(As featured in the 1/5/05 Gaithersburg Gazette)

A veteran volunteer returns to station as fire chief

by Sara Stefanini
Staff Writer

James "Jimbo" Magruder became chief of the Gaithersburg-Washington Grove Volunteer Fire Department last weekend.

It's his fourth time as chief, the most anyone at the department has served.

"The chief is the top operations officer. He's in charge of commanding all our volunteers," said Ed Tobias, the department's president.

Magruder, 55, decided to run for the two-year term because he saw ways to improve the department.

"My main goal is to recruit and retain more volunteers. Nationwide the number of volunteers is going down."

He began volunteering for the department 37 years ago because he wanted to help.

"I had a number of relations involved in fire fighting, and the interest just took off from there," said Magruder, who grew up in Washington Grove and lives in Gaithersburg.

During his time at the department, Magruder, a retired Safeway clerk, has served in all of the department's operational ranks.

He was chief in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

One of the biggest incidents that sticks out in Magruder's mind, he said, happened one November night in the late 1980s, when mills on Diamond Avenue caught fire.

"It was an old building, and we were there all night long," he said.

Over the years, the department, which opened 75 years ago, has changed extensively, he said.

"People-wise, our responses, the way we respond, and especially the technology. The technology has changed a lot." The area's growth also brought changes in the department, Magruder said.

The department serves an area with 127,000 people and has about 50 active volunteers, 60 career firefighters, plus paramedics and emergency medical technicians.

Though some volunteer fire departments in the area are plagued by tension between volunteer and professional firefighters, the problem isn't as bad at the Gaithersburg department as it once was, Magruder said.

The department's professional and volunteer staff has changed in recent years, "so it's not as harsh as it used to be," he said. "I think it's usually because of power, who has the authority."

Communication and contact between volunteer and career firefighters is improving throughout the county, said Marcine Goodloe, president of the county Fire Rescue Organization.

The lack of communication has been a problem in the past, but "when they are on the fire ground they work as a team, there are no disputes," she said.

As chief, one of Magruder's responsibilities is to try to smooth any differences between volunteers and professionals by trying to work together, he said, "because we both want respect."

The department has two stations: Station 8 on Russell Avenue in Gaithersburg and Station 28 on Muncaster Mill Road. Station 8 is one of the busiest stations in the area. Last year, its crews responded to 11,280 calls, while Station 28 answered 3,462 calls.

Since 1990, the department's calls have risen 60 percent.

Despite the growth, the department's budget, which comes from county tax funds and donations "has increased only fractionally in the past 15 years," Tobias said.

In 1990, when the department responded to 8,951 calls, it received $313,240 in county funding, while in 2000, it had 13,539 calls and received $316,280.

To supplement its income, the department also receives donations from community members and, though the amount fluctuates, Tobias said.

In the past, the department has used money from donations to buy automatic electronic defibrillators for its units, backboards and other emergency medical equipment, uniforms, and a new fire safety house used to teach fire safety to children.

Volunteers can either be active, and work as medical technicians, paramedics, or firefighters, be administrative, and with non-operational activities regularly, or be associative and work on an irregular basis.

To become active, volunteers must have a high school diploma or equivalent, pass a comprehensive background check, a medical examination and spend six months training with the department and at the county Public Safety Training Academy.

One possible reason the number of volunteers is dropping nationwide is because "it's real time-consuming," Magruder said. At the Gaithersburg department, volunteers are on duty 15 to 25 hours a week.

The department also runs a Junior Fire Brigade for teenagers interested in fire and rescue services, a fire museum and assembly hall, and offers cardiopulmonary resuscitation training to the public.

In Dec. 15 elections, Nancy Copeland, a retired firefighter, was chosen vice president, and Garry Walker was re-elected treasurer.