REPORT SAYS MCFRS HAVING TROUBLE KEEPING FIRE-RESCUE VEHICLES ON THE ROAD

Montgomery County’s Fire-Rescue Service “routinely encounters problems meeting the normal daily count for certain frontline (fire-rescue) vehicles,” according to a report prepared for the County Council. The report, written by the County’s Office of Legislative Oversight, says that’s because “so many (vehicles) are out-of-service in need of repair.”

According to the report, while call loads continue to grow, and engines, trucks, ambulances and other vehicles continue to pile up miles, the MCFRS is failing to budget enough money for repairs or for replacement. “The FY 04 approved budget…includes $3.2 million in County tax funds for fuel and vehicle maintenance and $367 thousand for vehicle replacement. This amount represents about 3% of MCFRS’ total FY 04 budget of $119 million.”

The report continues: “Funding for vehicle replacement has been reduced in recent years.” In fact, in fiscal year 2004 there is a $6.8 million gap between MCFRS’ plan for replacing apparatus and the amount of money that’s actually in the budget to buy new vehicles!

The report found that some aspects of the MCFRS’ approach to vehicle maintenance work well. Notably, the ability of the LFRD maintenance shops to do their work less expensively than the County. The shop at Station 8 is one of five LFRD shops. It’s also the busiest. The Station 8 shop, with a staff of three, (Superintendent of Machinery David Atwood and mechanics Richard Trout and Donnie Simmons), is responsible for maintaining the fleet from GWGVFD plus vehicles from four other departments: Damascus, Germantown, Laytonsville and Upper Montgomery County. This totals 72 pieces of apparatus. That’s a ratio of one mechanic for every 24 pieces of apparatus! In contrast, the workload at the Rockville shop is 1:17 and in Bethesda it’s only 1:8. (Recently, 26 support vehicles were handed off by the GWGVFD shot to private vendors for routine maintenance, at least temporarily, helping to lighten the load).

The report continues: “Ten different reports produced since 1976 contain recommendations for improving how fire and rescue vehicles in Montgomery County are maintained and repaired. Few of the recommendations made were implemented. The time has come to address the long-acknowledged but unmet need to strengthen this important function. One of the challenges ahead is how to address the shortcomings of the current structure while holding on to what works well.”

The report recommends:

• The MCFRS establish system wide standards, including:
  • Safety and performance standards for all vehicles
  • Driver training and standards, with only “well-qualified” personnel allowed to drive
  • An effective preventive maintenance program with ready access to reserve vehicles
  • A vehicle replacement and rehabilitation schedule that replaces vehicles when owning and operating them costs more than owning and operating their replacements.
• The Council should ask the Chief Administrative Officer to submit a multi-year action plan by April 1, 2004
• The Council should ask the CAO to provide regular status reports to the Public Safety Committee.

Tell the County Council that more money needs to be budgeted for fire-rescue vehicle maintenance, repair and replacement. [Send the Council an e-mail]