The mayor of Greenbelt says Prince George's County firefighters are taking longer to get to emergencies in his community amid a months-long discussion on staffing and response times.
In a letter to Prince George's County Fire Chief Tiffany Green, obtained by WUSA9, Greenbelt's city council referenced three September incidents that had lengthy response times.
Residents told Greenbelt officials it took 13 minutes for the fire department to arrive when a 3-year-old was struck by a vehicle. They claim the department failed to meet the eight-minute response time for a man who died before units arrived while experiencing anaphylaxis. Finally, a 23-minute response was recorded by residents for a fire alarm at a senior living facility.
"Given your office's lack of responsiveness to our repeated requests for data sharing, we have begun to question the accuracy of the reports and response times you have provided," the letter stated.
Greenbelt Mayor Emmet Jordan wrote, "indicating that the PGFD may not be properly tracking calls by their priority level or meeting the standards of coverage to which PGFD has committed."
The delays, Jordan says, stems from the removal of firefighters from his local firehouse, Greenbelt Fire Station 835, to help understaffed stations across the county.
Earlier this year, the department moved staffing from Station 835 and fire stations 839 in Bowie, 814 in Berwyn Heights and 855 in Bunker Hill to other stations to help backfill other locations. Fire officials said this was to alleviate a staffing problem expected over the summer and to help with the burnout of some members.
Officials from Berwyn Heights, College Park and Greenbelt have filed a lawsuit over the staffing reductions.
"Summer is over, it's now October 4. So, we want to get the career firefighters back. We don't have enough volunteer firefighters to do this on our own," Jordan said.
Fire officials told the television station that the department had only one incident in Greenbelt that did not meet the response goal since the staffing changes.
"Other than one response time delay that was attributed to personnel violating department policy, the Fire/EMS Department has maintained an average response time of less than eight minutes in this area since June 30, 2024," Prince George's County Fire/EMS Public Information Director Alan Doubleday said.
An investigation found that two firefighters assigned to the West Lanham Hills fire station were delayed in departing the station, leading to the longer response time.
Fire officials said they'll have a response to the letter from Greenbelt officials soon.
