By Danielle E. Gaines
The Frederick News-Post
FREDERICK COUNTY, Md. — A request from a county insurance provider sparked a project that has given fire officials more information than ever before about the ranks of volunteer firefighters.
The project — a countywide volunteer fire company membership database — is also helping fire officials track training and recover expensive gear from lapsed members.
There are 2,073 active members in volunteer companies in the county, a recent search revealed.
That number is down from the more than 5,000 entries that came up when the database first combined several county spreadsheets in one place.
“It’s a work in progress,” said Chip Jewell, director of the Frederick County Division of Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services.
Jewell said the new system will save hundreds of work hours when it comes to sending notices for training and benefits.
Significantly, it will save time when it comes to workers’ compensation claims — the reason the system was set up in the first place. With all of a volunteer’s information gathered in one place, it will be easier and faster for the fire service to file for insurance benefits when a volunteer is injured on the job, Jewell said.
Jewell said the database also will help the county from a budget and legislative standpoint, because it gives greater clarity to the size and needs of the full fire service in the county.
The county is also rolling out badges for volunteers that could be used to access buildings and automatically track things such as fire gear, which can be expensive.
During budget hearings this year, County Councilman Tony Chmelik (R) said he’d heard stories about volunteer fire gear in the county turning up at thrift stores.
Fire and Rescue Chief Thomas W. Owens said his division is working with volunteer fire companies to go through all of their assets. They plan to return unused kits to a logistical warehouse, where they can be assigned to new career and volunteer firefighters.
A college intern has spent the summer working with volunteer fire company leadership to track down unused gear that can be sent back to the warehouse for future use.
Jewell said some inventory lists are very old, so the division is concentrating on recovering more recent gear, which would still be usable.
Jewell said volunteers who are now inactive have started turning in old gear in recent weeks. The fire service will look at which types of gear volunteers have, so they can make the greatest use of full structural gear and give less intense — and less expensive — gear to other volunteers.
There are more than 1,000 sets of fire gear in the county, he said.
The database program didn’t cost the company any money; it was built in-house by IT staff with free advice from Washington County, which has a similar system, Jewell said.
Copyright 2016 The Frederick News-Post