Prince George's County firefighter reallocation plan continues, as county faces recruitment and financial challenges

LARGO, Maryland — Prince George's County council hosted a public meeting with the county fire chief for an update on the reallocation plan that started this Summer. 

WUSA9 has been following this story since the announcement about several firefighters being moved to help with demand. This decision has since left several neighbors concerned. 

"The reallocation plan with stations 814, 835, 839 and 855 will continue," Prince George's County Fire Chief Tiffany Green said.

Green noted that this is not an easy fix and asked neighbors for patience.

“We’ve been dealing with this since 2020 right before COVID started, and then into COVID," Chief Green said. "We lost a lot of firefighters and now we’re in the process of rebuilding that and it takes time, and this forum gave them the opportunity to see the bigger picture.” 

Thursday, people are upset and frustrated when they heard that this reallocation would continue. Many people say it's because they were all initially told by the county fire chief that this would be a temporary plan and now it’s been five months, the main concern is that this could continue to impact response times. 

In June — Berwyn Heights, Greenbelt, Bowie and Bunker Hill stations were notified about a temporary plan to meet demand with extra firefighters.

The plan moved 55 firefighters from the stations in Greenbelt, Berwyn Heights, College Park, and Bowie to Belair. 

I asked Fire Chief Green if there is any clear end in sight for the reallocation plan. 

“I can only hope, we are hiring firefighters every day as we have an aggressive recruitment campaign," Green answered. 

Neighbors in some parts of the county said moving those firefighters means it takes longer for help to arrive, after they call 911.

“I don’t feel like 8 minutes is very fast when lives and homes are on the line," one concern Greenbelt resident said on the podium. 

“It’s going to cause people to lose their lives and their livelihood, and I don’t think everything is being considered in the way it should be," another woman said during public comment. "I totally disagree with Ms. Green.”

Several people took the opportunity to voice their opinions with Chief Green present for well over an hour. The impact and interest in this discussion reflected in the attendance, the council chambers were full. 

Mayors and council members from Bladensburg, Berwyn Heights and College Park, also present and spoke to share similar concerns. 

“Stretching the capabilities of our volunteer team and creating potential response delays," Bladensburg Mayor Takisha James said. 

“Obviously we’re sympathetic to the chiefs overall analysis of the available resources but also kind of frustrated because we can’t be a part of that decision-making process because we don’t have the data," College Park Councilman Jacob Hernandez said. 

Days after a staffing allocation plan was announced by the Prince George's County Fire Department, impacted cities have filed a lawsuit. The municipalities of Greenbelt, Berwyn Heights, and College Park released a statement expressing disappointment. 

City officials told WUSA9 that those three cities filed an injunction and had a hearing in court, where their request to reconsider the reallocation of those firefighters was denied.

Meanwhile during this latest meeting, people mentioned wanting to be more involved with conservations like this is the future, especially when decisions like this are being made. When WUSA 9 asked Chief Green about this she said community input matters and that's why this meeting was held and that she hopes to continue to do this moving forward.