Beltsville Volunteer Fire Department
Beltsville Volunteer Fire Department
Beltsville Volunteer Fire Department
Beltsville Volunteer Fire Department
Beltsville Volunteer Fire Department


2021 CALLS
ENG TRK AMB
JAN 126 37 170
FEB 116 22 173
MAR 149 30 168
APR 141 32 224
MAY 132 40 188
JUN 168 18 195
JUL 197 6 193
AUG 149 35 208
SEP 149 40 291
OCT 156 41 219
NOV 191 34 230
DEC 177 71 207
Total 1851 406 2466

2022 CALLS
ENG TRK AMB
JAN 176 42 202
FEB 184 10 176
MAR 217 00S 210
APR 175 14 211
MAY 164 53 223
JUN 146 29 218
JUL 215 68 246
AUG 193 42 214
SEP 160 36 193
OCT 205 46 236
NOV 243 17 243
DEC 255 OOS 253
Total 2333 357 2625

2023 CALLS
ENG TRK AMB
JAN 188 0 216
FEB 103 30 210
MAR 159 29 212
APR 165 32 213
MAY 219 20 220
JUN 223 OOS 190
JUL 223 31 238
AUG 219 37 500
SEP 223 34 192
OCT
NOV
DEC
Total 1722 213 2191

2024 CALLS
ENG TRK AMBO
JAN 234 34 246
FEB 144 42 225
MAR 209 28 247
APR 176 oos 240
MAY 233 0 254
JUN 305 0 217
JUL 242 23 214
AUG
SEPT
OCT
NOV
DEC
Total 1543 127 1643

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UPDATE ON "NEGOTIATIONS" WITH THE COUNTY REGARDING REPAIRS AND TEMPORARY HOUSING FOR THE BELTSVILLE FIRE STATION
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By Member Chris Scheer
May 31, 2024

FROM PRESIDENT MARGIE DICKEY:

All: I apologize for this length of this post; here is the latest update as to where we are in the negotiations for the placement of the temporary trailers to act as living quarters for our personnel while any potential work is done to the Beltsville Volunteer Fire Department, station 31, in order to eliminate potential life safety hazards that may have been found during the recent station assessment.
The Beltsville Volunteer Fire Department was provided with a proposed Station Renovation Agreement (Agreement) by The Prince George's County Fire Department. The leadership of the Beltsville Volunteer Fire Department did not agree to several of the items listed and wanted a more comprehensive agreement to fit our needs. We decided that it was in our best interest not to agree to anything before we were able to review the Station Assessment so that we could make informed decisions for our property based on the scope of work that may, or may not, need to be completed. The station assessment was to be completed on or about April 26, 2024. The County received this report and did not feel that it was complete so they returned it to the vendor and asked for a few items to be added to the final report.

To date, the Beltsville Volunteer Fire Department has not been provided with a copy of this report, preliminary or otherwise, to review.

On May 13, 2024, at the urging of our elected officials and in an attempt to move the negotiation process for the Station Renovation Agreement forward while waiting for the Assessment report, the Beltsville Volunteer Fire Department sent a list of items we'd like to see changed or added to the Agreement. On May 23, 2024 we received a letter from the County's Attorney stating that they would agree to reduce the term of the Agreement from 15 years to 8 years but that "given the nature of work that would need to be done" the Agreement could not be shortened any further. We're not sure how they know the "nature of work that needs to be done" when the assessment has reportedly not been completed yet. Additionally, the letter went on to state that they could not accommodate any of our other requests. This is not what we consider to be a negotiation in good faith, but rather seems more like coercion at best.

Late Tuesday evening, we were informed that the agreement had to be signed by today, May 31, 2024 or the county would move in another direction; again it appears that we are being strong-armed into an agreement that may cause our corporation to be liable for things we are not willing to take responsibility for. Because we have a board of directors that need to meet, discuss, and agree upon anything of this magnitude, we were sure that we could not come to a mutual agreement with the county by today. The attorneys for both the Beltsville VFD and the County FD have been in discussions for the past two days, but as of yet, no agreement has been reached.

To make this situation even more convoluted, the storage facility that the county would like to use and attach by a breezeway to the trailers in order to permanently house apparatus for an unspecified period of time while the trailers are in use, as well as the property the trailers are to be placed on; are governed by a Mandatory Referral approved by the M-MCPPC Planning Board when the storage building was constructed. We have requested on more than one occasion to see the permits, or applications for the permits, from the county because we can find no evidence of this on the County's website. The Beltsville Volunteer Fire Department has asked for indemnification from the County Fire Department for this issue so that the possibility of being charged with violating the land use approval of the Mandatory Referral Agreement does not fall on our shoulders, our understanding is that the County will not agree to this. This causes concern to the Leadership of the Beltsville VFD.

So with all of this said, we seem to be going nowhere fast. Please know that we have appreciated your support for keeping our career personnel at the station and for having a safe environment for both our career and volunteer personnel throughout this whole process with the County Fire Department. The time may come again soon that we will need to gather and show the strength of our community. Thank you all for your continued interest and support.


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