Slow & understaffed response to Prince George’s Co. house fire. Officials blame trial dispatch program. Union says no, it is staffing issue.
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Kenny Lowe’s neighbors became so frustrated when firefighters were slow in responding to Lowe’s burning home Sunday evening they used a garden hose and fire extinguisher in an effort to keep the fire in check. Lowe tells STATter911.com, “I wish I could thank the fire department, but I can just thank my neighbors for controlling the fire. If it wasn’t for them my whole house would have been gone”.
Prince George’s County officials confirm that the first fire engine showed up at the home on Wakefield Lane in Bowie eleven minutes after Lowe’s girlfriend, Becky Shook, first contacted 911. When that engine arrived it was only staffed with two firefighters.
Public Safety Director Vernon Herron believes the delay was caused by a recently instituted dispatch policy that actually reduces the number of fire trucks responding on the initial report of a fire. The idea is to increase safety on the roads for the public and firefighters.
Herron says in this case the procedure actually increased the response time because it took 911 workers three minutes to determine which units to send. Herron has now suspended the pilot program implemented by Chief Eugene Jones on July 27. Also in question is the 911 center’s decision to send a reduced assignment despite two callers indicating smoke is visible from the house.
Andrew Pantelis, the vice-president of IAFF Local 1619, says even without this dispatching delay there were significant staffing problems at the closest fire stations that made for a slow response. Pantelis says recent budget cuts have left only two career firefighters on duty during nights and weekends at Station 839 (Bowie) on Annapolis Road, a little more than two miles from Kenny Lowe’s home. Those two firefighters were already on an ambulance call, leaving no one else in the station to immediately respond to the house fire (Engine 839 is listed as failing to respond, but later did respond on the call, arriving at 14-minutes after the first 911 call).
Public Safety Director Herron confirms when the second closest fire engine (Engine 819, Bowie) responded with just two firefighters, they were forced to wait for an additional crew before attacking the fire. That crew could have gone in immediately if there had been a life safety hazard.
Engine 848 (West Lanham Hills) also failed to respond when sent as an additional engine about 12-minutes after Becky Shook called 911.
Vernon Herron disputes that the delayed response had anything to do with recent staffing cuts.
Kenny Lowe and Becky Shook say they don’t want to think about what could have happened if this fire occurred in the middle of the night when their four-month-old son was asleep in the home. According to Shook, “When a fire occurs every second counts. If it’s going to take that long it just makes me lose a lot of confidence in our public safety”.
Prince George’s County is expected to announce county wide layoffs as early as today that could result in as many as 150 jobs lost. While union officials say they have been given indication these cuts will be across the board to include firefighters, senior government officials insisted again on Thursday that no sworn employees of the police, fire and corrections department are on the list.
Pantelis points out that PGFD continues to lose firefighting positions due to attrition. He believes the department will not get out from under these staffing issues until hiring of firefighters is done on a regular basis.
The staffing plan by Chief Eugene Jones calls on volunteer firefighters to fill in where there are staffing gaps. A press release this week indicates the department is recruiting a record number of volunteers.
