Although no money was allocated to Greenbelt Fire Department, on September 6 U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin and U.S. Representatives Glenn Ivey, David Trone and Jamie Raskin (all D-Md.) announced $951,500.90 in federal funding for fire departments in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, resources intended to enhance emergency response capabilities and ensure better protection for the public and the firefighters, they said. In addition to supporting individual departments – specifically, funding the purchase of a turn-out gear extractor and dryer at Bladensburg Volunteer Fire Department (allocated $37,283.80) and the same at Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department (allocated $32,673.63) – the federal funds will benefit Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute’s State Fire Training Academy, based at the University of Maryland, College Park, and its six regional training centers across the state, which will receive $429,369.56 in federal funds. Another $452,173.91 will go to Montgomery County Fire & Rescue to support their cancer screening program.
Prince George’s County Fire Chief Tiffany Green pointed to a “critical shortage” of firefighters as she announced the temporary removal of career personnel from Greenbelt Volunteer Fire Department in June. The Prince George’s County Fire Department has maintained that the staffing changes, described as temporary summer measures, are necessary due to insufficient staffing (there were 21,000 mandatory overtime hours in May and June of 2023) rather than financial necessity. One of the complaints at a June Fire Department meeting was the length of time it takes to onboard and train new volunteers and career staff during a firefighter shortage. Prince George’s County Deputy Fire Chief James McClelland, speaking at that meeting, estimated it takes 30 weeks to get a new recruit ready to be “out on the street.” McClelland announced the hiring of 150 uniformed firefighters in this budget cycle, all of whom will need training. Public Information Director Alan Doubleday did not return calls from the Greenbelt News Review to enquire how this funding for the training academy might impact the 30-week timeline or help with the firefighter shortage in the county.
The federal money awarded is provided through the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program with funds from Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 annual appropriations. The lawmakers additionally worked to reauthorize the AFG program through FY 2028 within the Fire Grants and Safety Act of 2023, which passed Congress and was signed into law earlier this year.
Speaking with the News Review in June, Doubleday said the temporary summer plan would be re-evaluated in September. The City of Greenbelt and the Greenbelt Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad are hosting a town hall at the firehouse, 125 Crescent Road, at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 12. Chief Green has been invited to attend.
Federal award information in this article is drawn from a press release from Senator Chris Van Hollen.