out to firefighters from the Tailfingen division with a TLF3000.
Furthermore, the fire brigade from the Ebingen division was also given a simulated call-out.
Due to the enormous amount of smoke and the open windows in the equipment building above, this led to heavy smoke filling that part of the building. According to initial information from the head of department, he was unsure whether all staff had left the building during the evacuation. Based on this information, the platoon commander ordered a search of the equipment building with additional personnel wearing breathing apparatus. During this operation, one person was found to be missing from the equipment building.
Due to the heavy smoke that developed when the fire broke out, the stairwell – which is designated as an escape and rescue route – also became filled with smoke through an open window and door in the meeting room on the first floor. Several members of staff from the Human Resources department were still in their office on the second floor. Escape via the stairwell was no longer possible due to the heavy smoke. In view of this situation, the fire officer ordered the rescue of the people from the second floor using the turntable ladder.
Fortunately, however, once all the necessary measures had been taken, it turned out to be nothing more than a realistic fire drill carried out by the fire brigade at Küfner.
Conclusion of the drill:
The situation on the ground was professionally assessed by the platoon commander, and the necessary measures were decided upon and implemented within a very short space of time.
At the end of the fire drill, Küfner invited the fire brigade to a light snack with drinks.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to everyone involved, in particular the Albstadt Fire Brigade and our fire safety officer, for the professional conduct of the drill and the excellent cooperation. Drills such as these make an important contribution to the safety of our staff and ensure we are fully prepared for any potential emergencies.
Further insights into the drill:
You can find photos and highlights from the fire drill on our Instagram channels @kuefner_albstadt and @team.kuefner. Further fascinating insights into the work of the Albstadt Fire Brigade can be found at @feuerwehr.stadtalbstadt.