Policy Delays Response to Md. Fire

BOWIE, Md. -- Kenny Lowe's neighbors became so frustrated when firefighters were slow in responding to Lowe's burning home Sunday evening they used a garden hose and fire extinguisher in an effort to keep the fire in check.

Lowe tells 9NEWS NOW, "I wish I could thank the fire department, but I can just thank my neighbors for controlling the fire. If it wasn't for them my whole house would have been gone."

Prince George's County officials confirm that the first fire engine showed up at the home on Wakefield Lane in Bowie eleven minutes after Lowe's girlfriend Becky Shook first contacted 911. When that engine arrived it was only staffed with two firefighters.

Public Safety Director Vernon Herron believes the delay was caused by a recently instituted dispatch policy that actually reduces the number of fire trucks responding on the initial report of a fire. The idea is to increase safety on the roads for the public and firefighters.

Herron says in this case the procedure actually increased the response time because it took 911 workers three minutes to determine which units to send. Herron has suspended the pilot program implemented by Chief Eugene Jones on July 27.

Andrew Pantelis, the vice-president of IAFF Local 1619, says even without this dispatching delay there were significant staffing problems at the closest fire stations that made for a slow response. Pantelis says recent budget cuts have left only two career firefighters on duty during nights and weekends at the Bowie Volunteer Fire Department on Annapolis Road, a little more than two miles from Kenny Lowe's home. Those two firefighters were already on an ambulance call, leaving no one else in the station to immediately respond to the house fire.

Public Safety Director Herron confirms when the second closest fire engine responded with just two firefighters, they were forced to wait for an additional crew before attacking the fire. That crew could have gone in immediately if there had been a life safety hazard.

A replacement engine from West Lanham Hills also failed to respond on the call.

Vernon Herron disputes that the delayed response had anything to do with recent staffing cuts.

Kenny Lowe and Becky Shook say they don't want to think about what could have happened if this fire occurred in the middle of the night when their four-month-old son was asleep in the home. According to Shook, "When a fire occurs every second counts. If it's going to take that long it just makes me lose a lot of confidence in our public safety".

Republished with permission of WUSA-TV.