Putting out an outbuilding fire. [dátum, helyszín]
The Csongrád-Csanád County Fire Association and the Ruzsa municipality are behind us, and about 10 million forints (≈ €25,000) is in place. That buys an old, basic engine. A reliable one costs more, and every euro you add brings it closer. It is the engine we will take out on our days off whenever there is trouble.
Most of our active members serve as professionals at the Ruzsa station or in Szeged. On their days off they keep their phones on: when the alarm goes, they come.
Hungarian fire protection stands on three legs: the state professional service, municipal fire brigades and volunteer associations like ours. If the volunteer leg gives way, the stool tips over. In Ruzsa we share one fire station with the professional unit, and our job is to bring the water. Out among the scattered farmsteads there are no hydrants, so all you have is what is in the tank.
At work: after an outbuilding fire
Photos: members of the brigade. [képaláírások: dátum, helyszín — egyeztetendő]
For more than 30 years, since 1995, this has been our only fire engine: a 1965 Magirus-Deutz that came to us from Germany. Our members keep it running themselves. They weld the tank and hunt down parts abroad, yet every year it spends longer off the road. While it stands in the station, we cannot turn out, and the area has one deployable fire engine fewer.
Each time, our members got it running again on their own, but a 61‑year‑old fire engine can only be patched up for so long.
The bars show the share of each year lost. Source: the brigade's annual reports. 2023–2025: [adatok az elnökségtől]
We came close.
The “Ruzsa 1” engine was due to come to us. Then, by bad luck, it was badly damaged in 2024 in an accident on its way to an emergency, and our chance went with it.
So we have to find another one now: a sound, used fire engine of a kind our members know and can repair.
Two supporters have already stepped in: a grant through the Csongrád-Csanád County Fire Association (Csongrád-Csanád Megyei Tűzoltószövetség) and our municipality's own share add up to about 10 million forints (≈ €25,000) for a used, all-wheel-drive fire engine. That buys an engine that can turn out, though an older one with a smaller tank, and it leaves almost nothing for equipment. Each further million forints (≈ €2,500) takes us one step up the ladder below.
Amounts in Hungarian forints; 1 M Ft ≈ €2,500. [a 10 M előre kitöltve csak a szövetség írásos visszaigazolása után]
A used, all-wheel-drive fire engine that can turn out. It will be an older one with a tank of about 2,500 litres, and almost nothing will be left for equipment.
A reserve for registration in Hungary and an inspection, plus hoses, nozzles and basic kit. Fire engines from abroad are often sold empty, so this step pays for what makes one deployable.
A vehicle from the 2000s, with fewer kilometres and its papers in order. It is less likely to stand idle for months, as the old one did for 163 days in 2022.
A tank of 4,000–5,000 litres. There are no hydrants out on the farms, so a bigger tank means fewer trips to refill and more water on the fire.
A younger, well-kept municipal vehicle with a 4,000–5,000-litre tank, a nine-seat crew cab and full equipment, plus a reserve for repairs.
Protective gear, spare parts and the first years of running costs, so that fuel and insurance bills do not keep the new fire engine in the station.
The steps show vehicle categories rather than a specific advert. The actual fire engine depends on what is for sale and on a technical inspection, and we will report on the choice openly.
A total that lands between two steps still counts, because every extra forint goes into a better vehicle or more equipment.
[reprezentatív fotók a lépcsőkhöz — partnertűzoltóságoktól, engedéllyel; élő hirdetés képe soha]
Purpose of the appeal: buying, preparing and equipping a new fire engine operated by the brigade; anything left over goes to its first years of running costs. Under the terms of the grant the vehicle is owned by the County Fire Association for five years and operated by the brigade. We report publicly on every forint. [célmeghatározás — könyvelő jóváhagyja]
Whether you live in Hungary or abroad, one transfer or one share puts you on our next call-out. We report publicly on every forint and every euro.
[Farkas Tamás elnök fotója és 2–3 mondata — ő a kampány arca, megerősítendő]
Transfer any amount to the brigade's account. Please use the reference FECSKENDO (“fire engine”) so that we can book every euro to this purpose.
[könyvelővel: külföldi utalás közleménye]
[EPC QR-kód (SEPA, euró) — az IBAN megerősítése után]
Pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay on a secure payment page.
[fizetési link — Stripe, elnökségi döntés]
If your brigade is replacing hoses, nozzles or protective gear, your old kit in good condition helps us as much as money. German brigades have sent us equipment this way before.
[ki fogadja a felajánlásokat — kapcsolattartó]
Wherever your company is based, you can help with money, fuel, spare parts or expertise. With your consent, we thank our supporters by name.
Our association does not have public-benefit status, so we cannot issue a tax-deductible receipt; we do issue a confirmation of the donation. [szöveg — könyvelővel]
Follow and share our Facebook page. If you share it, people we could never reach on our own will hear about us.
As a thank-you, your name rides with us too: see the supporters' plaque ↓
With your consent, we put your name on the supporters' plaque in the crew cab of the new fire engine, whatever the amount, and it goes with us to every alarm. After the handover we invite our supporters to an open day with a fire-safety demonstration, as our thank-you.
This is only a preview: the name is not sent or stored anywhere.
The plaque design is an illustration; the sample names are invented. “Köszönjük!” is Hungarian for “Thank you!”. We put no advertising on the outside of the vehicle. [tábla helye — HTP; a szövetség hozzájárulása, mert az autó az övé]
We always ask for separate consent before publishing a name. Logo placement only under a sponsorship agreement, against an invoice. [összeghatárok euróban — elnökség]
The brigade was founded in the summer of 1950 and has worked without a break ever since. From the hand pump to the Magirus, the village and our members raised the money for every piece of equipment we have.
Help keeps coming from abroad. Our German comrades in Großhaslach and Petersaurach support us with equipment, and the Magirus itself came from Germany. Equipment cannot stand in for the fire engine, though, and the engine is what we now have to raise the money for.
For 76 years we have turned out when there is trouble in Ruzsa and the villages around it. We have the skills and the will to keep going, and two supporters have stepped in. The engine we ride in next depends on you as well.