News You Can Use October 2024

Fire and Ambulance response times and staffing are still up in the air! As you are aware, the Fire Chief has cut staffing at several Fire Stations! Residents, Business Owners, and Employees in Beltsville, Calverton, Vansville, Laurel, College Park, Greenbelt, Berwyn Heights, stand up and be heard because your lives, homes and businesses are at risk!  

On July 1st Fire Chief Green pulled County Fire and EMT from stations along the Route 1 and Maryland 201 corridor. Bunker Hill and Berwyn Heights lost All of their County Fire and EMT. Greenbelt will only have EMT (Ambulance) 11 am - 11 pm. Since then, there have been 3 Fully Staffed stations from College Park to Laurel. The staffing shift was supposed to deal with mandatory overtime and place staff in "higher demand areas" during the summer months when people are on vacation. The staffing issues are "supposed to be revaluated around the beginning of October 2024. On September 11th, 2024, the Mayors from Greenbelt, College Park and Berwyn Heights invited Fire Chief Green to a Community Town Hall for a status report...to discuss bringing County Fire and EMT back to their stations. Chief Green did not attend. Instead, the Public Information Director for the Fire Department was sent to the meeting. He was not able to provide answers to most of the questions asked by the Mayors and the public. One of the few pieces of information that was shared is “the response time for calls to service is 8 minutes." In the past the target response time was "6 minutes." Seconds Matter for a Medical Emergency!

Seconds Matter with a Fire!

Rumor has it that the Fire Chief still wants to install the "temporary trailers" at Beltsville BVFD 31 even though the County's Assessment of BVFD 31 stated there is not a health hazard . There Is not a safety hazard at BVFD Fire Station 31. Those were the two main reasons Chief Green Needed to remove County Fire and EMT. I do not understand why Fire Chief Green wants to spend money installing trailers when there are No Life-Threatening Health or Safety Issues at BVFD Fire Station 31.

If you live or work along the Route 1 Route 201 corridor from Washington DC to the Howard, Anne Arundle, Montgomery County borders We Need to be Seen & Heard Together! Our communities matter! Our Businesses Matter! Our Homes Matter and Our LIVES MATTER! Keep PGFD Career Firefighters & EMT at Beltsville Volunteer Fire Station 31! Keep BVFD Fully Staffed 24/! Return Staff to Greenbelt, Berwyn and Bunker Hill. The County Needs to Create a Plan to Enhance the Volunteer Stations across the county. The reality is our county cannot afford the cost of a Solely Paid Department.  

Please Call and write

County Executive Angela Alsobrooks

301-952-4131

 Countyexecutive@co.pg.md.us

 Council Chairperson Jolene Ivey

301-952-3864

 Councildistrict5@co.pg.md.us

Councilmember Tom Dernoga

301-952-3887

Tedernoga@co.pg.md.us

Councildistrict1@co.pg.md.us At Large Member Calvin Hawkins

301-952-2136

At-LargeMemberHawkins@co.pg.md.us

Last but not least October is Fire Safety Month. Come by the BVFD 31 Open House Saturday, October 5th Noon - 5:00 pm 4911 Prince Georges Avenue, Beltsville

Have you installed the 10-year battery Smoke Alarms? Carbon Monoxide Detectors? Not sure what you need...Bring a Friend...Bring a Neighbor to the Open House.