Some Montgomery County firefighters are sounding the alarm after a recent budget realignment decision made by county fire officials could remove career first responders from Hyattstown Volunteer Fire Department and place them at different stations.
“I’ve never seen a reduction like this,” Eric Bernard, executive director of the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association, told Bethesda Today in a recent interview. “This part of the county may have a smaller number of residents, but they are equally important.”
MCFRS is a combination fire-rescue agency, with career and volunteers receiving the same certifications and operating out of the same stations. Some buildings are owned by individual volunteer departments, as in the case of Hyattstown, and staffed with career and volunteer personnel. Hyattstown is located in the rural upcounty region, north of Clarksburg.
The decision to realign the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) budget for fiscal year 2026, which begins July 1, came after a new county fire station in Clarksburg opened in November. It’s unclear when the staffing changes will occur, but county officials confirmed to Bethesda Today that career firefighters will still have jobs within MCFRS, but will be assigned to new stations. The decision is among several changes that are being considered across MCFRS to realign staffing at stations throughout the county.
The realignment was not the result of a budget cut or as part of a cost savings strategy according to county and fire officials. According to county Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Earl Stoddard, no funding was cut MCFRS’s requested budget other than $1 million in overtime costs across the county’s stations. The $310 million approved budget represents a 6% increase in spending from the current fiscal year.
MCFRS officials decided to realign station staffing to invest resources in the new Clarksburg station and have Station 9 in Hyattstown be staffed solely by volunteers. While the County Council ultimately votes to approve the MCFRS budget as part of the county’s overall operating budget, it is not part of the process to determine a MCFRS budget.
“While the Council did cut a portion of the [overtime] funding, we remain committed to having conversations about how service at Hyattstown is maximized moving forward, Stoddard told Bethesda Today in an email. “[Hyattstown station leadership] had a few suggestions and [MCFRS] Chief Corey Smedley expressed our commitment to continue to talk about how we can address their needs while also addressing the broader needs of the system that is principally around creating more systemwide [emergency medical services] capacity.”
Unlike the county’s full operating budget, the MCFRS budget has flexibility. Internally, decisions can be made by department leaders to change the allocations. MCFRS also must meet with representatives of the Montgomery County Career Fire Fighters Association, IAFF Local 1664, to discuss any staffing changes, Stoddard said.
In a May 20 press release, the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire Rescue Association and IAFF Local 1664 condemned county leadership for not funding the positions for the Hyattstown station, saying the action “puts lives, property, and entire neighborhoods at unnecessary risk.”
“The removal of essential career staffing at Station 9 would shift the burden of emergency response to the county owned Clarksburg Station 35, forcing it to cover a vast and underserved area in the Up-County that lacks fire hydrants,” the release said. As Station 35 is forced to stretch resources into the Hyattstown response area, the next closest station — Gaithersburg/Montgomery Village Station 8 — one of the busiest in the entire county, will also be affected. This will create a dangerous domino effect of deployment across a growing and high-risk region of Montgomery County.”
Attempts by Bethesda Today to reach Hyattstown Station Chief Jeff Gross for comment were unsuccessful. Gross told NBC 4 last month that he was concerned emergency response times could double for Hyattstown residents if career firefighters are removed from the Hyattstown station.
Bernard said that while Clarksburg and Hyattstown are a short drive from each other, the 3.6 mile difference between the stations could still have an impact as “a matter of minutes and seconds” matter in an emergency.
“We’ve never seen a reduction in call volume or a reduction in the amount of residents in the upcounty, so with an increasing population, call volumes are not decreasing,” Bernard said.
Chris Jennison, president of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad, wrote a letter to the editor of Bethesda Today on May 19 arguing that the decision to remove career firefighter positions from the Hyattstown station would put residents’ safety at risk.
In an interview with Bethesda Today, Jennison said it is difficult to fully staff a fire station with volunteers, which is why it is important to have a couple of career firefighters on staff. Jennison said it is estimated that the realignment with Clarksburg could increase emergency response wait time by six minutes.
“When you’re in a trauma, for example, a car crash or a serious accident of some sort, minutes absolutely matter for life and death,” Jennison said. “I understand the rational decisions that have to go into staffing and employment or redeployment strategy. But I have major concerns.”
Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe (D-Dist. 2), who represents the Hyattstown and Clarksburg areas, told Bethesda Today she has some concerns about the realignment and has been listening to local fire officials on both sides of the issue. Balcombe said she’s been assured by MCFRS officials that the coverage won’t change, and her priority remains the safety of her district’s residents.
“I am concerned about making sure that everybody has coverage and that everyone in the county should have the same access to fire and rescue service,” Balcombe said. “I don’t have that expertise and the [firefighters] involved have a lifetime of expertise. So that’s what’s frustrating. We have one group saying that this is a good use of resources, and we have another group saying that this change will jeopardize safety.”
Stoddard said County Executive Marc Elrich’s office and MCFRS will continue to meet with volunteer firefighting staff to discuss a way forward.
“The Executive would very much have preferred not to have these discussions as part of the budget process because these really should have been about providing the best service to the most residents we can,” Stoddard said. “We did not want to create the perception that this was about cost savings, which is an unfortunate outcome of where we are now.”
