STATter 911

Maybe they should just take the Chief of Kentland and put him in charge of the whole show down there.
Apparantly volunteers are more important than those in charge of the county want to admit.
GOD BLESS THE VOLUNTEERS-WHen all else fails, the volunteers will be there to pick up the pieces, versus those that are there just to pick up a pay check!
 

PGFD YOU SUCK! I can't even get the schedule on an email before it hit Dave Statter. One department huh?
 

Maybe someone should tell them the August calender is wrong. The days and dates don't match up. Typical.
 

What a three ring circus. It just gets better and better,or maybe thats sadder and sadder.
 

For Gods sake, they can't even make a calendar thats right. How do expect them to run a whole department.
 

Wow, I hope the 1000 plus volunteers of PGFD will be able to pick up the slack. For years they have said that the paid personnel supplemented them. We will see what happens now! PGFD volunteer fire department is dying one station at a time, this will either strengthen thier resolve or put a few nails in the coffin. I hope the remaining career personnel are thankful that they are not joining other jurisdictions that are laying off and rifting (reductions in force) Hang in there folks it looks like it's going to be a long year.
 

Volunteers with responsibility? Damn, can't wait to watch em all fail! Gonna be a lot of sick people waiting for an ambulance to come with career people on it!
 

wow! when did this issue become a vollie vs. paid? i thought it was a dept. vs inempt county management. i'm sure the paid guys are really loking forward with the shuffleing around just as much as the vollie's that haft to do more. yup, lets biker amongst ourselvs so jj and co. can get over on everyone some more. djr
 

Time to yank some of those "support staff" out from behind their desks and put them in the field! Even the police departments do this in times of shortages. Let's see if some of those "command staff" can REALLY do the job that they seem to be able to TELL others to do! You know..."Those that CAN...DO! And those that CAN'T...LEAD!" Yeah. They should take some of those "majors" ruing around in their cars and at least put them in the right front seat to fill slots. Same with those "aides" that do basically nothing. Get rid of the take-home vehicles, expense accounts and other useless non-vital perks and then the budget would be easier to balance.

What's the latest white-shirt to blue-shirt ratio on an incident now? 2:1? Seems that the more officers on the scene, the higher the fire loss and the longer an incident lasts and the more injuries and mistakes are made. Get more REAL fire-suppression people out there and empty the offices!
 

The volunteers have always said that there are over 2000 of them. The County has less then 700 paid men. There should be no staffing problem in PG. Looks like the County is turning it over the Volunteers, they should be happy. Why not make all the paid men cover stations during the day and the volunteers have it at night. It worked like that 20 years ago when I worked there.
 

Whoever sat down and did this staffing plan needs to go back and take a look at the SERVICES provided by these firehouses. This is not saying that the volunteers of these firehouses cant or wont get the apparatus out, but you really should plan for that eventualilty.

July 1st- 19,28 & 18 without career staffing. So you take the special services out of the heart of the 2nd Battalion.

July 2nd- 40 & 20, so we take staffing off the only two squads along Route 301?

July 3rd- 8,43,23, and 20 so you put a box out in 46's area and the entire box except 46 is volunteer staffed? Box area 4610's run cards is as follows: 46,43,37,20,23,33,08,18,39,26,05

This would leave the assignment as
46, 43, 37, & 23, Truck 20 and 33, Squad 8 I believe. This is Oak Grove and Church Road South which covers alot of homes in the million dollar range. And on this day, the Engine from 46 and Battalion 1 are the only guaranteed staffed unit. And I listed out the run card further because, after 18 the next two due companies are both the Stand By companies on that day. And that box area should be a non-hydrant box so 23 and 39 would be tasked with the Tankers as well.

This is just one box area on one day, looking along the calendar there are definitely some areas that maybe someone needs a map up in the office with a list of services that just may not get out. And maybe figure out that you should put more companies out of service on the weekend than the week days, talk about setting up the volunteers for FAILURE. Makes more sense for the volunteers to provide 24 hours of staffing on a Saturday than a Wednesday.

And again, Im not saying these companies cant or wont actually get out, but you have to start looking at guaranteed staffing on a box assignment.

