«Why do you only use white and not black training smoke?» This is a question asked by many course participants who prepare for deployment in our training tunnels. The simple answer is: White training smoke, when used correctly, is not harmful to health or the environment and is perfectly sufficient for our training goals. In this article, we explain the benefits of white training smoke and provide guidance on using smoke fluids for operational drills. 

Postponed twice - then the Interschutz finally got underway again. We were able to build on our attendance in 2015 and reached our target audience in Hannover again this year: Fire service supervisors, builders of tunnel facilities and other contacts for preparing for operations in underground transport systems.

After the major fires in road tunnels in 1999, the prevailing opinion was that fire services could do little about tunnel fires. Today, most fire services consider themselves well equipped for this task. Urs Kummer, CEO of the International Fire Academy, and Christian Brauner, head of the Didactics and Development Team, trace the development since 2001.

The instructors carefully observe their students in the training tunnel. They assess their level of education and give precise, short feedback after the joint reflection of each course unit. It is precisely this exchange that brings momentum to the training: The instructors respond individually to their students and at the same time, ensure a uniform training. This requires a clear training concept and regular readjustment.

Planning is the most important tool so that everything works as reliably as possible on our training facilities, in the classrooms and the entire infrastructure. Eight employees in the maintenance department take care of the many big and small tasks. Operations manager Markus Burger explains what happens backstage in Balsthal and Lungern.