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State Fire-Brigade Federation Vorarlberg (Austria)

Landesfeuerwehrverband Vorarlberg

by M. Schmöger, 2 October 2007

The organization

There are umbrella organizations on district, state and federal level. The organization on the federal level is the Österreichischer Bundesfeuerwehrverband (Austrian Federal Fire-Brigade Federation), the state level organizations are called Landesfeuerwehrverband (State Fire-Brigade Federation).

The symbol

The symbol commonly used by the Austrian fire brigades is a shield-shaped emblem:
Gules, a bend sinister Argent, over all a cogwheel Or under a torch Or, all surrounded by a bordure Or.

According to http://www.bundesfeuerwehrverband.at/oebfv/index.php?id=172:
"Das 1970 geschaffene Korpsabzeichen symbolisiert die Tätigkeit der Feuerwehr: Die Flamme als Zeichen der Brandbekämpfung und das Zahnrad als Zeichen des technischen Einsatzes im Dienst des österreichischen Volkes, was durch den rot-weiß-roten Wappengrund ausgedrückt wird."
("The corps emblem created 1970 symbolizes the occupation of the fire-brigade: the flame as a sign of firefighting and the cogwheel as a sign of the technical mission in the service of the Austrian people, the latter symbolized by the red-white-red field of the shield.")

Image sources for the emblem:
http://www.bundesfeuerwehrverband.at/
http://www.oebfv.at/catalog/images/produktbilder/04-099.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Korpsabzeichen-FFOE.jpg

The flag

The Bundesfeuerwehrverband and the Landesfeuerwehrverbände use flags of a common pattern, namely the national flag or the state flags, respectively (in this case the Vorarlberg colours red-white), charged with the fire-brigade symbol. These are, as far as I know, only used as vertical, hanging flags.
Image source:
http://www.koblach.at/veranstaltungen/image/100%20Jahre%20Feuerwehr3%202005.jpg

M. Schmöger, 2 October 2007 / 9 October 2007

See also: