Zbigniew Meres, former commander of the State Fire Service and former senator, is dead. He saved Sandomierz from the flood

“The Chief Commander of the State Fire Service, Brigadier General Andrzej Bartkowiak, on behalf of himself and the firefighting community, expresses his condolences to the family and relatives of the deceased. Honor his memory!” – we read on the website of the Headquarters of the State Fire Service.

Zbigniew Meres was the commander-in-chief of the State Fire Service in the years 1997–2002, and from 2000 also the head of the country’s civil defense. Previously, he served as the provincial commander of the fire brigade in Katowice for six years. He has been associated with the Katowice provincial headquarters since 1978. He was, among other things, involved in extinguishing a large forest fire in Kuźnia Raciborska in 1992. Before he became the commander, he started his firefighting career at the fire stations in Chorzów and Dąbrowa Górnicza.

After retiring from the fire service, Zbigniew Meres was, among others, twice vice-president of Piekary Śląskie, as well as director at the Ministry of Interior and Administration and director general of the Marshal’s Office in Katowice. In 2007, he became a senator of the Civic Platform in the Sosnowiec district, and four years later he successfully ran for re-election to the upper house. He was a member of the Public Service Council and the Civil Service Council, vice-president of the Main Board of the Volunteer Fire Brigades Association.

In addition to the honorary citizenship of Dąbrowa Górnicza, Zbigniew Meres was also an honorary citizen of Sandomierz. “In 2001, during the flood in Poland, he took over direct management of the rescue operation, which saved Sandomierz from flooding,” argued the local councilors, giving the general this title.

“Thanks to effective decisions to bring specialized water rescue units and thanks to the effective personal command of the crisis staff in Sandomierz, General Zbigniew Meres saved the city from flood disaster, loss of life, private and public property, and in particular the right bank part of the city, where most of the Sandomierz plants are located. work. The heroism and logical organization demonstrated during the greatest danger saved not only Sandomierz, but also other communes from destruction and huge losses,” it was written in the justification for the resolution granting the general honorary citizenship of Sandomierz.