While many spent Christmas Day with family and friends, essential services including police, hospital staff, and employees of the Grand Ducal Fire and Rescue Corps (CGDIS) remained on duty. On this special day, our colleagues from RTL Télé visited the teams at the CGDIS National Operations Centre.
On Thursday morning, eight staff were on shift at the centre to assist citizens in distress – though, as is typical, not every call constituted a dire emergency. For them, it was largely another day at the emergency call centre.
The day began quietly, following three overnight fires – including one in a garden shed shortly before the morning shift commenced.
Professional firefighter Maggie Bourscheid explained the shift-handover protocol: to prevent night-shift crews from staying late for cleanup, the morning team communicates with them to take over as many tasks as possible, allowing the overnight staff to shower and depart once an intervention is complete.
According to Serge Muller, team leader at the Luxembourg City Rescue and Intervention Centre (CIS), the centre handles an average of 50 to 60 interventions daily.
Tom Michelis, in charge of the emergency call centre, outlined the despatchers’ priority questions: first, the location of the incident, then, what happened, the number of injured, and the nature of their injuries. This information ensures the appropriate teams are despatched.
On this public holiday, Christophe Betz of the Luxembourg City professional fire brigade undertook a special mission: cooking a festive meal for his on-shift colleagues and the Emergency Medical Assistance Team (SAMU).
Betz detailed the menu as chicken wings with three sauces and potato wedges, prepared for an average of 25 people. This included both the professional firefighters on duty and the on-call SAMU personnel.
However, most of the team missed out on the traditional Bûche de Noël (Yule log). The pace of operations increased considerably in the early afternoon. For rescue services, it is the emergency gong that dictates the rhythm, and Christmas was celebrated as best as possible in the intervals between calls.
