HCDFRS History

Our history as a department is rich and ever-expanding. Take a look at our milestones below.

vintage engine 72

Our History in Milestones

Title

2000s

Content
  • October 2010 – First time ever, HCDFRS wears pink t-shirts in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month
  • October 2010 – Groundbreaking ceremony held for new Glenwood Station and new Savage Station
  • December 2010 - First Full-Time Medical Director in Maryland to Serve a Fire and Rescue Department Appointed
  • January 2011 – Department begins the use of glidescopes through partnership with St. Agnes Hospital
  • May 2011 - Trainee Class 26 graduates one of the largest number of female graduates in the history of the Department
  • July 2011 – Receives the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) Life Safety Initiatives Program Seal of Excellence Award
  • November 2011 – Five-year hold on live-burn fire training lifted, Department reinstates program
  • February 2012 – Legislation filed to establish a single fire and rescue tax district for all of Howard County, eliminating the two-tiered rural/metro fire tax
  • March 2012 – Bill to establish a single fire and rescue tax passed
  • May 2012 – First Resuscitation Academy: Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation Experience Symposium (CARES) to be organized on the East Coast hosted by Department
  • May 2012 – Awarded the 2012 Heart Safe Community of the Year
  • June 2012 – Department implements digital pre-planning software called CommandScope to house pre-plan information
  • June 2012 – First African American Deputy Chief John S. Butler promoted
  • July 2012 - Department received national accreditation for the paramedic education program becoming first fire-based agency in the Maryland approved at this level
  • August 2012 – Department launches social media presence
  • August 2012 – Crews respond to deadly train derailment in Ellicott City which killed two women and shuts down Main Street
  • October 2012 – Ribbon cutting ceremony held for the opening of the county’s twelfth fire station in Glenwood
  • November 2012 – Autism Awareness training becomes part of Department’s virtual academy curriculum
  • 2013 – First Female Assistant Chief Joanne Rund promoted
  • May 2013 – Recognized with the Star of Life award as the best EMS program in the state by Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS)
  • June 2013 – Savage new station dedication ceremony held
  • September 2013 – Critical Incident Stress Management team responds to Navy Yard Shooting
  • September 2013 – The use of all tobacco products are banned
  • November 2013 – Two Howard County officers deploy to Liberia to help rebuild country’s fire service
  • December 2013 – Bureau of Occupational Health Safety established
  • 2014 - Department to receive prestigious Congressional Fire Services Institute (CFSI) award for Excellence in Fire Service-Based EMS Award
  • June 2014 – More than 12,000 people trained in hands-only CPR
  • August 2014 - Honored by the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) with the Billy Goldfeder Fire Service Organizational Safety Award of the year
  • September 2014 – Elkridge groundbreaking ceremony held
  • November 2014 – First-Ever regional Safety Symposium hosted
  • January 2015 – First foreign born African American Fire Chief John S. Butler appointed
  • October 2015 – Department launches a new smartphone app, PulsePoint designed to help save more lives from sudden cardiac arrest by alerting nearby bystanders to perform hands-only CPR
  • December 2018 - First female Fire Chief appointed for Howard County, Chief Christine M. Uhlhorn
  • June 2020 - Chief William Anuszewski is sworn in as Fire Chief
Image
Title

1980s and 1990s

Content
  • October 1987 - The Rivers Park Station was dedicated and was the tenth fire station in the County
  • 1988 – A change in the charter resulted in a title change from Fire Administrator to Director. The name of the Department was also changed to the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services
  • July 1991 - The Long Reach and Rivers Park Fire Stations were transferred to the Department from the Savage Volunteer Fire Company
  • November 1991 - Department implemented a Special Incident Response Team (SIRT)
  • April 1994 - The Scaggsville Fire Station was dedicated becoming our eleventh station
  • November 1995 – Department issues order mandating the practice of recycling
  • December 1995 – Juvenile Firesetters Program established
Image
Title

1960s and 1970s

Content
  • 1968 - Legislative action was enacted to establish the Howard County Fire Department
  • May 1969 - Fifth District Volunteer Fire Department dedicated the Banneker Station. This was the first fire department in the new town of Columbia and the seventh station in the County
  • 1971 - Fire Coordinator’s title changed to Fire Administrator.B. Harrison Shipley, Jr. serves
  • July 1971 - Career employees assigned to four volunteer fire departments were transferred into the Howard County Classified Service as public safety employees
  • March 1972 – Lisbon votes to initiates ambulance service becoming the 4th volunteer department in the county to offer ambulance service
  • July 1974 - Ellicott City Volunteer Firemen's Association placed in service the Bethany Fire Station. Station 8 became the 8th fire station in the County
  • October 1974 - Savage Volunteer Fire Company dedicated the Long Reach Fire Station. Station 9 became the second fire department to be located in Columbia
  • June 1975 – Bethany Fire Station 8 eliminates the use of the fire siren due to neighborhood complaints
  • 1975 - Fire Administrator, Paul F.J LePore, by administrative directive, created the first bureaus by dividing the Department into three bureaus - Operations, Services and Fire Prevention.
  • 1979 - The Banneker Station, Fire Station # 7, was transferred from the Fifth District Volunteer Fire Department to the Howard County Fire Department
Image

Stay Connected!

Sign up for the County Executive's weekly newsletter and stay up to date on everything Howard County.
 

Zip Code