A retired Baltimore City Fire Department lieutenant is urging the Harford County Council to consider getting paid firefighters, in the wake of a recent fatal fire.
Giff Nickol, of Bel Air, and three other county residents – mostly paid firefighters working in or retired from other departments – established “harfordfirefacts.com” to advocate for supplementing the county?s all-volunteer system with some paid firefighters. They spoke before the County Council this week.
“If the Shropshires had any chance of surviving this fire, that chance evaporated with the long response time,” Nikol said.
Two adults and three children perished in the Jan. 18 fire that consumed the Shropshires? Abingdon home. The closest fire department took nearly nine minutes to respond because the company?s certified driver on duty was away from the station. The first engine arrived from the Joppa/Magnolia fire station in five minutes. Investigators from the State Fire Marshal?s office say the family likely died from smoke inhalation before a passerby even called 911.
Nickol has revived a fight he started several years ago, when he and his colleagues last pressured the county to investigate integrating paid firefighters into the all-volunteer service.
The volunteer firefighters have been quick to defend their record.
“The service itself is a successful service. Even career services have personnel out on calls or out for repairs,” spokesman Richard Gardiner said. The county is already working to supplement its EMS services with paid drivers, he said.
“We?re always proactive,” he said. “We?re not sitting on our hands here.”
Councilwoman Mary Ann Lisanti, D-Havre de Grace, talked to both sides after the meeting and said she encouraged them to set their emotions aside.
Harford County Fire and EMS Association President Tom Schaech said he didn?t support Nickol?s raising the issue before the council, but said he would welcome discussion in a constructive format.
