The passing of a beloved leader of the History Commission Study Group has left a void in CTIF

Dear members of the commission, dear members of the study group, dear members of ÖBFV commission 1.5 and others within CTIF:  It is with a heavy heart that we have to bring you the sad news that Ingo Valentini passed away peacefully at home on Friday night at the age of only 49.

You can find the obituary attached. We are in close contact with the family and if there is any further information about the funeral, I will forward it to you as well. All our thoughts are with his family right now.

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Werte Mitglieder der Kommission, werte Mitglieder der Arbeitsgemeinschaft, werte Mitglieder des ÖBFV-Sachgebietes 1.5,

 schweren Herzens muss ich Euch die traurige Nachricht überbringen, dass Ingo Valentini gestern Abend ganz friedlich zu Hause verstorben ist. Ihr findet den Nachruf im Anhang. Wir stehen mit der Familie in engem Kontakt und wenn es weitere Informationen zum Begräbnis gibt, werde ich Euch auch diese weiterleiten. Alle unsere Gedanken sind derzeit bei seiner Familie.

Gerald Schimpf and Christian Fastl

We would like to inform you that the funeral of Ingo Valentini will take place on Thursday, July 27th, 2023 at 9 a.m. in the church of Göfis (Kirchstraße 8, 6811 Göfis, Austria).

https://www.kath-kirche-vorarlberg.at/pfarren/goefis/verstorbene

For all those of you who are able to pay your last respects to Ingo, the meeting point is at 08:40 a.m. at the church.

According to Ingo's wish, the fire brigades will be strongly represented, so I ask fire brigade members to come in uniform. The local fire brigades will provide the flag bearers at the funeral service. During the funeral service, the mayor and the state fire brigade inspector of Vorarlberg, among others, will speak. After the funeral service, we will move out of the church (members of the commission and the study group will probably follow after the local fire brigade) and we walk the short way over to the cemetery, where the burial of the urn will take place. Following the funeral service, there will be an agape in the parish hall.

 For further planning, please give me a short feedback on who will come.

Gerald Schimpf

############ GERMAN VERSION ############

Werte Mitglieder der Kommission,

werte Mitglieder der Arbeitsgemeinschaft,

werte Mitglieder des ÖBFV-Sachgebietes 1.5,

ich möchte Euch informieren, dass das Begräbnis von Ingo Valentini am Donnerstag, 27. Juli 2023 um 9 Uhr in der Pfarrkirche Göfis (Kirchstraße 8, 6811 Göfis, Österreich) stattfinden wird.

https://www.kath-kirche-vorarlberg.at/pfarren/goefis/verstorbene

Für all jene von Euch, denen es möglich ist Ingo die letzte Ehre zu erweisen, ist der Treffpunkt um 08:40 Uhr bei der Kirche.

Ingos Wunsch entsprechend wird die Feuerwehr stark vertreten sein, daher ersuche ich Feuerwehrmitglieder in Uniform zu kommen. Die Abschnittsfeuerwehren werden beim Trauergottesdienst die Fahnenträger stellen. Während des Trauergottesdienstes werden unter anderem der Bürgermeister und der Landesfeuerwehrinspektor von Vorarlberg sprechen. Nach dem Trauergottesdienst erfolgt der Auszug aus der Kirche (Mitglieder der Kommission bzw. Arbeitsgemeinschaft werden voraussichtlich im Block nach der Ortsfeuerwehr gehen) und wir gehen den kurzen Weg zum Friedhof hinüber, wo die Beisetzung der Urne erfolgen wird. Im Anschluss an die Trauerfeier wird es im Pfarrsaal eine Agape geben.

 Für die weiteren Planungen ersuche um kurze Rückmeldung an mich, wer kommen wird.

ABI INGO VALENTINI

30th October 1973 – 21st July 2023

It is with great sadness that we have to inform you that our comrade and friend Ingo Valentini has passed away.

In 1989, Ingo joined the volunteer fire brigade in Göfis, where he quickly took on important functions. From 1992 to 2007, he was secretary, then deputy commander until 2013 and commander of the fire brigade since 2013. In addition, from 2004 to 2014, as a youth leader, youth work was also very close to his heart. For many years, he was available to the Vorarlberg Fire Service Association (LFV) as a judge for many firefighting competitions.

In 1998 Ingo became a member of Working Group 8 "Fire Service History" of the LFV Vorarlberg. In the following year he took part for the first time – another 15 participations were to follow – in a conference of the International Study Group for the History of Fire Service and Fire Protection in the CTIF, of which he has been chairperson since 2012.

In 2016, he became the responsible person (Landessachbearbeiter) for Fire Service History in the LFV Vorarlberg and Head of the Vorarlberg Fire Service Museum in the Vorarlberger Museumswelt. Three years later, he was officially delegated to the commission 1.5 "Fire Brigade History and Documentation" of the Austrian Fire Service Association (ÖBFV), where he had already been a welcome guest several times before.

Ingo was always a man of action and word – his "Alpine English", as he called it himself, was legendary – and writing, on the other hand, was not his great passion. Nevertheless, in the course of time he wrote two books about his home fire brigade and six articles for the conference volumes of the International Study Group. Also worth mentioning, is an article in the book about decorations published by the ÖBFV in 2022.

As a professional computer engineer, it has always been important to him to present the history of fire service in a modern way and to use the digital possibilities for this purpose. The topic of "digital long-term preservation" has been important to him.

Ingo lived for the fire service like no other. He was interested in all aspects of the fire brigade: technical aspects, constant development in general, competitions, training and, last but not least, history. There was no aspect of firefighting that he had nothing to say or an opinion about.

Central to him was true friendship, which he himself lived and cultivated intensively. No distance was too far for him from Vorarlberg to be able to attend an important fire brigade event for an evening or a day.

Friendships developed throughout Austria and internationally, in which Ingo shared his private interests and passions. Those were the moments when you really got to know Ingo. He talked about his family, his hometown, his love for mountains and skiing and the technical handicrafts he worked on together with his son.

Ingo had known since the beginning of July that his time was coming to an end, just not when. With him, many of us lose not only a fellow firefighter, but also a good friend whom we will miss so sorely.

Our sympathy goes especially to his wife Simone and their children Florian and Sarah, who have lost an irreplaceable part of their lives forever.

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 and

ÖBFV commission History, Documentation and Decorations

Gerald Schimpf BA Dr. Christian K. Fastl

CTIF commission chairperson ÖBFV commission chairperson