Dear ladies and gentlemen, the Prague Firefighters of the new millennium exhibition is one of the events to commemorate 170 years since the establishment of the Prague Fire Brigade this year. The exhibited photographs show us how demanding, meritorious and very diverse the profession of a Prague firefighter is. Individual pictures show extensive interventions in a number of dramatic events over the last 22 years, such as devastating floods, the fire of the Industrial Palace at the Exhibition Grounds or the massive explosion of gas in Divadelní Street, however, these are only fragments from their daily work, which in total contains several thousand interventions a year.
It is therefore appropriate to express admiration and thanks to all Prague firefighters for their professional service, when they save lives and property of the People of Prague every day. Although we often take it for granted today, it is necessary to realize how lucky we are that we can always fully rely on our firefighters in emergency situations. I also greatly appreciate the long-term good mutual cooperation between the City of Prague and the Prague Fire Brigade, which has our strong support.
I believe that the successful partnership will continue in the future.I wish you all that this exceptionally interesting exhibition will appeal to you and you will enjoy it.
doc. MUDr. Bohuslav Svoboda, CSc.
Mayor of the City of Prague
Dear Prague citizens and visitors to the capital. The Fire Rescue Service of the capital city of Prague is celebrating an important anniversary since its foundation. For 170 years we have been protecting this city and we are the oldest professional fire department in the Czech lands.
With this exhibition we want to show you the last two decades of our history. To show you that we are a modern fire department that is constantly evolving and improving. To commemorate the recent milestones of our deparment that many of you will remember and remind our current and former colleagues of a common history. We can deal with many obstacles and we protect you and the capital on a daily basis. We are proud of this. This exhibition is a reminder of our work and a thank you to those who protect this city and its inhabitants.
Brig. Gen. Ing. Luděk Prudil
Director of the Prague Fire Rescue Service