But oh well, I guess if this is the plan the Fire Chief has trusted his subordinates to develop, its his rear on the line.

And on a departing note, what genius moves the crew from 49 to 10 on July 7th? Would it not make sense to do this the other way around so you have a Squad company staffed? Since youll have Truck 31, Howard Truck 6, and Montgomery Truck 15 to provide truck company services, and to be honest Fort Meade would probably helpful at this point too.
 

Change,you all wanted change at the top and now you got it. Time to step up and provide the service whatever it takes. There was a plan to pull staffing from certain stations, but once again politics got in the way of trying to streamline the fire dept. Some people just don't have a clue. Crews going into 23 and a new station in bowie, where are these people coming from to provide the bodies needed.
Hang on people it is going to be a long and bumpy ride this year. Rmember the word of this year is remain fluid, aka bend over.
 

The staffing plan does not mention that M18 and M20 will be OOS on Fri-Sun for 8 hours to kill overtime. Last night M18 and M20 OOS 23-07. Today M20 OOS 07-15, M18 OOS 23- 07 and Sunday M18 OOS 23-07.If M43 gets a call all of Bowie has no medic unit coverage during those times and unlike the suppression plan, there is no volunteer medic coverage
 

ONLY A PAID GUY WOULD BRING UP AMBULANCE CALLS. A FIRE COMPANY IS A FIRE COMPANY IS A FIRE COMPANY. CAN YOU SEE THE THEME THERE=FIRE?
PUT THE PAID GUYS ON THE CRAP BOXES AND LET THE VOLLUNTEER FIREMEN RUN THE FIRES.
 

The Vols wanted this, so here you go. Have at it, lets see how long it takes before the county executive or fire chief are back peddling to cover up the next citizen death of ff inury.

PGFD is known for doing stupid things, but this may take the prize.

Dave, what you have failed to report is that the Fire Chief in his infininate wisdome is planning on closing medic units as well. You will not find this on any schedule, except for PA5, but he/they intend on closing medic units to eliminate OT. Medic 18 and 20 are being preped for the medics being detailed out and having large holes in coverage in what is an already taxed and over worked ALS system.

The county could use atleast an additional 5 medic units, instead of closing two or three units at a time.

Great plan!!! Can't wait for the end result.
 

Maybe it's time to stop complaining about the plan and place the blame on the situation where it belongs, the County Exec who developed the budget and the County Council who approved it. You’re wasting your time complaining about career and volunteer issues. Let's unite for one cause, service to the citizens and safety of personnel.

Let's focus the energy on the real issue not the symptom. Everyone should be screaming at their elected official to hire more career people and every station that wants career staffing should get it.

The County should replace apparatus and let it be painted the volunteer colors, who cares who owns it and lets become a real fire department rather than this splintered group of people who want to complain about the system or the calendar or whatever else makes you unhappy but will not do anything but protect their own little interest.

The opportunity is passing us by because we are too busy pointing fingers at one another. The Fire Chief is doing what he has to do to meet the budget. I guarantee you he cant be happy about it.

Let's help him in ways he can’t help himself. Lets demand more money for the Fire Department not because WE want it but because the citizens need it and its the right thing to do.

Call your Mayors, Council members, the County Executives office and everyone you can think. Get your Lions Clubs and Senior Citizens to start flooding them with letters, emails and phone calls. Call your pastors and activists. This is no time to sit, wake up people! Look at what is happening to our Fire Department. It is being dismantled in front of your eyes and all you have to say is "that's dumb", "they can't manage a calendar". Who's the idiot here?

The County Exec is probably sitting back and laughing at you because your so caught up in your own little agenda that your blind to what he is doing to you. He is balancing the County budget on your backs, career and Volunteer.

WAKE UP!
 

Is Micheal Jackson still dead?
 

