Wichtiger Hinweis
Disaster drills with 800 people
Stand: 11.06.2025
A cargo plane crashed over the city center: major fire, hazardous goods accident and dozens injured.
On Saturday, May 10, the city of Erlangen carried out a large-scale disaster control exercise involving around 800 full-time and volunteer emergency services. Under the title "Löwenzahn" ("Dandelion"), a cargo plane was assumed to have crashed over the city center. In total, the largest exercise of its kind in the last ten years lasted around four hours.
In detail, the script provided for the following: The crash occurred in the area of the former Siemens site in Mitte, on Werner-von-Siemens-Straße. Parts of the "blue tower block" were severely damaged. The upper floors of the adjacent office building ("Bingelhaus") were in flames. And in a fictitious chemical plant in Pfälzer Strasse, the crashed aircraft tail damaged several containers with hazardous goods. The aircraft cockpit itself crashed onto cars at the entrance to an underground parking garage (Sophienstraße).
Some of the 100 injured actors and actresses were admitted to the emergency rooms of the University Hospital and the Waldkrankenhaus. Both hospitals took part in the exercise and "acted" until the patients were actually treated. This means that a treatment plan was drawn up for each patient.
Meanwhile, the disaster control structures were being set up in the background after Mayor Jörg Volleth formally declared a disaster situation. To this end, the civil protection management group staffed by the city administration and, for example, the citizens' telephone were alerted and staffed. Due to the exercise, however, the employees concerned were already in the relevant premises.
The Engelhardt Real Estate Group made the vacant "Mitte" location on Werner-von-Siemens-Straße available for the exercise. The City of Erlangen would like to express its thanks for this excellent training opportunity.
A group of around 30 guests, including Lord Mayor Florian Janik and Bavaria's Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann, was given a guided tour of the individual areas and detailed information by Friedhelm Weidinger, Head of the City's Fire and Civil Protection Department. He and Klaus Menzner, Head of Civil Protection, were instrumental and in charge of the preparations for "Löwenzahn".
At a closing event, the Lord Mayor thanked all those involved for this "fantastic achievement, both full-time and above all on a voluntary basis for the safety of our city. We can all be very proud of you.
There is also a report in the city newspaper "Rathausplatz 1" - June 2025 issue.
Questions and answers about the exercise
The interaction of all authorities and organizations involved in disaster control under the leadership of the City of Erlangen as the disaster control authority must be practiced again and again. So-called staff exercises are held annually in Erlangen on a smaller scale. During these exercises, only the disaster control command group and the local emergency management team come together to work through a fictitious scenario, i.e. without real emergency personnel on site. Further information here: www.feuerwehr-erlangen.de/katastrophenschutz
Even if this plane crash sounds strange, municipal disaster control has to face such challenges. "Prepare for the impossible" is the motto - and has been for many years in the Huguenot city.
Traditionally, the last full-scale disaster control exercises have already had flower names, such as "Edelweiss" in 2014. The name "Dandelion" was based on the dandelion "flying flower" because of the plane crash incident.
The surrounding residents were sent an information letter at the end of April. In it, the city asked for understanding for the exercise, which lasted several hours, and any restrictions. In general, information about traffic obstructions around the "damage area" was provided at the beginning of May via a press release, the erlangen.de website and social media channels.
Fire and rescue services were provided separately for real operations. They were not part of the disaster control exercise. This would have ensured rapid intervention in real emergencies at all times.
- City administration:
Disaster management group (FüGK) and communication group (KomFü) as well as citizens' telephone: 45 people - Fire department (Office for Fire and Disaster Protection of the city):
Permanent watch (full-time personnel), all 13 volunteer fire departments and Siemens plant fire department: 300 personnel - Rescue and medical services:
Bavarian Red Cross (BRK) with 210, Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB) with 40, Deutsche Lebensrettungsgesellschaft (DLRG) Erlangen and Dechsendorf with 31 personnel - Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW; Erlangen branch of the Federal Agency) with 21 people
- Erlangen City Police Department (road closures and specialist advice in the police stations) with 10 people
- University Hospital (emergency room) with 20 employees
- Waldkrankenhaus St. Marien (emergency room) with 12 employees
- Emergency pastoral care with 5 people
- Injury actors/mimes (100 people)
- Integrated control center Nuremberg ("alerting" of the emergency services and as specialist advisors in the staffs) 5 people.
A total of 120 emergency vehicles from all authorities and organizations were deployed.
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Office for Fire and Disaster Protection
Head of office: Friedhelm Weidinger
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