Christoph Risse, the chief fire officer, has been a firefighter for 20 years. He describes it as “a childhood fantasy” to put out fires while also saving humans and animals. Loves his work, Risse. He’s furious right now though!

Concerning alleged exploitation of emergency calls in Essen by climate activists to push for increased climate protection. The fun ends there, I’m afraid. That puts human life in jeopardy, “cracks BILD am SONNTAG.

On Wednesday night about 8:00, everything began. The “nora” app, which was created for the deaf, was used to make the first emergency call to the control center. There has been a reported gas leak. Police and 20 firefighters rushed there while their lights flashed. However, nothing was present.

As an alternative, the app texted the control center with the following message: “You believed it was an emergency, but the real emergency – the impending climate catastrophe that will kill millions of people – is being persistently neglected by our government. We’ll keep up this sort of protest until our federal government passes sensible climate change legislation.

The second emergency call came shortly after: a person was covered in blood. Still nothing. Additional such emergency calls should result in a second gas leak and an armed robbery.

The professional fire brigade’s spokesman, Christoph Riss, who began with the volunteer fire brigade and advanced to that position, is incensed: “For us, an emergency call means that we arm ourselves under pressure, wonder if lives are in danger, and with man and mouse, drive through the city with flashing lights and sirens.”

Just that poses a risk to both the rescuers and other drivers. And: “One can only attribute it to chance that, for instance, a crucial apartment fire posing a threat to human lives did not occur at the same time.”

In the greatest terms possible, we condemn the acts, stated Riß.

Are actual climate activists responsible for this? Or does someone intend for their acts to undermine the movement? “Initial investigations uncovered concrete proof that it is actually a gang of self-declared environmental activists from southern Germany,” said police spokesperson Matthias Werk (30).

In Baden-Württemberg, there were incidents where letters of confession were involved. State security is looking into it. The maximum prison term for abusing an emergency call is one year.