Officials: Staff Shortage at Maryland City Fire Department Poses Public Safety Risk
Three stations around Anne Arundel County need more personnel, according to a councilman and a key union leader.
An Anne Arundel County councilman and a top union official say that the response time to a recent Crownsville fire underscores the need for more staffing at the Maryland City Volunteer Fire Department and two other stations, the Capital Gazette reports. Jamie Benoit (D-Crownsville) and Craig Oldershaw, president of the Anne Arundel County Professional Firefighters Association, pointed to an incident last week in which responders took about nine minutes to reach a blaze in the 1300 block of Generals Highway. Firefighters from the closer Herald Harbor Volunteer Fire Department were busy with a medical emergency at the time of the call, according to the paper, meaning West Annapolis firefighters were the first to reach the scene. A 75-year-…
John Floyd II
2:21 pm on Tuesday, November 13, 2012
This is nothing new for Maryland City as chronic under-staffing has been a problem for as long as there's been a fire station there (circa 1969 or so). When I was a volunteer fireman in Laurel during the 1970s and '80s, Engine 27 from Maryland City seldom ever responded to a call here with more than either just a driver or two firemen aboard. For this reason, they were always ordered to stand by … more ›