Prince George's County Fire Department Changes

BOULEVARD HEIGHTS, Md. (WUSA) -- Career firefighters have been told they will only staff the Boulevard Heights Volunteer Fire and Rescue department from Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The rest of the day and weekends will now be covered by volunteers.

The county fire department has 700 career firefighters and 1,100 volunteer firefighters. It answers more than 130,000 calls each year, or about 350 calls a day. Boulevard Heights is just one of more than 40 firehouses in the county.

The county fire department is more than $10 million over budget. It has used furloughs, cut overtime and redeployed personnel to become more efficient.

The President of the Firefighters Union, Douglas Bartholomew told 9NEWS NOW, "Anytime you have budget shortfalls and you have to reduce the personnel answering calls, this is a threat to the community."

County fire department spokesman, Mark Brady, says the decision to reduce hours of career firefighters at Boulevard Heights is unrelated to the budget crisis. Brady says it is a safety issue, and it is not safe for only two firefighters to respond to calls on massive equipment.

Career firefighters are deployed to other fire houses, the closest of which is more than two miles away. Brady conceeds that with smaller staffing, delays can result. He says the department will do its best to protect county residents even in tough budgetary times.