ELLICOTT CITY, MD – Howard County Executive Calvin Ball today announced the County’s Department of Fire and Rescue Services (DFRS) is fully staffed. In 2019, Ball’s administration and DFRS committed to becoming one of the first fire departments in the region to ensure minimum staffing on each piece of fire apparatus. The National Fire Protection Association recommends a minimum of four personnel on all fire engines and ladder truck apparatus, and two on each ambulance, to ensure firefighter safety and enhance tactical effectiveness. Pictures of the tour can be found on the County’s Flickr page.
Ensuring our communities are safe, strong, and accessible for all has always been a priority of my administration. Over the years, we have worked hard to fund our public safety departments to ensure they have the staff and resources they need to efficiently and effectively respond to each and every call for help. Reaching this staffing level not only achieves the gold standard in the fire industry, but by also increasing our overall human capital, we are able to be more financially responsible.
Since making this staffing commitment, DFRS has worked tirelessly to fill multiple recruit classes, sometimes hosting more than one a year, to reach 517 total personnel assigned to the field. Those 517 people cover the 114 seats in apparatus operations each day, across a three-shift rotation, while still accounting for the various types of leave. Distributed evenly across the three shifts at 172 each, this number not only signifies a fully staffed fire department but also achieves the national standard for apparatus staffing.
Over the years, staffing has become a defining challenge faced by fire departments throughout the region. The continued financial support in ensuring our department is fully staffed and in replacing our aging fleet represents the community’s investment into the safety and well-being of everyone who lives, works, or visits Howard County as we continue to build a strong and resilient department.
Since Ball became County Executive, 98 authorized positions have been added to DFRS, compared to 57 in the prior four years. Over the years, Ball has included funding in his annual operating and capital budgets to support the hiring of more firefighters and EMT’s, equipment, and uniforms for staff, vehicle replacements, and the construction of Station 15 and replacement of Station 7. Most recently, in his Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Operating Budget, Ball included $163.4 million in funding for DFRS, which represented a 6.6 percent increase (excluding one-time costs from prior years) to support departmental staffing, training, and emergency services. He also included $4.5 million for land acquisition, design, and permit costs for a new fire station in the northern part of the county and $500,000 in rural fire water protection systems in his FY26 Capital Budget.
Ball made the announcement during a tour of the DFRS’s fire stations, which included seeing the department’s new fire apparatuses and learning more about the forthcoming equipment. This equipment includes:
- Station 2 – Ellicott City
- Battalion Chief-2, Command Truck; estimated in-service date October 2025
- Station 3 – West Friendship:
- Engine-31, Pumper Truck; estimated in-service date September 2025
- Station 5 – Clarksville:
- Engine-51, Pumper Truck; estimated in-service date September 2025
- Station 6 – Savage:
- Engine-62, Pumper Truck; estimated in-service date September 2025
- Ambulance-65; estimated in-service date June 2026
- Station 10 – Rivers Park:
- Tower-10, Tower Ladder Truck; in-service July 2025
- Station 11 – Scaggsville:
- Engine-111, Pumper Truck; estimated in-service date September 2025
- Station 14 – Merriweather:
- Engine-141, Pumper Truck; estimated in-service date October 2025
- Ambulance-145; estimated in-service date October 2025
- West Friendship Annex:
- Battalion Chief-3, Command Truck; estimated in-service date December 2025
- Shift Commander/Assistant Chief 1 Electric Pick-Up
- Emergency Medical Services 110 Electric Pick-Up
- Two Ford Escape Hybrid 2025 SUV, staff pool replacements
These new apparatuses are part of DFRS’s apparatus replacement plan, as well as planning for the opening of Station 15.