⭐ 3: A Fire Trumpet

The fire trumpet of Posavje region's oldest fire brigade

Since the establishment of the first fire brigades, the way firefighters are summoned for various interventions has changed considerably and is now completely different than in the past. In the late 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century, the means of informing firefighters included fire trumpets, which were used to let the fire brigade know there was a fire and to warn people about it.
The trumpets were succeeded first by hand-crank sirens and later by electrical ones. Nowadays, firefighters are notified of an intervention by means of a message sent to a mobile phone or a pager. Depending on the emergency situation, sirens on the roof of fire stations are also used. They are activated remotely by regional emergency notification centres (ReCO 112). The presented fire trumpet was used by the Krško Volunteer Fire Department, which is the oldest of its kind in the Posavje region and will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of its establishment later this year.

For heritage enthusiasts:

In Slovenia, firefighting has a long-established tradition. Fire brigades are one of the most important organisations in Slovenia and are societies with the largest number of members. A turning point for organised firefighting was in the 19th century, specifically in 1825, when the first Fire Rules in Slovenian were laid down. Just over four decades later, the first fire brigades – at the time called ‘fire brigades for prevention and extinguishing‘ – were established. The first fire brigade in Slovenia was founded in 1869 in the town of Metlika (the town boasts the Slovenian Fire Fighting Museum, established in 1969; in 2003, the museum was named after Dr. Branko Božič, a long-time chairman of the Fire Fighting Association of Slovenia and the initiator of the museum’s establishment). Two years after the Metlika fire brigade, the first fire brigade was established in the region of Posavje, i.e. in the town of Krško on 17 January 1871. It was founded on the initiative of Viljem Pfeifer (1842–1917), a provincial and state delegate and the mayor of Krško (1875–1894), who was named its first chief. The Krško Volunteer Fire Department is the oldest of its kind in the Posavje region and will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of its establishment later this year.

A portrait of Viljem Pfeifer (1842–1917), a provincial and state delegate, the founder and first fire chief of the Krško Volunteer Fire Department.	A firefighter’s helmet (Seitz Alois), circa 1900, sheet metal, leather, l.: 24.3 cm, h.: 19 cm, donated by Drago Škofljanec, Dolenje Skopice (Brežice), Inv. No.: E5733.

A map of volunteer fire departments in the Posavje region, published in the catalogue accompanying the exhibition ‘The Four Elements: 2 – Fire’.

The fire trumpet kept at the Posavje Museum Brežice was used by the Krško Volunteer Fire Department. The fire brigade’s trumpeters used it as a signalling device to warn of a fire. It was used only as a working trumpet, for alarm purposes and not as a musical instrument by the fire brigade’s brass band.
Franc Černelič, a specialist writer, researcher and expert on firefighting (as well as the first chair of the Krško Volunteer Fire Department), a member of the fire brigade in his home village of Podbočje (the Podbočje Volunteer Fire Department will be celebrating the 120th anniversary of its establishment later this year) and a winner of the highest firefighting award, the Matevž Hace Award, shared some invaluable information, including that firefighter trumpeters were either members of brass bands or part of the military. He also explained that cylindrical fire trumpets have two or a maximum of three basic notes. The longer the cylinder, the deeper and stronger the note. The presented fire trumpet has one basic note that is closest to the C.
To give warning of a fire, a trumpeter blew the trumpet three times in a row, producing a repetitive signal note, ending in a single long, level note. The trumpeter was always first instructed to give a warning. While doing so, he stood in the middle of the village, in the square, on an elevated ground or on top of a hill so that the sound could be heard even from far away.
If a fire brigade had more funds, the firefighter trumpeter had a designated trumpeter helmet; if this was not the case, he wore the same helmet as every other firefighter in the fire brigade, except for the fire chief. According to Petra Planinc, a senior curator at the Dr Branko Božič Slovenian Fire Fighting Museum in Metlika and an associate professional working with the Fire Fighting Association of Slovenia, the trumpet’s signalling sound could be heard at a distance of five thousand steps away.
At the Posavje Museum Brežice, the heritage of firefighting and fire brigades in the Posavje region has been presented since 2018 as part of the multidisciplinary exhibition ‘The Four Elements: 2 – Fire’, which is on view on the second floor.
 

For more information see:

• Baš Angelos (ur.): Slovenski etnološki leksikon, Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 2004, str. 139–140.
• Božič Branko: Razvoj gasilstva na Slovenskem, Ljubljana: Gasilska zveza Slovenije, 1968, str. 259.
• Božič Branko: Gasilstvo na Slovenskem do leta 1963, Ljubljana: Gasilska zveza Slovenije, 1998, str. 266.
• Černelič Krošelj Alenka (ur.): Štirje elementi: 2 – OGENJ / The four elements: 2 – FIRE, , Brežice: Posavski muzej Brežice, 2018.
• Černelič Franc (ur.): 100 let Prostovoljnega gasilskega društva Podbočje 1901–2001, Podbočje: Prostovoljno gasilsko društvo Podbočje, 2001, str. 28.
• Dular Jože: Metliški gasilci: sto let najstarejšega gasilskega društva na Slovenskem, Metlika: Gasilsko društvo v Metliki, 1969, str. 115.
• Koman Leo (za ur. odbor): Stoletnica gasilstva v Krškem, Krško: Občinska gasilska zveza Krško, str. 36.
• Šribar Slavko (ur.): 120-letnica gasilskega društva in gasilstva v Krškem: 15. september 1991, Krško: Gasilsko društvo Krško, str. 32.

Prepared by: Stanka Glogovič
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