In 2022, the crews of Ochotnicza Straż Pożarna in Trzebień responded to rescue and firefighting operations 129 times:

  • 68 fires,
  • 58 local hazards,
  • 3 false alarms.
View photo: OSP Trzebień operations View photo: OSP Trzebień operations View photo: OSP Trzebień operations

The firefighters:

This is another, already the 5th year in which our unit has not recorded a single failure to respond to an incident despite being dispatched!

The following most frequently took part in operations:

  • Paweł Szymczyk – 82 times
  • Adrian Tabor – 79 times
  • Patryk Dudkiewicz – 65 times
  • Bartłomiej Jarus – 62 times
  • Ireneusz Tabor – 59 times
  • Jakub Nenkin – 52 times
  • Bogusław Polańczyk – 51 times
  • Jarosław Nenkin – 48 times
  • Henryk Witnik – 47 times
  • Patryk Miszko – 43 times.

The firefighters:

Thanks to financial support from many institutions, as well as donations from the 1% of income tax scheme, the following purchases were made for our unit:

  1. Purchase of a SEGWAY AT6L EPS rescue quad bike on a transport trailer with equipment – worth PLN 59,500.00, financed from:
    • a grant from the Ministry of the Interior and Administration under the “We Vaccinate with the Volunteer Fire Service” programme – PLN 44,060.00,
    • the unit’s own funds – PLN 15,440.00;
  2. Purchase of personal protective equipment for firefighters and rescue equipment – worth PLN 16,452.00, financed from:
    • a grant from the Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Wrocław under the “Little Firefighter” programme – PLN 16,300.00,
    • the unit’s own funds – PLN 152.00;
  3. Purchase of IT equipment for use during training for our Youth Fire Brigade, worth PLN 6,647.00, financed from:
    • the YFB grant – PLN 6,486.00,
    • the unit’s own funds – PLN 161.00;
  4. Purchase of a medium rescue and firefighting vehicle with 4x4 drive on a MAN 13.290 chassis, worth PLN 1,143,937.00. It was financed from the following sources:
    • a targeted grant from Gmina Bolesławiec – PLN 685,437.00,
    • funding from Państwowa Straż Pożarna from insurance contributions (...) – PLN 312,500.00,
    • funding under the public task entitled “Ensuring the operational readiness of a fire protection unit included in the national rescue and firefighting system” – PLN 137,500.00,
    • a donation from Nadleśnictwo Bolesławiec, Lasy Państwowe – PLN 2,500.00,
    • a donation from Nadleśnictwo Świętoszów – PLN 2,000.00,
    • the unit’s own funds – PLN 4,000.00.

They also emphasize:

This task was made possible thanks to the understanding of, among others:
  • the councillors of the Bolesławiec Municipal Council, who provided budgetary support for the task, for which we sincerely thank you;
  • the authorities of Gmina Bolesławiec, headed by Mayor Andrzej Dutkowski and Deputy Mayor Roman Jaworski, together with the employees involved in implementing the project, for which we also thank you;
  • the Commander of the Bolesławiec County Headquarters of Państwowa Straż Pożarna, Senior Brigadier Andrzej Śliwowski, who supported and actively sought to have our unit included on the grant list, and then helped coordinate the project’s implementation;
  • the forest districts: Bolesławiec, headed by Forest District Manager Arkadiusz Sudoł, and Świętoszów, headed by Forest District Manager Mariusz Huzarski, for the financial donations towards purchasing the vehicle.

    Thank you very much.

President of the OSP Trzebień Board:

Furthermore, in June 2022 we welcomed a GBM 3/16 vehicle on a Star 266 chassis at our fire station. Since 2019, after being transferred free of charge to our unit by the Bolesławiec County Headquarters of Państwowa Straż Pożarna, this vehicle had been loaned by us to OSP Stare Jaroszowice because that unit did not have any rescue and firefighting vehicle.

It turned out that having a second rescue and firefighting vehicle was essential for our unit. Over a period of three months, this vehicle took part in extinguishing 33 fires, particularly forest and agricultural waste fires. I can confirm that, in the opinion of the young firefighter drivers in our unit, it is a vehicle that is “indestructible”. It will go anywhere, and most importantly, it will get back out.

