Inspired by a particular fire station in Vipiteno, this is a more general celebration of people’s delight in their local fire stations.
As we drove through Vipiteno we saw the Freiwillige Feuerwehr Sterzing, a fire station of such local eminence that it even has its own web site.
People round here love their fire stations. They give them splendid buildings on the main route through town and they equip them with large glassy doors so that everyone can admire the gleaming machinery.
They bring all the kit out for people to admire and they run fundraising events like sausage barbeques when there isn’t much firefighting to be done.
But the important thing about this entry is that it isn’t about the machinery or the people, it’s about the fire stations themselves. In the UK we tuck them away on side roads and we lock the machinery away from view behind mean little windows. In the Alps they are celebrities in their own right.
Just to make the point, here is Mr Google’s StreetView of the fire station in my home town of Bishop’s Stortford.
And here is the StreetView of the one in Vipiteno.
I rest my case. Another candidate for #kindnessandingenuity.