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Prince George's County's newest fire station is slated to open in Bowie in September, but with the county fire department facing staffing shortages officials are still deciding how to staff the station.
The Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department is increasingly relying on volunteer companies to staff fire stations due to staffing shortages and budget cuts, leading local officials to ask who will work at the new Northview Fire Station, which is under construction at Health Center Drive.
Bowie volunteer fire chief Lee Havens worries that career staff will be pulled from one of the three existing Bowie stations to staff Northview and that his volunteers will be increasingly called on to fill the gaps.
"Obviously they are going to have to take [career firefighters] from somewhere to do it," he said.
Fire officials are mulling several plans to staff the Northview station, said Mark Brady, a fire/EMS department spokesman, adding that he could not speculate on which of those plans officials would chose.
The station will not be a volunteer corporation, but the department would welcome volunteers there, Brady added.
The Northview station will be the fourth fire station in Bowie. The other three are staffed by four career firefighters around the clock with volunteers providing additional support when they can.
To compensate for staffing shortages countywide, and to keep overtime costs at a minimum, the county fire department has begun rotating career firefighters to temporary assignments at other stations and asking unpaid volunteers to fill in when career staff are moved.
Beginning July 1, career staff at six to eight stations are being rotated to different stations each day.
In Bowie, that means career staffers will be pulled from each of the stations at least one time this week, Havens said. In response, he will have to call in his volunteers to cover the vacant shifts.
"That's three times a week that I'm getting hit," he said.
The county has set up a plan that will schedule the rotation of career staff up to two months ahead of time, Brady said, giving volunteers advance notice as to which days they will be needed. Some volunteer chiefs said when the rotation program was first implemented they were given as little as eight hours to bring in replacements.
"Once Northview is open they will fall into the same staffing program we have in effect at that time," Brady said.
Councilwoman Ingrid Turner (Dist. 4) of Bowie said she was anxiously awaiting the full staffing plan for the county.
"I want to ensure there is a comprehensive plan… so the citizens' public safety is not compromised," she said. "It won't be solved by the career firefighters alone."
E-mail Andrea Noble at anoble@gazette.net.
