Kolekcionar vatrogasnog znakovlja

Mjesne uprave i u našim krajevima organizirale su noćobdijsku službu te nabavljale sprave i opremu za gašenje požara. Na to su ih poticali i brojni požari, od kojih su neki bili katastrofalni – kao onaj u Varaždinu 1776. i Virju 1871. godine. U drugoj polovici 19. stoljeća, usporedno s vatrogasnim pokretom u Europi, dobrovoljne vatrogasne jedinice počinju se osnivati i u naseljima sjeverne Hrvatske. Varaždin 1864., kao najstarije hrvatsko dobrovoljno vatrogasno društvo. Uskoro se društva osnivaju i u većini značajnijih sjevernohrvatskih trgovišta i gradova – Sisak 1865, Zagreb 1870, Karlovac 1871, Bjelovar 1873, Križevci i Koprivnica 1874. godine. Povjesničar dr. Rudolf Horvat ovako opisuje službu koprivničkih noćobdija: «Dok se nije znalo za petrolejsko, plinsko ili električno svjetlo, vladala je u gradovima po noći tmina. Noćni mir u Koprivnici narušavaju samo noćobdije. Grad je, naime, o svome trošku uzdržavao četiri čovjeka, koji su po danu spavali, a po noći bdjeli, Noćobdije imahu u prvom redu zadaću da paze na vatru. Svaki noćobdija imao je na brizi drugi predjel Koprivnice. On je morao sve ulice u svom predjelu obići jedanput svakog sata. Čim je ura na tornju župne crkve odbila devet sati, izašao bi noćobdija iz svoje kuće, te bi glasno viknuo: ‘Deveta vura bije. Gospoda purgari, čuvajte ognja! Čuvao vas Bog i sveti Florijan!’ Uredba noćobdija ukinuta je u Koprivnici 1854. godine».

Nakon brojnih požara koji su harali podravskim naseljima, a nisu poštedjeli ni Koprivnicu, stalno je jačala preventiva i organiziranost borbe protiv ove stihije. Nakon osnivanja DVD-a u Koprivnici 1874. godine slijedi osnivanje društava u većim mjestima koprivničke Podravine: Novigrad Podravski 1878., Torčec 1882., Legrad 1884., Kuzminec 1885., Drnje 1886., Rasinja 1887., Đelekovec 1888., Gola 1891., Kutnjak i Gotalovo 1892., Peteranec 1893. godine. Valja naglasiti da se vatrogasni društveni pokret u Hrvatskoj vrlo rano međusobno organizirao i sistematski razvijao svoje djelovanje te osvješćivao nacionalnu svijest. 1876. godine osnovana je Hrvatsko-slavonska vatrogasna zajednica, a uskoro se osnivaju i kotarske vatrogasne župe. Jedna takva osnovana je krajem 19. stoljeća i u koprivničkom kotaru. Daljnjii povijesni razvoj koprivničkog i podravskog vatrogastva manje-više nam je poznat iz bliže nam povijesti. Prije 60 godina teritorijalna podjela uvjetovala je i osnivanje i prilagođavanje vatrogasnih organizacija takvoj podjeli. Kroz povijest bilo je nekoliko, dobrih i lošijih, teritorijalnih podjela dok današnja podjela po kojoj smo organizirani izgleda ovako: Danas VZG Koprivnica, osnovana 1952. godine, objedinjuje 11 dobrovoljnih vatrogasnih društava i jednu javnu vatrogasnu postrojbu:

• DVD KOPRIVNICA

• DVD BAKOVČICA

• DVD ŠTAGLINEC

• DVD DRAGANOVEC

• DVD STARIGRAD

• DVD JAGNJEDOVEC

• DVD REKA

• DVD HEREŠIN

• IDVD ŽELJEZNIČAR

• IDVD BILOKALNIK

• IDVD PODRAVKA

• JVP GRADA KOPRIVNICE

Local administrations in our regions also organized a night vigil service and procured devices and equipment for extinguishing fires. They were encouraged to do so by numerous fires, some of which were catastrophic - such as the one in Varaždin in 1776 and Virje in 1871. In the second half of the 19th century, in parallel with the firefighting movement in Europe, volunteer firefighting units began to be established in the settlements of northern Croatia. Varaždin in 1864, as the oldest Croatian voluntary fire brigade. Soon, companies were founded in most of the most important northern Croatian trading places and cities – Sisak in 1865, Zagreb in 1870, Karlovac in 1871, Bjelovar in 1873, Križevci and Koprivnica in 1874. Historian Dr. Rudolf Horvat describes the service of the Koprivnik night watchmen as follows: "Before kerosene, gas or electric light was known, darkness reigned in the cities at night. Night peace in Koprivnica is disturbed only by night guards. Namely, the city, at its own expense, supported four men, who slept during the day and stayed awake at night. The first duty of the night watchmen was to look after the fire. Each night watchman had a different area of Koprivnica to look after. He had to go around all the streets in his area once every hour. As soon as the bell on the tower of the parish church struck nine o'clock, the night watchman would come out of his house and shout loudly: "The ninth bell is sounding." Purgatory lords, guard the fire! May God and St. Florian protect you!' The nocturnal ordinance was abolished in Koprivnica in 1854".

After numerous fires that ravaged the settlements of Podravina, and did not spare Koprivnica either, the prevention and organization of the fight against this element was constantly strengthened. After the founding of DVD in Koprivnica in 1874, societies were founded in larger towns of the Koprivnica Podravina: Novigrad Podravski 1878, Torčec 1882, Legrad 1884, Kuzminec 1885, Drnje 1886, Rasinja 1887, Đelekovec 1888, Gola 1891. ., Kutnjak and Gotalovo in 1892, Peteranec in 1893. It should be emphasized that the firefighting social movement in Croatia organized itself very early on and systematically developed its activities and raised national awareness. In 1876, the Croatian-Slavonian firefighting association was founded, and soon district firefighting parishes were also founded. One such was founded at the end of the 19th century in the Koprivnica district. The further historical development of the Koprivnica and Podravka fire department is more or less known to us from our recent history. 60 years ago, territorial division conditioned the establishment and adaptation of firefighting organizations to such division. Throughout history, there have been several territorial divisions, good and bad, while today's division by which we are organized looks like this: Today, VZG Koprivnica, founded in 1952, unites 11 voluntary firefighting societies and one public firefighting unit:

DVD KOPRIVNICA,  DVD BAKOVČICA , DVD ŠTAGLINEC,  DVD DRAGANOVEC, DVD STARIGRAD, DVD JAGNJEDOVEC, DVD REKA, DVD HEREŠIN, IDVD ŽELJEZNIČAR, IDVD BILOKALNIK, IDVD PODRAVKA, JVP KOPRIVNICA