It is a milestone in modern administration: Brandenburg’s fire services can now order their equipment online. From fire helmets to fire engines – everything is just a few clicks away. ‘A few clicks to a new fire engine,’ proudly announces the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government of the State of Brandenburg (MIK), as if it were a summer sale and not a serious emergency between smoke and reality.
What sounds like a small step for the IT department is supposed to be a giant leap for local government. Interior Minister René Wilke sees it as ‘relief for local authorities and less bureaucratic effort’ – a promise that sounds about as tempting in German offices as ‘Fire at will!’ at the annual general meeting.
There is no doubt that the advantages are evident.
Centralised procurement means pooling resources, legal certainty and economic synergy effects – words that sound efficient just reading them. The patchwork quilt of individual tenders is being replaced by an orderly, nationwide standard. This not only saves money, but also creates uniformity in equipment, which makes perfect sense in the event of a disaster. Brandenburg as a ‘national pioneer’, as the MIK proudly emphasises – this is not something you read often in this country, so it is something to be noted with a certain pride.
But progress has its downside.
Where standardisation is declared a virtue, there is a risk of losing local adaptability. A fire brigade in the Spreewald faces different challenges than one in the Uckermark – and yet both will be clicking through the same online menu in future. The digital ordering system takes the pressure off, yes, but it also takes away some of the control: those who rely on the standard equipment of the Central Police Service (ZDPol) have less scope for individual solutions and technical features that make a difference in practice.
And above all this hovers the quiet irony of the digital world: the fire of bureaucracy is to be extinguished – with even more technology. The efficiency of administration is celebrated, while digital dependence grows. A system failure, a software update, a server problem – and suddenly the virtual vehicle fleet comes to a standstill. The next alarm could then come not from the control centre, but from the data centre.
The conclusion remains ambivalent – like any reform that preaches efficiency and sacrifices diversity.
The Home Office’s online shop for fire engines is symbolic of an era in which public services are being moulded into forms and drop-down menus. Progress, undoubtedly. But progress that trades the smell of diesel for the scent of fresh bureaucracy.
Brandenburg’s fire brigades will therefore be able to extinguish fires online in future – at least symbolically. Whether the fire of enthusiasm will survive in practice remains to be seen as soon as the first browser crashes.
—- Maria Lehmen —-