I would like to respond to the previous comment. First of all the individual who submitted these comments obviously is a Veteran within PGFD and has Knowledge of what,where,when, who Personnel/Apparatus Resources are to be redeployed. I must admit give credit where credit is due. I however donot agree the sarcastic and bias/sterotype remarks as being a positive relection upon the overall impact. I do believe this person is correct in why place
both Heavy Rescue Squads OOS along US Route 301. This is obviously a
heavily traveled Highway. What I can't understand is, will Station 20 and/or Station 40 have the Volunteer Staffing to Guarantee these two critical apparatus Resources will get out? I would tend to believe that perhaps the Fire Chief and his Staff might reconsider with their decision. ie; Move one of these two Heavy Rescue Squads to say either Station 45 or Station 36. This will cover a larger portion of Route 301. It's important the Volunteer Stations to realize this critical Staffing situation should be focused on providing the 2 Primary Services. "Engine Company and Ambulance" If Station 20 can Staff E820 and A820 the Taxpayers will have some Basic coverage without increased Response Times.
As far as other Special Services ie; Trucks/Tower etc. can Station 20 staff T820 as well? If not AT843
possibly might be considered to be moved South towards the Southern most end of the County. If Station 20 is unable to staff T820 how about moving it to Station 46. There was mentioned of High Value Residences in the Largo Area. If
T805 may not be staffed, then there is AT833 and T826. These comments are strictly a speculation. The concern for ALS coverage is of critical importance. response times are of imperative need. ie; M820-M843-and possibly M846 for whatever reason may not be staffed. Then moving a medic Unit to a Strategic location/Station again to cover a larger portion of the ever growing population. With respect to the comments about Career vs. Volunteer let us all stop this absolute foolishness. The Career Staffing must realize they along with the Volunteer staffing must take into consideration they, the operational first responders are responsible to the Taxpayers to provide Professional Customer Service. Both Career and Volunteer
personnel have a vital role to be involved in this crisis situation.
 

every tuesday career staff are moved from company 49 to company 10. What sense does that make? NONE! rumor has it 10 and 49 are ganging up (say it isn't so) to cover each other's stations on career shortage days.

Maybe if they stop making all technicians become half assed medics, with a 20 percent increase in pay in a matter of 6 months, we wouldn't have these financial issues.
 

Wow another great come back by a bunch of blow hards. Dude if you aren't happy about the "half ass medics", then do something about it. Become one, or stop complaining about them. Don't be part of the problem, be a part of the solution. That would be to easy, but you would rather bitch and moan what someone makes or what benifit they get.

ONLY A PAID GUY WOULD BRING UP AMBULANCE CALLS. A FIRE COMPANY IS A FIRE COMPANY IS A FIRE COMPANY. CAN YOU SEE THE THEME THERE=FIRE?
PUT THE PAID GUYS ON THE CRAP BOXES AND LET THE VOLLUNTEER FIREMEN RUN THE FIRES. Another great comeback. I guess you can't see the forrest for the trees. Let's remember the incident in 46's area after they closed down for 8 hours. It is going to happen again, and when it does what story is the county going to give this time. Who is going to be the fall guy/gal for this one. You know it isn't going to be the one that made the call, but the person in the field doing their job.

Pleas Dave ask the hard questions, about medic units being o.o.s and why haven't they learned from the first go around.

Please keep blaming the career staff for some of your short comings of not being able to get apparatus out, if it makes you feel better about yourself. It is the citizens that should be outraged, but aren't because they don't know what is really going on. Time is passing us by, and we in the field are getting it hard. This staffing plan is going to change, and change often. Don't be suprised to get that 630am call that you will not have staffing for the day. We shouldn't have to worry since other volunteer stations will come and help us out in time of need.
 

Taking a look at the staffing plan, i notice 835 doesn't take a hit. Maybe a typo, or i over looked it. Also i notice that 842 without staffing for 24 hours. With medics 829 & 847 being a call that is going to be a long wait for a medic to the harbor or even to the hill. Or 21, 29 being on another call going to take some time to get some help to the hill.
 

All right, another great move in PG. The taxpayers get dumped on yet again, paying high tax dollars for a shoestring Fire/EMS department.This plan stinks like week old fish and I hope the politicians and upper management of PGFD can deal with the fallout when something goes wrong.
 

Hopefully, if not all the volunteers, at least those that work somewhere else (where this could happen to them) do the right thing and step away for a while so the County realizes they can't just drop the paid men without consequence.
 

