Updates (or lack thereof) on Station 31’s Firehouse

It’s hard to believe that it is now over two years since the first community meeting packed Station 31’s meeting room, listening to former Fire Chief Tiffany Green and assorted county staff describe how the station needed to be re-organized with career staff moving off site due to health concerns. (See original write up that was featured in the newspaper: https://www.beltsvillenewstoday.com/post/pg-fire-chief-tiffany-green-removing-paid-staff-from-beltsville-vfd) 

Since then, it has been a shameful rollercoaster with memorandum of understandings with absurd clauses being foisted upon the volunteer staff to emails, calls and requests for clarity completely ignored. With County Executive Braveboy’s team coming on last summer, we do have a new fire chief and staff working on this issue, but as of this writing, it unfortunately seems to be more of the same. As noted in earlier articles, I attended two meetings; once with the whole board in Landover Hills in October 2025, where the main issue to come out of the discussion was the lack of files and documentation on the new temporary fire station (currently open and installed in the park next to the library). Then I attended a walk-through of Station 31 with Captain Julian Barnes and Deputy Fire Chief Gill in November 2025, where they stressed that they’d be meeting with the current fire chief Thelmetria Michaelides in the coming weeks with updates to follow. I have since followed up monthly with Captain Barnes since that meeting, but as of this writing, I have no updates from his office.

I also touched base with the volunteer folks, and they expressed their continued frustration over this entire process. They are awaiting an updated walk-through and meeting through Station 31, but as of this writing, they do not have a date for this gathering. They were also told “that no promises could be made as far as making any repairs or remodeling as the county simply does not have any money.” Budgets are always in flux, and the county and state always need more money, which is why it is particularly frustrating that the temporary station was authorized at all since it was several million dollars that could have been better allocated. And while as of the April Town Hall meeting on the budget, it was stated almost $326 million was allocated for Fire/EMS in the upcoming budget, that is likely for projects going forward. 

In an effort to get more clarity and updates, I also spoke with Council Member Dernoga’s office, and they had the following to say:

“The current problem seems to be indecision by the Braveboy administration. They did not create this mess - they inherited it. There was the unilateral decision to build the "temporary station," without informing elected officials or the community. Meanwhile, they left BVFD spinning wheels. 

The Braveboy administration first had to figure out what they inherited. Then, they had to deal with the budget implications. This is complicated by the need to build a new police station at the same time and figure out what to do with the "temporary station." Because of all of the capital projects approved by the Alsobrooks administration, the County cannot take on many more capital projects right now due to limit on issuing debt. It appears that they are looking at building a combined police/fire station and there has long been a plan to do so near the ICC in Konterra. But that leaves open the questions of what happens to BVFD or the "temporary station."

This whole situation could have been better handled, period. Volunteers have been shut out of the process, careers have been moved around, and the community has been left grasping for answers. To be clear, Council Member Dernoga and Senator Rosapepe have been working for months, trying to secure updates and meetings. But updates should not have to be chased by elected officials and members of the community. The leaders in the fire department should have clear, transparent and regular updates for both the firefighters in service and the community at large.

I will continue to push for updates, as I know the volunteers will as well. Please help by keeping pressure on this issue. Firefighters and EMS services are not fringe expenses. These people put their lives on the line in service of others, and we need to make sure they are properly informed and cared for.