The national organisational plan of emergency services aims to reach any location in the country within 15 minutes. But to achieve that, the Corps grand-ducal d'incendie et de secours (CGDIS) will need to recruit a large number of professional firefighters over the next years, starting this summer.
These are ambitious plans: "We're offering 60 jobs. 50 of them are new positions and 10 to replace retirements," explains Paul Schroeder, general director of the CGDIS, adding that they will need a total of "265 professional firefighters by 2065."
Since its creation in 2018, the CGDIS has recruited around 50 people annually and are currently employing 583 professional firefighters. Add to this 3,862 volunteer firefighters, as presented in the annual report for 2020 on Tuesday morning, for the first time ever at the new Centre national d'incendie et de secours on Ban de Gasperich, which will be fully operational at the end of the year.
Considering the increased needs and the limits of the local pool, recruitment will look beyond the borders. Candidates will need a high school degree and good general fitness, as well as knowledge of the three official languages of the country. Recruits will need to understand French, German and Luxembourgish (with English being a bonus), but do not require the Luxembourgish nationality. This opens up the positions to individuals with "a past firefighting career in another country of the EU," says Paul Schroeder.
During the first two campaigns, "we recruited some French and German candidates, but also 8 to 9 German-speaking Belgians from the Saint-Vith region", explains Claude Frantzen, administrative and financial director at the CGDIS.
The new recruitment campaign in Luxembourgish will launch on 112.lu on 1 July and last until the end of August. Applications are done on Govjobs.lu
The main objective is to have enough volunteer firefighters for the country's 100 safety and fire services, and enough professional firefighters to be available 24/7. They aim to reach 22% of professional firefighters improve arrival times of emergency services throughout the country and to have 37 ambulances available every day by 2023.
