LARGO, Md. (DC News Now) — The Prince George’s County Fire and EMS Department (PGFD) is working to address its staffing shortages and on Thursday night the County Council held a public meeting to hear from the fire chief on what they’re doing.
It was standing room only at the meeting in the Wayne K. Curry administration building. Dozens packed the room wanting to see what could be done to find solutions to the firefighter shortage and that included Upper Marlboro resident Angela Smith.
“One of the biggest concerns I have is we were promised additional fire stations which means more firefighters and we have not gotten the firefighters we deserve,” she said. “We need these firefighters, and we are concerned that we don’t have the fire services in place to handle emergencies.”
Fire Chief Tiffany Green addressed concerns about staff shortages and also talked about working to improve response times.
“I realize this is not what people want to hear but this is our current reality,” Green said. “We have several choices: We can hold over firefighters and paramedics and give them more hours, but risk burnout and risk injuries and cause them to miss time with their families.”
The fire department has a shortage of 251 firefighters. Last summer, the department relocated 55 firefighters from four stations in the county to help fill vacancies.
Many who attended the meeting feel more needs to be done to protect the community including Councilwoman Wala Blegay.
“We need them to increase the hires and hire more firefighters and it takes nine months to train a firefighter and if we are not hiring them fast enough this is an issue that needs addressing,” Blegay said.
Green said the County Executive has given her the green light to hire 150 new firefighters.
