Prince George's County copes with aging fire, EMS vehicles

Most Prince George's County fire and EMS vehicles are past their recommended age for replacement, raising concerns about the reliability of the fleet and creating maintenance headaches, fire officials said.

The county and its volunteer fire departments own and maintain 216 vehicles, 69 percent of which exceed the replacement age. The estimated cost of replacing all eligible equipment is about $52 million.

National Fire Protection Association guidelines recommend that equipment older than 15 years be placed in reserve status and used as needed. The guidelines advise that apparatus more than 25 years old be replaced.

The county department's guidelines recommend replacing ambulances after five years, fire engines and fire squads that carry specialized equipment after 15 years, and trucks after 20 years. However, the cost of equipment -- some new fire vehicles are more than $800,000 -- and budget constraints during the past few years have prevented the department from making purchases.

"We'd like to move away from high maintenance costs and toward the purchase of new vehicles," Eugene Jones, the county's fire chief, said during recent budget hearings.

County officials have this year, for the first time, been studying the possibility of a leasing program as a way to save on the costs of acquiring new apparatus but are in the preliminary stages of investigating their options, said Mark Brady, Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department spokesman.

In fiscal 2009, the county spent $2.1 million on fire/EMS vehicle maintenance. As of March 22, it had spent $1.9 million on maintenance in fiscal 2010, which ends June 30.

The county last bought apparatus five years ago -- 70 ambulances for $10.5 million, said Jonathan R. Seeman, director of the county's Office of Management and Budget.

The county would like to be able to acquire some new equipment, either through a lease or purchase, said John Erzen, spokesman for County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D).

"We're looking at a lot of different financing options to replace some of the equipment," Erzen said.

The costs would depend on the needs of the department and the way the county chooses to pay for the equipment, he said.

At the College Park Volunteer Fire Department, where a 1977 foam truck is used to combat petroleum-based fires, officials struggle to keep up with maintenance of old equipment, said volunteer department president Pete Piringer.

"We send apparatus in to be repaired, and then we might have it for a couple days, and then it breaks down again," Piringer said. "It's demoralizing when our apparatus goes in time and time again for the same thing."

The number of vehicles out of service for routine maintenance or special repairs on a given day varies, said Lt. Col. Angela Peden of the county fire department. One day in May, 29 vehicles were out of service for maintenance, Peden said. When apparatus is out of service for a long period, a vehicle from another part of the county is moved to fill the gap in service and provide better overlapping coverage between stations, Peden said.

"As we've needed to reduce budgets, I'm afraid we've taken a gamble on vehicle maintenance," said County Council member Thomas E. Dernoga (D-Laurel), who advocated an increase in maintenance and purchasing funds for the fire department at budget hearings.

Peden said that she could not recall any vehicles breaking down while responding to a call but that, in the event of such a breakdown, the next closest vehicle would be dispatched.

The Prince George's County Fire Commission, an elected board of volunteer leaders that oversees some financing for volunteer departments, and the county fire department each are allotted county funding for vehicle maintenance. In fiscal 2010, they were given a combined $3.5 million and will receive about the same amount in fiscal 2011.

Commission Chairman John Alter said he is glad volunteers have been able to keep steady funding this year after cuts originally were proposed but said that being able to buy new vehicles would greatly offset maintenance costs.