In December, we were also given a Mitsubishi L 200 light reconnaissance and rescue vehicle free of charge by the Bolesławiec County Headquarters of Państwowa Straż Pożarna. This vehicle replaced the older Nissan Navara 2.5 DCI we had previously used. The newly acquired vehicle will be used to transport the trailers with our rescue boat and rescue quad bike.

But that is not all when it comes to new equipment and facilities for our unit. Thanks to the efforts of the authorities of Gmina Bolesławiec and the approval of the Bolesławiec Municipal Council, after an application for support under the “Polish Deal” was submitted, Gmina Bolesławiec was awarded a PLN 2,400,000.00 grant from the Government Polish Deal Strategic Investment Programme for the project entitled “Extension of the OSP building in the village of Trzebień and purchase of a fire engine”.

As a result of the tender procedure, a company was selected to carry out the task. Under the contract signed with the contractor, our fire station will be extended and renovated, which makes us very happy. At last, we will have proper sanitary facilities, the fire station rooms will meet building and sanitary regulations, and above all, we will have a training room where we can train our youngest members: children and young people from our Youth Fire Brigade. We will also receive a new, much-needed second medium rescue and firefighting vehicle. Given the considerable distance from other fire protection units, it is simply essential for us.

Construction work is under way.

The total value of the task covered by the grant is PLN 3,758,880.00, of which PLN 2,400,000.00 is funding from the “Polish Deal”, while PLN 1,358,880.00 constitutes the task’s own contribution, secured by Gmina Bolesławiec.

The planned completion and acceptance of the task is scheduled for April 2023. In May, we plan to organize a formal handover of the “new” fire station and new vehicles, about which we will keep you informed.

And adds:

We also helped, which has probably been our hallmark for many years, in various aid campaigns:

  1. In February and March, we collected scrap metal and organized a cake sale for the unfortunately now little angel Julcia Faltyn. Thanks to your donations and help, we collected and transferred a total of PLN 11,386.30 to the appropriate account:
    • scrap metal collection – PLN 2,910.00
    • cake sale – PLN 8,476.30 and EUR 10.
    Thank you to everyone who took part in the scrap metal collection and organized the cake sale.
  2. Alongside the collection for Julcia, from 27 February to 30 April 2022, we operated a support centre for war refugees from Ukraine in Trzebień, located at the “Jarzębina” Community Centre in Trzebień, at 5 Lipowa Street.

We gave this address out extremely often to our friends from Ukraine. Many families received help. In turn, we had the opportunity to learn some basic Ukrainian phrases. When it was not possible to communicate verbally, we helped each other manually or with the aid of technology – see: a translator. But I think each of us will remember most vividly the dramatic stories of refugees who sometimes escaped certain death at the last moment. We hope that everyone who visited our centre was satisfied with our assistance. In addition to distributing the most essential items to people arriving here, we sent various materials to other aid centres in our county and beyond, as well as directly to areas affected by the war in Ukraine.

For help with this project, we would like to thank the Leben helfen Leben e.V. Foundation, headed by Ms Magdalena Kunze. It was thanks to their campaign and their weekly transports of clothing, food, dressings, household and personal cleaning products, and even toys and school supplies for the youngest children that we were able to carry out our mission.

We thank the authorities and employees of Gmina Bolesławiec and Gminny Ośrodek Kultury i Sportu w Bolesławcu zs. w Kruszynie for making almost the entire Community Centre available for aid activities. Fortunately, we damaged nothing and returned all the rooms in their original condition.

We also thank the management and employees of our shops in Trzebień for allowing collection baskets to be placed there.

We thank you all for putting various food and hygiene products into these baskets, thanks to which our guests could experience a small taste of their own homes.

We would also like to thank the companies from Trzebień:

  • Nawara Serwis and its employees, and above all its owners, Ms Marzena and Mr Rafał, for logistical assistance with the entire undertaking. Ms Marzena also worked continuously at our centre from the very beginning of its establishment – once again, thank you very much, Marzenko;
  • TEXTIL BOLESŁAWIEC Sp. z o.o., based in Trzebień, for donating quilts and pillows, which we passed on to refugees;
  • PPHU IRPOL Irena Śliczna, also for logistical assistance with operating the centre.

For my part, I would like to thank all the Volunteer Fire Service women and men from OSP Trzebień involved in providing help, as well as their families and friends and the residents of Trzebień. It is impossible to name you all without leaving someone out. There were so many of you. Once again, you have shown what valuable people you are. You help not only during rescue and firefighting operations, but above all in everyday life.