By Sonia Boin
The Frederick News-Post (Maryland)
Copyright 2007 The Frederick News-Post
ROCKVILLE, Md. — Six northern Montgomery County fire stations are among the first to get paramedics who can start treating life- threatening emergencies as soon as first responders arrive.
Pete Piringer, public information officer for Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Services, said the first phase of staffing stations with paramedics began this week at Upper Montgomery Station 14, Clarksburg Station 35, Gaithersburg Station 8, Gaithersburg-Derwood Station 28, Germantown Station 29 and Laytonsville Station 17.
With the addition of the paramedics, staffing at each station increases to four people.
Piringer said the expansion is aimed at reducing average response time from 15 minutes to six to eight minutes. The expansion is also expected to improve firefighter safety on the scene of fires and other emergencies.
Fire officials said the plan is based on balancing to ensure the most coverage for the most populous areas in the county.
Gaithersburg Station 8, the busiest station in the county, will have four units staffed with paramedics, including two advanced life support transport units and two fire/rescue first response units.
That is in addition to one basic life support ambulance and one other ambulance that moves from station to station as needed.
Germantown Station 29 will be staffed with two paramedics — one on an ALS transport unit and one on a fire/rescue first response unit — as well as an additional basic life support ambulance.
A pilot team of one paramedic and one emergency medical technician, or advanced life support team, convinced officials that using paramedics provided greater coverage.
The Hyattstown Volunteer Fire Department fought the plan on the grounds that it would be understaffed, but officials cited a lower level of calls to that station.
Four more stations are expected to be brought up to four-person staffing in the fall when firefighters hired in conjunction with a Department of Homeland Security funded grant of $1.2 million for the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant will graduate from Recruit class 30.
The SAFER grant funded 12 firefighter positions.
Other stations getting fourperson staffing in the first phase are Rockville Station 3, Rockville-Twinbrook Station 23, Rockville- North Potomac Station 31, Kensington-Aspen Hill Station 25 and Chevy Chase Station 7.