Ya gotta love it.To all those companies that have relied on career staffing for so many years,but continue to say this is the --- Vol. fire dept when it suits their needs will finally have to show their hand. Let's just see how many VFD's in PGFD there truly are. Put up or shut up. The public may finally know the truth. This is great stuff. I like so many others can't wait!!!
 

Let's see if Marlboro is ever without staffing when JJ and Company are in town???

Let's see if the first due stations to any of the council folks homes or JJs house are ever closed???
 

Ok, interesting comments by all, but they lack one thing, citizen concern. I would venture to guess that most of "County Residents" posting in this blog live in multiple dwellings that also happen to house fire trucks. Have any of you run any calls in PG County. The citizens don't care. Someone will show up eventually, they don't care if you wear a patch or a Big Johnson Beach week t-shirt. The Fire Department administration is playing a shell game with the staffing because they have to tell us some where to work. They hired us and can't pay the bill (due to their poor planning). If they could eliminate most of the employees they would. Most of the administration does not care about safe staffing levels or response times. Some one will get there eventually and that is all the citizens and management care about. All the bunk room Fire Chiefs and carry on all they want. It does not change anything. We are stuck in this situation.
Now, I do have some free time since I'm not working overtime. Dave, do you have the number to Mayor Fenties office, I'd like to offer my services to reduce his Fire Department overtime expenses.
 

How many so called VFD's do you think will be submitting letters or making phone calls to various offices saying we can't handle it. We simply can't staff our so called VFD.It is sad to see that some have already stooped as low as to staff their apparatus with out of county personnel, because they can't get it done with their own. This is a clear issue with regard to our citizens well being.Not to mention the operational concerns from the out of county folks.Suck it up and Admit you need help when you need it and let's get through this terrible time together. Things will improve, they always do.
 

Well I know most of you career people are getting your jollies on the idea that the volunteers now have to set up the the plate but the sad thing is it's the people you serve that are going to suffer if this doesn't happen. Flapping your gums on here isn't going to solve the problem. We all know volunteers everywhere are a dying breed these days. I too am one of those dying breed being a 30 year volunteer. I love it and miss it but have no time to dedicate not to memtion getting too old.

I read all this stuff with sadness because I used to volunteer in the day in P.G. when we got along for the most part with our daytime career staff and worked right along with them. I also feel for the career people that will lose income because of a mismanaged county government. If there were no volunteers at all I am sure the county would still find a way to shove this furlough through and screw the citizens and career staff. Good Luck!
 

The ignorant constituency of the PG County government get what they deserve!!! Bad schools, high crime and virtually no reliable fire/ems services. Who cares, my county is fully committed to my safety. You want live in a 3rd world nation - you get the the services that are in accordance with a banana republic!!
 

Volunteers with responsibility? Damn, can't wait to watch em all fail! Gonna be a lot of sick people waiting for an ambulance to come with career people on it!
June 26, 2009 10:58 PM

That's all you are GOOD for is riding the sh*t box. and taking up space.
 

The places where the politicians live are not immune. Company 25 is without staffing quite a bit and we have the Council Chair and family of the State Senate President in our first due, but we get it done the best we can and that's what matters.
 

I see that it is the same as it is in most places, leave the EMS to the career staff because the VOLIES are to good for EMS. But again like other places PG has about a 80 percent EMS call load. So yes, even if a Vollie or Career person gets hurt or injured they may even have to wait for the paid EMS unit to show up!!!!!
 

One of the biggest myths in the history of the United States is that somehow PG residents pay some sort of higher tax rates than anyone else.

Montgomery, Fairfax, Arlington all pay higher tax rates. Incidentally, they provide better services and have better schools.

You can chalk this up to two things: mismanagement and TRIM.
 

