A decrease in the hours volunteers can devote to putting out fires in Prince George’s County has caused overtime and other costs for the county’s professional fire fighting staff to balloon, officials said.
Rising fuel costs also contributed to the county’s fire department request from the county council for an extra $7 million added to its $116.7 million budget in the coming fiscal year, Mark Brady, the department’s spokesman, told The Examiner.
The department is already $200,000 above its budgeted overtime for the year, and may add another $150,000 before the end of June when the fiscal year closes, pushing the total overtime to roughly $6.15 million, according to budget documents.
Longer hours at work, coupled with the modern, hectic schedules of child rearing has made it more difficult for the county’s 1,300 volunteers to find time for fighting fires and responding to medical emergencies, Jennifer Chafin, volunteer recruiter for the volunteer fire and rescue association, said.
“People want to be able to help, but they don’t have the time to volunteer,” Chafin said.
For several years the county has averaged 500 volunteer recruits each year, but those recruits increasingly drop out of the lengthy training process, many quitting even before their background checks are complete, Chafin said.
Police officials also have told council members the backlog of checks in the county’s administrative offices slows the process and causes some recruits to lose interest.
As the number of active volunteer firefighters has dropped, the county has added more professionals, Brady said. For example, volunteers at the Allentown Road Station used to supplement a 4-member professional crew that operated Monday-Friday from 7 a.m.- 3 p.m. Now there are four professional firefighters at the station around the clock, seven days a week.
The department is requesting an additional 25 firefighters for the coming fiscal year. County Executive Jack Johnson, in an effort to close a $110 budget gap, has frozen hiring for all county departments except those in public safety, including the fire department.
