Civilians will be recruited for a new team to protect responders as they work on highways, and national fire officials say they don't believe they'll have a problem filling the ranks.
A volunteer fire company in Western Maryland has a special reason for getting involved, and agreeing to host the pilot cadre. One of their Fire Police was hit by a vehicle and killed as he directed traffic on an interstate in Washington County.
Since then, the Volunteer Fire Company of Halfway has been working to address issues facing people responsible for traffic and crowd control, said Chief Jeff Ringer, adding that his members want to prevent other companies from facing the same tragic situation.
A year after Joe Kroboth was killed, a Fire Police Summit was held at the Plaza Hotel. On Tuesday, officials from a number of fire service organizations and police agencies were back to the same place to begin work on a model program that will tap civilians for the job.
The Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen's Association's (CVVFA) Emergency Responder Safety Institute has obtained a USFA grant to develop the unit, a Fire Corps program.
"This effort will not only illustrate an effective use of citizen volunteers to support the fire service, it will also contribute to firefighter safety," USFA Acting Director Charlie Dickinson said in a prepared statement.
Project Manager Steve Austin said he's impressed with citizen involvement in Washington County. "We've seen a good, sensitive relationship here between fire, police and government."
Chief Ringer said there are already about 1,000 Citizen Corps volunteers in the county who have at least 20 hours of training. A Fire Corps program is the next logical step. "We want our own Fire Police program to keep prospering. We don't want to do away with it."
While their main responsibilities are traffic direction and handling crowd control at the scene of a fire or wreck, Fire Police officers are often called to assist at fairs, carnivals and other large public gatherings. "We