I have been reading the comments with respect to the new PGFD Staffing Issues. Yes as has been noted there is concern over the redeployment of Career Staffing and Apparatus. It seems still the terrible things said in vile negative context concerning Career and Volunteer is absolutely out of
line/uncalled for. Everyone is aware of the Budget reductions and impact of the new Staffing issues. Ok let's all stop this wrongfully vile comments. There are some comments with good questions and validity of the reasoning and purpose as to why,whynot, who, when, where etc these Staffing and redeployments issues are taking place. Some of the comments I cannot understand any rationale
ie; not Staffing Heavy Rescue Squads. RS820 and RS840. These units cover the most southern end of PG County. The fact that US Route 301 a heavily traveled main thoroughfare doesnot seem to make any sense. Can either Station 820 and/or Station 840 guarantee their Engine,Rescue Squad and other units ie; EMS Truck are to be staffed guaranteed? If not whynot doesn't the County rethink this decision and move one of these Heavy Rescue Squads to a Strategic station Location where it can/will get out and serve and protect a greater portion of the Southern Population? Other Special Service Apparatus not staffed ie; Truck/Tower the same consideration might be reconsidered to have again
a greater portion of the population in PG County covered?
As far as EMS ie; Medic Units/ Ambulances plain and simple one can only believe the County must not even think of unstaffing a Medic Unit. Any EMS Unit BLS and/or ALS is the first Life line the Taxpayers have. Strategically relocating a Medic Unit may be a viable temporary solution. The overall context of PGFD must be Positve and understanding by everyone. The Career Personnel and the Volunteer Personnel must begin to realize each faction has an important role in serving and protecting the Taxpayers in PG County. It's not a question of who is in charge. The primary issue in all aspects of this economy is Public Safety belongs to everyone.
Come on people whatever differences in opinions and other thoughts about the other factor. STOP it now. The Fire Chief is going through the same feelings of doing more with less as the average everyday operational personnel. I am of the belief that the Leadership of IAFF Local 1619
the Volunteer Leadership, and the Fire Chief and his Staff must put aside yesterday's negatism and bring about a workable solution to ensure continued Top Level Professional Customer Service to the Taxpayers. Think about it people. This issue can and must be accomplished by all.

Thank You
 

Gauranteed staffing for RS20 after 1500 is 2 paid personnel along with whatever vollies show up and ride (unless the 2 career peronnel are on the ambo. RS 40 has either 4 or 2 based on whther they have an ambo call. The issue is there are no gaurantees. We staff stations not units!!! It's been that way for years, no getting around it. The new staffing plans allow the vollies to staff the apparatus period. If they don't and stuff happens than this should be changed, somehow, some way, After so many years of operating in a severly disfunctional fire dept. Maybe this will be the beginning of some good changes to either a Baltimore County system or an all paid and much reduced fire dept.
 

So you want gauranteed staffing of units not stations? That concept was thought up before, but not implimented. With the current staffing levels any multiple alarm incident would wipe out the apparatus fleet for any further calls with that plan.

Did you hit the lottery or a distant heir to MJ? Wanna try again?
 

seeing all of this controversy leaves me with several unanswered questions-

1) How much notice are the "vollies" being given to increase their staffing to offset the loss in career personnel at each station? That can be difficult at times since career staffing was evidently established at some point to offset the unavailability of vollies responding due to job demands, traffic, number of calls, etc.

2) With the changes in staffing at some stations, how does this affect the ISO rating of each area, and consequently the fire insurance premiums paid by the property owners in the affected areas? If a station is closed due to a lack of staffing (for whatever reason), would the property owner and insurance company not have a cause of action to consider if they suffered undue financial loss due to a reduced levelof fire protection services?

3) One must ask if adjacent fire departments in other counties are having the same financial/staffing problems. If not, that would seem to indicate a fundamental problem with the organization of PG county?

4) I read that they were going to use "Supervisors" on ambulances to reduce overtime. Depending upon their classification in accordance with FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act), those supervisors may end up being "owned" overtime pay since they are now substantially doing the same work as those they "supervise", which places those supervisors in a different category of duties. Just wondering out loud about this because my former department got caught in a similar situation and had to pay out a lot of backpay and penalties.
 

It still is funny you guys call them Heavy Rescue Squads... there isn't a Heavy in PG County...
 

Move SQ 40 to Sta 36, just like they need a truck at 36 right? So people can continue and sit there at their retirement station to collect their pay.

Why don't you focus on the volunteer stations that provide the staffing on the days that the career guys are off... There are stations out there who are holding it, some with multiple crews. Sometimes its good when career staff moves and lets the volunteers have their house back. Sink or swim.