2014150th Ann of 1st Croatian Volunteer Fire Dept - Sheetlets

In its long and rich history the people of Varaždin constantly had to fight against fires and the city authorities were continually working on improvement of fire protection. Thus, in 1747 the town got the fire protection statute, and in 1755 also the Fire Ordinance. The disastrous fire which took place on 25 April 1776 cost Varaždin the status of the capital of Croatia because from its 501 houses 385 were burnt down. And, learning from their bad experience, by May 1864 there gathered 156 citizens from Varaždin led by the same thought and wish that only a volunteer fire fighting organisation might be able to provide efficient protection form fire. At the meeting of the City Committee on 17 June 1864 a volunteer fire department was founded in Varaždin (First Croatian Volunteer Fire Department), only 18 years after the founding of the first volunteer fire department in Germany.
Instructions for the founding of an organised fire brigade were sent from Germany by Oton Mayer, a citizen of Varaždin. In Varaždin also the first collection of technical literature on fire protection was created and printed in our printing house. Mirko Kolarić and Ljudevit Heylman translated from German language into Croatian a Training Book which helped the training of firefighters. Since the town was under great Austrian and German influence, the Fire Department of Varaždin became a battlefield of fierce confrontation between the nationally and the foreign oriented citizens, i.e. the fight for Croatian language and Croatianism. Thus, in 1871 the citizens of Varaždin started an initiative to found the Union of Croatian fire departments. On 10 May 1874 for the first time the Union's minutes from the meeting was written in Croatian language.
It was in this Fire Department in 1876 that the first orders in Croatian language were given and that for the purpose of advancement of alarm service in 1883 telephone was introduced. The commander of the Varaždin firefighters Mirko Kolarić delivered to the bishop J. J. Strossmayer on the occasion of his visit to the town of Varaždin in 1877 a fire notification form in Croatian language. This move by Kolarić had a strong echo in the whole Croatia so that at that time also other fire departments began to give orders in Croatian and thus fully expulsed the German language from use in the field. A part of the members of the Volunteer Fire Department started in 1959 an initiative to found the professional fire department of the town of Varaždin.