At 11:18 a.m. on Monday, September 23, a fire alarm sounded in the Green Ridge House apartments on Ridge Road. It was a mechanical failure but it would be 23 minutes before a single fire engine responded to the multistory 101-unit complex that is home to elderly and disabled residents. Residents recounted the fear they felt waiting for a response from the fire department and say it highlights the problem with removing career firefighters from Greenbelt.
“It points out the problem that we’re having with losing our career fighters,” resident Bobbi Troyer told the News Review. It’s a 101-unit HUD building filled with senior citizens and disabled folks, some of whom are ordered to stay in their rooms until they’re removed by firefighters, emphasized Troyer. “Blood could be on their hands,” said Troyer of those responsible for removing Greenbelt’s career firefighters. “In 23 minutes it would burn to the ground. Even today some could have died of fear.”
Residents were listening to the alarm for 23 minutes, she reported. One lady on the third floor came out onto her balcony and was sent back into her apartment to wait, said Troyer. “How terrifying for her to see us all outside, not even allowed on the property,” she said. Those able to leave the building had to go across the street, she said. “People were terrified … Had it been a fire there would have been many deaths.”
The truck that finally arrived was from West Lanham Hills Engine #28, said resident Charlene Backstrom. “Even though it was not an actual call for fire, a 23-minute delay could have been life or death,” she told the News Review.
Kathie Scriven is one of the Green Ridge residents with mobility issues who is supposed to wait in her apartment for the fire department to get her out. One of the residents in Scriven’s wing of the complex is an amputee, she said. “There are several residents who were very concerned. The fire alarm just kept going and going and going. If it was a drill it goes for about three minutes,” she said.
Scriven said steps are hard for her and she has two flights of stairs to make it to an exit. She wanted to follow the procedures but no one showed up, she said. “It was a very long time … You do get nervous.” Scriven was able to get her wheeled walker and make her way down the corridor to a stairwell. “I figured if I saw smoke down the hall at least I was near the stairs,” she said. “I felt a little bit more comfortable being near the stairs but of course [the fire] could have been in the stairs.” Elevators are disabled during fire alarms. From the hallway she could watch people outside.
One engine was not a sufficient response for a call from Green Ridge House, says Scriven. “There’s no way they would be able to get all the people out who need to be transferred … It’s a very dangerous situation.” Should a fire alarm sound at 5:30 p.m. rush hour instead of 11 a.m., Scriven believes it may take twice as long to get a response.
“There are a lot of safety concerns here at Green Ridge House,” said Backstrom. “Twenty-three minutes is too long for a firetruck to get here.”
“We’re outraged,” said Mayor Emmett Jordan. “Twenty-three minutes is unacceptable.” It’s what they feared may happen, he told the News Review. Jordan said the council will be demanding a meeting with Prince George’s County Fire Department Chief Tiffany Green about the incident at Green Ridge House and demanding Greenbelt’s career firefighters back. It was very fortunate that there was no fire on Monday or lives could have been lost, he said.
Troyer concurred. “They need to fight for the people and not for the dollar!” she said of those responsible for the county fire department staffing decision. “We love our firemen and we want them back!”
The Prince George’s County Fire Department had not provided information or comment on the incident by the time of press.