Newport, Cincinnati firefighters find home away from home in Munich firehouse

For two weeks in Munich, Germany, this summer, a Newport and Cincinnati firefighter was just part of the crew.

Newport firefighter Chris Holmes and Cincinnati firefighter Kurt Baker traveled overseas to Munich from June 25 to July 10 to participate in a firefighter exchange. The pair participated in daily firefighter life at the Munich Fire Department or “Münchener Feuerwehr” training, learning and exploring with its firefighters.

This is the first time that Newport and Cincinnati departments have sent people over for an exchange.

“This world is pretty big, but through this experience, it made the world a lot smaller,” Baker said. “Our actions definitely have an impact on the rest of the world, as Americans, and just getting to know other people’s perspectives has opened my eyes and ears to really having a heart for not only us as United States citizens, but more so the world as a whole.”

The firefighter exchange program between the Newport and Cincinnati Fire Departments and Munich began with the Munich Fire Department sending people over to the region in 2019, 2022 and 2024. The Munich Sister City Association of Greater Cincinnati helped to facilitate the exchange.

Munich and Cincinnati are considered “sister cities.” That means there is a long-term partnership between the two cities established to promote cultural and commercial exchange and understanding. 

Former Newport firefighter Chuck Dietz helped start the program. Dietz, who retired from the Newport Fire Department in 2018, began his fire career in 1979 and still works part-time as the assistant chief at the Crescent Springs Villa Hills Fire Department.

“For quite a bit of time, there has been a lot of [exchange] on the admin side,” Dietz said. “There’s been a teacher exchange, there’s been a student exchange, there’s been a lawyer exchange, there’s been a city government exchange. The police had a pretty good exchange program going for a while [but not fire.] If you’re going to be a sister city, doing these kinds of things is not only a learning experience, but it’s also more than saying, ‘Hey, we’re the sister city.’”

Dietz, Baker and Holmes all said they believed this firefighter exchange program is unique to the region and possibly even the country.

Holmes said when Newport hosted the Munich firefighters, they acted as on-shift firefighters and did everything they did except go into live fires with them. When Holmes and Baker traveled to Germany, they were fully integrated with the shifts.

He said they acted as extra people on the fire engines. They woke up, had breakfast with the Munich firefighters, and did their daily routine shift work like any other personnel.

“The firehouse culture, I was surprised to see that it is almost identical to what it is over here in the States,” Holmes said.

While he said the language and culture differences were apparent, how they operate in the firehouse was identical.

“How we operate in the firehouse, how we share meals, train together, take pride in our department, our stations, and really like to have a little bit of fun with each other, as far as making fun of each other and having a great time [was the same],” he said.  

One of the differences Holmes noticed, aside from the lack of air conditioning in the department, is that firefighters in Munich must be trained in another profession, like a mechanic or carpenter, before they can become firefighters. Holmes said he talked to someone who was an optometrist previously and another person who was in school to be a doctor.

Another difference he pointed out was that ambulances had paramedics on them, but some stations have ambulances with a doctor or pediatrician on them.

Baker said that at the root of firefighting, many aspects were also fundamentally similar. The difference over there that he pointed out was the condensed population and the construction of their buildings being concrete.

He said this was caused by Munich being heavily bombed during World War II.

“There was a lot of cross history, so that was at first a little uncomfortable because a lot of their history was bombed, but after really getting to know the guys and the crews over there, they were like, things could have been a whole lot different had these buildings not been bombed,” Baker said. “There are two sides to every point, and that perspective was really nice to know. Like, ‘Hey, it’s not you destroyed all of our history, but more so, that was history. We never want to repeat it. Moving forward, we’re still growing together in this.’”

While abroad, the pair was able to explore some of Germany.

Bake and Holmes visited Dachau, a concentration camp from World War II.

“That was a really, really, cool experience,” Holmes said. “For us, it’s one of those things that you see pictures of it, but when you’re actually there, you see the grand scale of everything, and you’re kind of like, ‘holy smokes, this is it was wild.’ It was wild.”

They also met the Consul General at the U.S. Consulate in Munich, James Miller. He invited them to a 4th of July party at the consulate in Munich. Holmes said they had a bunch of American foods, which consisted of McDonald’s, KFC and Dunkin.

The nice thing about the exchange, Baker said, was that it allowed them to gain friends while working on shift, and from those friendships, it opened doors for them to explore the country’s culture and history.

Dietz, Holmes and Baker said they hope to see the exchange continue in the future. Dietz said Munich should be sending over two more firefighters next year, and the intention is for Munich to take the even years and for Newport and Cincinnati to send people over on the odd years.

Baker said he would love to see more cross-collaboration between local fire departments, similar to the exchange.

“Just making that firefighter community a little bit tighter, because it’s unfortunately not,” Baker said. “We don’t do a great job with that. So, if this could be a bridge, figuratively and literally, to help our communities, support each other, then that would be an even better perk from this whole situation.”