The Saarpfalz district has signed new cooperation agreements with three private companies and the district town of Homburg, which provide support in the event of crises or disasters with services that the district is unable to provide. Co-operation agreements were last signed five years ago, meaning that a total of 17 co-operation partners are now available.
A new addition is the company Oel Schneider, which will help the Saarpfalz district in the event of a crisis by providing special vehicles and their drivers as well as storage tanks for diesel fuel. The district town of Homburg will open its filling station at the building depot, which is supplied with emergency power, for refuelling the diesel vehicles of the aid organisations and other authorities involved in disaster control. Werner Schöndorf Speditionsgesellschaft will also provide its diesel refuelling station and diesel fuel in future. An agreement has been reached with the company Alois Omlor to provide bulk building materials (gravel and sand, etc.).
District Administrator Dr Theophil Gallo also emphasised this time: "It's better to have something we don't need than to need something we don't have." However, the strategy of the Lower Disaster Control Authority has already been tried and tested in practice. For example, during the flood disaster in the Ahr valley, the Saarpfalz district sent a 5,000-litre trailer with bulk drinking water and other pallets of mineral water to Rhineland-Palatinate via its cooperation partners.
Just a few hours after the above-mentioned contracts were signed by the managing directors, both new and existing contractual partners had to be called upon to help deal with the flood situation in the Saarpfalz district at Whitsun.
"In the event of a crisis or disaster, private companies fill a gap in necessary requirements for which only they can provide the capacities and products and enable us to call them up at short notice. Alongside aid organisations and volunteers, they are therefore an indispensable pillar in coping with emergencies. I would like to express my sincere thanks for the work they have already done and their willingness to cooperate," emphasised District Administrator Dr Theophil Gallo.