Prince George's County Fire and Emergency Services reassigns staff to address shortages, burnout – NBC4 Washington

Prince George's County Fire and Emergency Services chief is considering moving dozens of firefighters from four stations to other parts of the county to address a critical staffing shortage, but three municipalities have gone to court to challenge the move, citing concerns it could be dangerous.

Chief Tiffany Green said the department had to move 55 firefighters to deal with worker shortages and exhaustion as the peak summer holiday season approaches. Security will not be affected, she said.

“The 55 people that we are redeploying are filling vacancies throughout the county, and that is the goal, again, to ensure that they are not called back for mandatory overtime and deferrals, but we are filling existing vacancies and spreading our resources throughout the county,” Green said.

The department is removing 24 firefighters from Station 835 in Greenbelt, five from Station 839 in Bowie, six from Station 814 in Berwyn Heights and 20 from Station 855 in Bunker Hill.

Green says firefighters are stressed and some are quitting.

“What I saw last year was burnout, fatigue and mental and physical challenges because of these postponements,” she said.

Local governments in Berwyn Heights, College Park and Greenbelt have filed lawsuits to try to stop the project, saying it would make their communities less safe.

The Prince George's County Volunteer Firefighters Association is also fighting back.

“We have this plan that the fire chief presented to us and we have to try to work with it even if it’s going to hurt people,” Chairman Lee Lutz said.

He says the association was not involved in the process. They say it will take firefighters longer to get to the scene.

“It's going to impact response times because they're pulling firefighters out of stations and basically those stations will probably be out of service during the day,” Lutz said.

Green said the shortage is part of a national problem. She added that the department pays $30 million a year in overtime.

The department has been approved to hire 150 new firefighters, but it takes time to hire and train them.

Thirty-two firefighters will complete their training in July. Another 53 began their training this month.

The reassignment plan begins Sunday and will be reassessed in October.

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