Honorary CTIF member Adolf Schinnerl has passed away at the age of 85

Long term Honorary member of CTIF, Adolf Schinnerl from Austria passed away Tuesday August 28, 2024.  Mr Schinnerl has written countless valuable papers and has made an invaluable contribution to the firefighter community. Please find attached the obituary in English and German. 

Born 23th March 1939 in the Austrian village of Adnet, Adolf Schinnerl was already dedicated towards fire service. His grandfather was a  founding member, and his father was
deputy commander of the local voluntary fire brigade. 

Adolf joined in 1957, became administrator and warrant officer before he was elected commander in 1973. He held this position for 25 years until 1998 when he was appointed the title of honorary commander of the force and honorary member of his village.
 

Very early in his career Adolf took over administrative positions at provincial and national level. He was he first provincial head from 1978 till 1988 for the young fire fighters and also  dedicated into the national steering board of the federal fire brigade association. 

In addition to this, he was instrumental in building up this system all over the province of Salzburg.
 

Between 1978 and 2004 he was member of the provincial working group for “Law and Organisation” as well as the working group for public relations between 1984 and 2004.

Together with the former provincial fire brigade head Harald Ribitsch and the provincial public relations officer Karl Lindner he was the founder of the fire brigade journal “Der Salzburger Florian” in 1979, based on the example of his own village fire brigade journal.
 

Fire brigade history was his love 

To this matter he dedicated a big part of his life. He was co-author of the chronical of the provincial fire brigade association of Salzburg 100-year anniversary in 1981, which was followed by his chronical of the provincial fire brigade school in 1999, the 125-year anniversary of the association in 2006 and many more, setting a standard until today. 

He also did the 100-year anniversary chronical on his home fire brigade in 1993 giving an example followed by many.
 

Being member of the new founded working group for history and documentation on federal level in 1989, he became chairman of this group in 1997 (till 2006) and was appointed the rank “Brandrat” in this function.

In this year he was similarly appointed provincial head of fire brigade history (till 2004). One of the mayor projects in his area on federal level was publishing the “Handbook for fire brigade history” being the educational basis for fire service historians in Austria for many years.

To Adolf, the area of fire brigade ministry was a matter of his heart. Together with provincial fire brigade minister Dr. Raimund Sagmeister he initiated in 2002 the first nationwide meeting of this functions which resulted in the founding of the appropriate working group for pastoral care in the federal fire brigade association.  Dr. Sagmeister became the first head in 2006 and Adolf the administrator and note-taker until 2013.
 

Joined CTIF in 1994

Very important in his historical work was for Adolf an international cooperation across borders. Already in 1994, he joined the international study group for the history of fire service and fire protection in the CTIF, based in the Czech city of Přibyslav.

He was chairing this group together with the Czech colleagues Dr. Jaromir Tausch and Mgr. Stanislav Bárta from 1996 to 2012. In 2012 he was elected honorary chairman of the body.
 

Adolf Schinnerl was one of the founding members of the CTIF History Commission on 21th October 1998. 

The executive body of the CTIF appointed him this commission on 26 th April 2003. He was leading this group until 2007, when he was nominated honorary chairman of the history commission as well as honorary member of the CTIF.

Key point in his international efforts where the annual meetings of commission and study group, the joined work on important parts of the fire service history, being published in the annual conference transcripts. 

Especially these books became under his supervision a unique documentation and international comparison of historical fire brigade matters.
 

Between 1994 and 2023 he took part in 28 meetings and delivered 56 papers for the
transcripts.
 

For his merits in the area of fire service, Adolf Schinnerl was honoured with many
provincial, national and international decorations. The most important are:

-  Papal Knight-Cross of the order of St. Silvester
- Golden cross of merit of the province of Salzburg
- Badge of merit of the provincial fire brigade association of Salzburg 1st class
- Cross of merit of the Austrian fire brigade association
- Ribboned Honorary medal of the CTIF
- Various decorations of fire brigade associations from France, England, Germany,
Croatia, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czechia, Southern Tyrol, and
various Austrian provinces.

For his long-lasting duty on CTIF history boards Adolf was appointed on 11 th October 2023 the Honorary Cross in Gold of the federal German fire brigade association by its president.

Working on fire service history matters was Adolf’s goal nearly until the last minute. Be it as adviser, data source, author or archivist. Countless is the amount of the papers written by himself, and also countless is the number of papers he supported. 

And countless is the number of papers still to come – based on his books, articles and archive on fire service history which he is leaving to us in best order.

Adolf Schinnerl died on 27 th August 2024. He is leaving back his wife as well as three children. Our condolence is especially with them.
 

The Fire Service in Salzburg, Austria - as well as the international fire brigade community -  is
losing a comrade, serving the cause until his last breath. Honour to his memento.

For the

CTIF-Commission History of Fire Services and CTIF, Museums and Documentation,
International Study Group for the History of Fire Service and Fire Protection in the CTIF,

ÖBFV commission History, Documentation and Decorations
and Provincial fire brigade association of Salzburg

Gerald Schimpf BA
CTIF commission chairperson

Dr. Christian K. Fastl

ÖBFV commission chairperson & CTIF study group chairperson
Rupert Unterwurzacher & Carlo Vanzini MBA

Provincial fire brigade association of Salzburg speakers for fire brigade history