The city is providing additional funds to cover the costs of the major operation in February
The city of Darmstadt is allocating €80,000 in additional budget funds to cover the costs of the fire brigade's operation at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research. The city council approved the supplementary funds for expenses incurred during the firefighting efforts on February 5th and 6th, 2026.
In addition to the Darmstadt professional fire brigade, emergency services from the disaster relief agency, the four volunteer fire brigades, and the German Red Cross were also deployed during the major incident. Support also came from external units, including the plant fire brigades of Fraport AG and Infraserv Wiesbaden, as well as the Ludwigshafen fire brigade.
Loss of earnings and deployment costs will be paid
Part of the costs were incurred by the employers of the members of Darmstadt's disaster relief units. They had released their employees for deployment and can claim the resulting loss of earnings or the costs of continued wage payments from the city.
Further expenses arose from necessary replacements for used or damaged equipment and from providing food for the emergency personnel.
Fire protection officer Paul Georg Wandrey once again thanked those involved for their efforts: "You have done an extraordinary job!" He also expressed his gratitude to the employers who had released their employees for the operation, even though this had an impact on their respective business operations.
(DARMSTADT – RED/PSD/stip)
