East Meadow junior firefighter had ‘unforgettable’ time in Germany

Gabriella Koch, a junior firefighter in the East Meadow Fire Department, recently traveled to Germany with 30 other juniors from fire departments across Nassau County — where they learned about German firefighting and culture.

Koch, 17, a senior at East Meadow High School, has been a member of the junior firefighters since she was 14.

In Germany, the juniors took part in a week of training and cultural immersion in German firefighting, funded by the German government, which oversees all of the country’s fire departments. Jerry Presta, chairman of the Nassau County Junior Firefighters Association, organized the trip.

Koch told the Herald she joined the East Meadow juniors’ organization because her stepfather is in the fire department.

“I saw how he was assisting people in the medical field, and then he moved onto the fire side, and I realized that I also wanted to do that,” she said.

Planning for the Germany trip began in 2018, when firefighters from Lower Saxony, a state in northwest Germany, contacted the Fire Association of the State of New York about connecting teens that take part in German juniors programs with those in the United States. The following year, teens from Germany traveled to New York for Camp Fahrenheit — a weeklong program for county juniors, including daylong drills at the Nassau County Fire Service Academy in Old Bethpage.

Nassau County juniors planned to travel to Germany in 2020 and 2022, but their plans were delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic and, later, the war in Ukraine. The trip came to fruition this year, and on Aug. 16, the group of juniors departed from Kennedy Airport in Queens for their German excursion, alongside leaders from Nassau’s junior firefighter association. They returned home on Aug. 24.

Koch first learned about the trip a year ago, she said, and was given official word that she’d be going eight months ago.

Koch said the Nassau County juniors learned about wildfires in Germany, and the different types of hoses and nozzles used to fight them. They also visited a heavy technical rescue unit, which helped them improve their communication skills with each other, took a trip to a military airfield, where the fire department in Germany showed them how to approach issues on runways, learned how to receive water from rivers and went on a fire boat.

In addition, they visited a parliament building, learning about drones, police fire trucks and more, became acquainted with the German dispatching system, and took part in a closing ceremony, where they were presented pins for their accomplishment.

Aside from learning about firefighting in Germany, the juniors also learned about history, and took a tour of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

The team from Nassau County had to overcome a few obstacles on their trip, including a language barrier.

“There was a huge language barrier between us,” Koch said. “We realized on our first day that there were major communication barriers. But over time, we taught the German juniors some English, they taught us some German, so that helped a lot. It was a very interesting experience.”

Koch said the juniors also learned about the difference in American firefighting techniques, versus German ones.

“We saw the difference between our fire ways and their fire ways, and how we approach certain things,” she explained. “Their fire hydrants are actually underground, so they have different attachments to connect them with each other.”

The juniors flew into the city of Frankfurt, and then Hanover, and stayed in the town of Baddeckenstedt, where they slept in an area that was designated for them in a school. They ate mostly German cuisine, and were given opportunities to explore the area and immerse themselves in German culture.

Koch was the only junior firefighter from East Meadow who went on the trip, and said she knew a few other peers before they embarked. Despite not knowing most of the people on the trip, she said they all very quickly became friends and bonded over the amazing experience.

The German junior firefighters plan to visit Nassau County next summer, and Koch said they’re all looking forward to seeing each other again. “They’re very excited to come here next summer,” she said of the German juniors.

The experience was something Koch said she would never forget. “Overall, the friendships that I made and the experience I had was amazing, and will be unforgettable,” she said.